Initial screening: Make sure those responsible for selecting interview candidates don’t have access to information about applicants’ race, age, sex or other protected characteristics. That alone will prevent many failure-to-hire claims. HR should take the lead and prepare applicant summaries for hiring managers to screen that contain no tell-tale information about protected characteristics. That may mean even excising names, using a candidate number instead.- Who hires and fires: The same individual responsible for the final decision to hire an applicant should also make the decision to fire that individual if necessary. This helps dispel the notion that a protected characteristic like race or age had anything to do with the decision. After all, why would someone hire an applicant who belongs to a protected class then turn around and fire the same person because of her race, sex, age, etc.?
- Training: Track training to make sure each employee has the opportunity to improve job performance. Note any training offers and the employee’s response.
- Informal audit: Review your labor pool regularly. Look for patterns that may indicate hiring bias. For example, are all employees in a particular job under age 40? If so, find out why.
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