Most of what you read about HR isn't true.

Right, dear readers. You have the chance to participate in a social experiment to either establish or disprove the truth of a much-quoted item of HR-related gossip.

In a racey (which is code for "low on evidence") little article entitled "10 Things the HR Department Won’t Tell You", it's claimed that, as a matter of routine, HR departments regularly perform unofficial background checks by trawling through the internet to look for warning signs relating to potential employees.

10 Things the HR Department Won’t Tell You

After apparently "checking in with human resources experts to see what your current employer is keeping tabs on—and how your next employer could be judging you based on a whole lot more than the résumé you submitted," the author claims:

Before calling in applicants for a job interview, HR will snoop around online to make sure there are no virtual red flags. “Social media ‘stalking’ has become the norm—especially at larger companies. Beyond typing names into a search engine, companies will also employ sophisticated online monitoring platforms that dig even deeper. If there’s something on the internet you wouldn’t want your boss to see, it’s probably in your best interest to take it down.

Personally, I suspect that this is utter nonsense (at least in the UK) particularly as many HR departments are stretched to breaking point in even arranging interviews and issuing offer letters. The idea that they have time to act as cyber-sleuths looking for evidence of online dodginess is simply a fantasy.

Or is it?

Well, here's your chance to establish the truth once and for all.

I'd like to hear from any organisation (anonymity guaranteed!) that is prepared to admit to using such methods as a formal part of their selection process. I don't mean the occasional googling of an applicant, or a swift glance at Facebook to check up on the candidate's drunken antics in Ibiza. I mean a deliberate and regular investigation using "sophisticated online monitoring platforms" to delve into the background of individuals that the organisation is considering employing.

I'm also interested in hearing from any company that markets any form of "sophisticated online monitoring platform" so that the HR community can learn of what technology is available to assist in the challenge to sort out the wheat from the chaff in the search for talent

My theory is that this belief  is about as reliable as an urban myth. I would love to be proved wrong, but I doubt that I will be.

Over to you, super-sleuths!

Radio Advert ruled as offensive to Germans

There seems to be a German theme emerging on HR Case Studies this week.

In what appears to be a crass error of judgement, Reed Recruitment recently launched a radio advertisement (for their own recruitment jobsite) implying, in the view of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), that Germans are tyrants. The ASA has subsequently banned the advert, saying that it could cause serious offence to some listeners and was found to be offensive because it used a negative stereotype.

Whether the 13 individuals who complained to the ASA were German or not, we do not know.

The Advertising Standards Authority also judged that:

While the use of stereotypes was inevitable to establish a character in a short radio advert, this should not perpetuate damaging misconceptions. We noted the ad used a German speaker, rather than someone speaking English, to portray the boss as 'a bit of a tyrant' and the humour derived from a stereotype at the expense of German people. We considered that the portrayal suggested that German people were more likely to be unreasonable or aggressive to others. We concluded that, given the extreme reaction and aggressive tone of the German-speaking boss, the ad reinforced a negative and outdated cultural stereotype of German people as overpowering and tyrannical and therefore the ad had the potential to cause serious offence to some listeners.

Ultimately, the advert was judged by the ASA to have breached rules governing good taste and must not be broadcast again in its current form.

Fortunately for the esteemed readers of HR Case Studies, here's a link to the Reed Recruitment advert for you to judge for yourselves.

Guardian: Radio Ad ruled as offensive to Germans

• Offensive, or just good humour? What do you think?

Race and colour are no longer a disadvantage in Britain, according to UK Communities Secretary

In a speech to be given later today to mark a decade of the Race Relations Amendment Act, Communities Secretary John Denham will say that the government has made significant progress in tackling racism, and that poverty and class are now more likely to be the causes of disadvantage rather than skin colour.

That does not mean that we should reduce our efforts to tackle racism and promote race equality, but we must avoid a one-dimensional debate that assumes all minority-ethnic people are disadvantaged.

Debating the issue with Lord Herman Ouseley, chair of Kick it Out, on the Radio 4 Today programme, Denham disagreed with the suggestion that it appears that you are more likely to be at a disadvantage if you are white and working class than if you are black, but reaffirmed the government’s commitment to deal with inequality regardless of where it comes from.

Displaying remarkable unity with the Communities Secretary, Lord Ouseley added that all forms of potential forms of inequality, including race, poverty, class and sexual identity, need to be addressed as a coherent whole, without singling out race as one discrete issue that affects poverty or inequality.

Denham concluded:

We need to make people feel that they don’t think that people are being singled out for special treatment just because of the race that they are from. If people get support and help it needs to be because of the needs they have. We’re committed to tackling inequality and disadvantage whoever you are and wherever you are.

BBC News: Ethnic minorities "no longer always disadvantaged"

BBC Have Your Say: Are ethnic minorities still disadvantaged?

• What tangible evidence can you provide demonstrating that progress has been made in tackling the issue of race discrimination in the workplace?
• Do you agree with the suggestion that it's wrong to single out individual minority groups for special treatment, and that inequality needs to be addressed as a coherent whole?

