Recruitment interviews may have to be conducted from behind screens if a new
European directive, which is about to be proposed, becomes law.
The new directive is aimed at eradicating discrimination during interview
processes.
New procedures will require interviews to take place with a screen between
the applicant and the interviewers, or over a speakerphone between rooms. In
this way, advocates argue, selection processes will be less prone to bias based
on factors such as race, physical appearance, clothes sense or body odour.
The commissioner pushing the initiative forward, Olaf Porli, is also pushing
for a further directive that would require interviewees’ voices to be disguised
through the use of sound-distorting technology.
Porli said: "Employers are struggling to recruit objectively, with white,
middle-aged men still dominating the workplace. Race, gender, hairstyle, teeth
and even facial tics continue to influence the process, making it
discriminatory."
The EC is to fast-track the development, and insiders say the directive
could be implemented as soon as one year from today.
