Job advert bias Strategic HR
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doesn’t typically fit with this type of
approach,” she says.
It’s a view shared by Marr. He
explains that a job analysis tool will
also assess the readability and density
of a job description, scoring it for how
many syllables, words and sentences it
contains. His thinking is that the more
readable the job spec, the more
inclusive it is likely to be.
“There are heavy socioeconomic
correlations,” notes
Marr. “If you look at people who
have low incomes they will have
less access to desktop
computers and are more likely
to rely on their phones and to
live in a distracting
environment. Each of those
things adds a cumulative layer
that results in something
quite substantial.”
So there are certainly steps
that can be taken. But, in an age
in which many urge the need to
move away from binary
definitions of men and women,
is so-called male and female
language really meaningful
anymore? Or is it just another
theory to get bogged down by?
Adrian Love, recruitment
director for the UK and Ireland
at Accenture, certainly feels male
and female language is still a
‘thing’. He points to Accenture
figures showing an increase in
female job applicants from 34% to
50% since 2014, thanks in part to the
de-biasing of job specs.
“The impact has been very positive.
But there are no silver bullets here. It
has to be part of a wider inclusion and
diversity programme,” he says.
It’s a similar story from Applied,
with Marr reporting that the tool has
helped trigger an estimated 10% to
15% swing towards female candidates.
Singh also reports a significant
increase in female applicants since
implementing de-biasing.
“This shows that using genderneutral
language is affecting the talent
we can attract,” she says, adding that
de-biasing could now be taken
further. “We now need to delve into
the data in more detail... and analyse
the next stages in the process to
see if we have more women being
shortlisted, interviewed and
ultimately selected.”
After all a gender-neutral job
description can only go so far if,
when a candidate is successful or
unsuccessful in their application,
the language in the feedback or job
offer sees a return to bias.
Both Singh and Love concede that
their job description writing tools are
unable to analyse interview feedback.
But this is where training comes into
play, they say.
“Software raises awareness and can
point out bias that people may miss,”
says Singh, but it’s also important
teams are trained to spot it elsewhere
in recruitment materials.
Love agrees: “It’s not just about
one action, it’s about looking at every
element throughout the recruitment
process. There are opportunities to
drive inclusivity end to end, but job
descriptions are important because
they’re a gateway for candidates.”HR
Job
descriptions
are important
because
they’re a
gateway for
candidates
K
E
Analysing bias in the Bank of England governor job advert
Later this year Bank of England
governor Mark Carney will stand
down. He’s the 120th white man out
of 120 individuals to have ever fi lled
the role, and so the institution has
been heavily criticised for embodying
a ‘stale, male and pale’ image of
fi nance. By its own admission it will fail
to meet any of its diversity targets this
year. So with calls to appoint a
female to the position for the fi rst time
is the language in the role’s job
description gender biased?
Not according to Applied’s job
description analysis tool. Following the
appointment of diversity specialists to
head up the search for Carney’s
replacement, HR magazine analysed
the job description to see if the
bank’s commitment to diversity
extends to its recruitment materials.
It scored a respectable 84% for
inclusivity and contained an equal
amount of male-gendered and
female-gendered words.
Marr says that language falls into
two categories: agentic and
communal. Agentic language is
considered male coded. In this
advert agentic traits found were
words like ‘confi dence, decision, lead
and determination’. The communal
traits were female-coded words such
as ‘responsibility, commit,
communicate, and understanding’.
Marr argues that performance
evaluation and leadership
development should also be defi ned
in a way that balances both sets of
traits. “Companies often defi ne
success for leaders along agentic
lines and measure performance and
promotion that way, even though
communal traits are just as valuable
in leaders,” he says.
hrmagazine.co.uk June 2019 HR 31
/hrmagazine.co.uk