Waitrose: 2,500 applications for 20 graduate posts. Need any help with the psychometrics madam?

The decision by supermarket chain Waitrose to commence using psychometric tests in its recruitment process is hardly a surprise bearing in mind that 2,500 applications were received for the 20 posts available as part of its store management programme.

The hurdles faced by aspiring store managers, as well as the challenges faced by the Waitrose recruitment team are plain to see: 2,500 applications filtered down to 150 candidates attending assessment centre still requires a significant investment in management time and effort.

Waitrose is understandably keen to make the process for selecting those candidates who attend assessment centre as effective as possible, so the company has introduced a “Graduate Dilemmas” selection tool to serve as a filter.

A&DC (who have designed the psychometric tool describe it as “a Situational Judgement Test used at the initial sifting stage of Graduate assessment. Candidates must rate several potential responses to common situations, through an online platform, where results are collated and scores automatically produced.”The particular competencies that the test is designed to identify are Planning and Organising, Analytical Thinking, Achieving Results and Relationship Building.

The head of the recruitment services team at Waitrose explained that they are looking in particular for people who are achievement oriented, coupled with an openness and positive regard for colleagues that is appropriate for their business.

A&DC Candidate Sifting Tools

• Any thoughts on the use of such psychometric tests for filtering out candidates prior to interview?

Time for change in the recruitment of teachers?

The Schools Recruitment Service has just announced the launch of its new “innovative online system designed to streamline the application process for those applying for jobs in schools.”

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has claimed that Schools could save up to £30m by using the new website to hire teachers and support staff. It’s estimated that English schools spend nearly £50m annually on advertising and filling 100,000 teaching vacancies, and a further 50,000 non-teaching positions such as administrative staff and school catering staff, so a typical payment of around £250 per year to use the service will inevitably sound very attractive to head teachers.

In an e-mail sent out to those would-be teachers already registered with the Training and Development Agency (TDA), candidates are informed of the following advantages of the new system:

• Find suitable jobs - Search by your job preferences and apply online
• Saves you time – Your details automatically pre-filled on new applications
• Let employers come to you – Create your Talent Profile to join the talent pool
• Receive job alerts – Find out about suitable vacancies as soon as they come up
• Instant communication with schools - receive confirmation that your application has been received, every time.

Clearly the system is in its early stages (which possibly explains why there are currently a mere four teaching jobs live on the website!) but with 52 local authorities, representing more than 8,000 schools and 32 academies already interested in using it, the process of applying for jobs in the education sector looks set to change.

Friday squabbles in the staffroom over the Times Educational Supplement may soon be a thing of the past!

Schools Recruitment Service Website

Personnel Today: Teacher recruitment website could save schools up to £30m

• Teachers: what do you think of this new approach?
• HR professionals and recruiters: any thoughts?

Hey! Listen to this one! There were these three job applicants . . .

Have you heard the one about the Asian, the African and the White person who all applied for the same job?

Surprise, surprise, the white person got invited to interview far more often than either of the others.

Undercover researchers for the government (sounds a bit dodgy to me…) sent out 3,000 job applications with false identities. In order to assess possible discrimination by employers against people with foreign names, the CVs used names from three different communities: Nazia Mahmood, Mariam Namagembe and Alison Taylor. The applications were created to paint a picture of similar experience and qualifications and every false applicant had a British education and work history.

It emerges that people with African and Asian names had to apply for 16 jobs before getting an interview, although applicants with ‘white’ sounding names only had to apply for nine jobs before getting an interview.

Jim Knight, minister for employment and welfare reform, called the results “shocking” and said he was considering barring employers found guilty of racial discrimination from applying for government contracts.

The use of standard application forms, a practice favoured within the public sector, does appear to suggest that discrimination might be reduced by the use of such forms. The results showed that public sector vacancies, which usually use standard application forms, did not discriminate at the initial recruitment stage.

Employers discriminate against foreign-sounding names

• The use of standard forms rather than CVs does appear to eliminate a degree of discrimination at the application stage. Are the results of this research sufficient to warrant the mandatory introduction of either anonymous CVs or application forms?
• What do you think of Jim Knight’s threat to bar employers found guilty of racial discrimination from applying for government contracts?
• Will we ever completely eliminate discrimination (of any type) in the workplace?

Wookey Hole Witch position up for grabs after Halloween

A woman who beat 3,000 people to a £50,000 a year job as a resident witch is to be sacked after Halloween, it has recently emerged.

Former estate agent Carole Bohanan, 40, was appointed to the position at Wookey Hole Caves in July of this year. As part of the selection process candidates had to demonstrate their scaring skills to both the outgoing witch (who presumably must have decided to take her broomstick elsewhere) plus the cave manager.

