Making your recruitment process as simplified as possible is essential to making sure you have the best fit for your business. As a recruiter, you know that giving every candidate a fair shot is essential. Overlooking candidates because of perceived shortcomings can severely limit your reach. In some cases, it violates civil rights. It is true if you discriminate against a job candidate — even if it’s unintentional.
The Recruitment Process
Unfortunately, with the rise of artificial intelligence and other technologies, unintentional discrimination is becoming increasingly common.
Understand EEO Hiring Requirements
The first step to preventing an ADA violation is understanding the requirements you must adhere to. ADA, or the Americans With Disabilities Act, is a pillar of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws. Some staffing agencies mistakenly assume that their liability is limited since they recruit on behalf of an employer. On the contrary, any organization involved in the hiring process must adhere to ADA and EEO requirements, including fair consideration of all applicants who can perform essential job duties with or without reasonable accommodations.
Identify Any Potential Biases in Screening
If EEO compliance relies on the fair consideration of all candidates, how does an applicant screening program threaten this? These programs typically utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to screen applicants’ resumes and filter out those not meeting the minimum criteria. In theory, this should be unrelated to an applicant’s abilities or disabilities. Still, it can unintentionally enforce discriminatory practices that ultimately pose a liability to staffing firms and harm applicants. A program that screens out a resume because it does not contain specific keywords, for example, may be disproportionately impacting applicants with disabilities.
Don’t Rely Solely on Technology to Screen Applicants
How can recruiters minimize unintentional discrimination at the hands of AI while still taking advantage of tech advancements? Going through every resume is a chore, but you must still be careful not to use systems that reinforce discriminatory practices. To prevent this, it’s important not to rely solely on tech for your applicant screening processes. Be sure to incorporate a human element, so qualified candidates with disabilities don’t get overlooked.
Ensure Applicants Have Reasonable Accommodations
One of the essential elements of EEO and ADA compliance is ensuring that all applicants have reasonable accommodations. This requirement covers the application process and the job itself if you hire the candidate. Failure to provide reasonable accommodations can be a significant liability and cause a staffing workers compensation insurance claim. However, you can avoid this outcome by proactively considering candidates with disabilities and ensuring they have the tools they need to succeed.
About World Wide Specialty Programs
For the last 50 years, World Wide Specialty Programs has dedicated itself to providing the optimal products and solutions for the staffing industry. As the only insurance firm to be an ASA commercial liability partner, we are committed to that partnership and committed to using our knowledge of the industry to provide staffing firms with the best possible coverage. For more information about Staffing Professional Liability Insurance or any other coverage, we have available to protect your staffing business, give us a call at (877) 256-0468 to speak with one of our representatives.