The owner of the attraction (if that’s not a contradiction in terms!) has stated that "In a job like this you need a people person and I'm afraid Carole isn't." Carole may well be thinking of creating some evil spell to cast on her current employers. In the meantime, her only incantation is one of "I have given it my best effort. People were saying I was doing a good job."

Wookey Hole witch to be sacked after Halloween

• Clearly Carole's short spell (groan!) in the job reveals that the selection process was ineffective. What could have been done to ensure that the appointed candidate possessed the necessary skills for the role?
• Is three months in a role sufficient for a person to have demonstrated whether or not they are capable of doing the job?

Watching the nation grow older

The link below opens up an interactive and thought-provoking chart illustrating how the population of the UK is gradually growing older. The application allows you to choose which demographic indicator you wish to explore – from the percentage of the population aged 0-15 to that which is above state retirement age and beyond.

The ageing of the United Kingdom 1992 - 2031

The implications from an HR point of view are obvious, so think about the following questions?

• What does an increasingly older population mean from an employee resourcing point of view?
• How might the information on the chart be of relevance to the Pension Funds of major UK companies?
• How might companies respond to the peaks and troughs in the age of the workforce?
• The UK High Court has recently ruled that it is not unlawful for companies to force employees to retire at age 65 (though it is likely that this ruling will be amended in the near future) How might the information on the chart be used to reverse the recent High Court ruling?

Does this job sound too good to be true?

The extracts below have all been lifted without alteration from adverts for HR roles in this week's HR online media. Although the HR Case Studies editorial team wouldn't recommend a total "warts and all" approach to attracting applicants (after all, no-one is likely to apply for a role stating, "Relatively tedious job in declining business; would suit mediocre and dull candidate") there is a serious point to be made about whether some job adverts do "sell the sizzle" a little too much, potentially leading to the expectations of the successful candidate not being met, and this subsequently developing into a rapid departure, requiring the whole recruitment process to be repeated.

A fantastic opportunity
An exciting opportunity
Worldwide, prestigious blue chip organisation
The fastest growing organisation of its kind
An exceptional opportunity
A true market leader with a global presence and an enviable reputation
A progressive independent government department
'The' market leader
A high profile services organisation with a great reputation in the market place
A well respected UK retail brand and major player in their niche market
One of the world’s leading organisations
An exciting opportunity for a passionate Training professional
A fantastic opportunity to join our client
A leading national business and a market leader
A superb opportunity has arisen to work for a world leading household name

• What are the dangers of over-selling a role to applicants?
• If an organisation found that it was losing a high percentage of its new recruits, what would you recommend that it might do to improve the situation?
• How important is effective induction to ensuring that new recruits to a company stay there?
• Graduates are notorious for moving on as soon as their develoment programme has been completed. Is this to be expected or are there measures that a company can take to remedy this?

Super! Smashing! Great! Look What You Could Have Won!

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For those under threat of redundancy, the Times newspaper has produced a helpful calculator for statutory redundancy pay. Many people in managerial positions will have the protection of a higher level of redundancy pay, but this calculates the legal minimum to which an individual is entitled.

• For an employee to be entitled to statutory redundancy pay, what's the minimum service requirement?
• How many week's pay per year of service does a person who is under 22 receive?
• Above what age does the entitlement reach its maximum level?
• If an employee on £65,000 per year was only entitled to statutory redundancy pay, what's the maximum amount per week that they would receive?

National Rail Enquiries Outsourcing To India

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• What are the reasons for companies outsourcing work?
• What kind of work are companies likely to outsource?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing, both to employees and customers?
• According to the article, what is the current trend in outsourcing?
• How are future trends in technological change likely to influence the decision to outsource or not?

Disagreement Between Trade Unions at British Airways

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• Which Trade Unions are currently protesting against the cost-cutting plans of British Airways?
• How many posts may be lost if the plans go ahead?
• How much was the financial loss announced by the company in May?
• What has been the response of the pilots to the company's predicament?
• Why might the pilots and cabin crew have come to different conclusions over the plans of British Airways?
• What would you do if you were one of the cabin crew?

An End To A Fixed Retirement Age

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(A review of the default retirement age, which allows employers to compel staff to retire at 65, is to be brought forward by a year, the government says.)

• How is this decision likely to affect how companies plan their manpower needs?
• What strategies might companies need to adopt to cope with a workforce with an increasing number of older employees?
• Explain the difference of views of the TUC and the CBI

Game, Set and Match!

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• What are the particular challenges faced by the management of the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon in planning the resourcing and staffing of the annual tournament?
• What strategies have the management used to address the sudden peak in manpower requirement each summer?

Ten Coffee Republic Outlets Close

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What percentage of the Coffee Republic chain has closed down following intervention by the administrators?

Who are KPMG?

What factors may have led to Coffee Republic calling in the administrators?

Another wave of job cuts in the steel industry

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How many jobs have Corus cut since January 2009?

What was the response of the Trade Union to the most recent announcement?

What reasons did the site director give for the redundancies?

What is meant by the phrase "hard redundancies" in the statement by the Trade Union General Secretary?