What is Ethical Recruitment? And what do you need to know about it?

This is something that everyone says that they support and do within their business, but what does that look like? Do people even really know what this means?

Humor me, I believe this is such an important topic that I would like to take the time to detail my view of ethical recruitment, you never know you may even take away some new information that you weren’t aware of before.

After all, ethics plays a crucial role in recruitment and selection because of the positive impact it has on an employee's performance and job satisfaction.

Put simply, ethical recruitment is the process of engaging a worker fairly, transparently and on merit. In such a regional market that relies heavily on expat workers, we all need to be aware of recruitment agencies, and their sub-agents, who play such an important role in connecting workers with overseas employers. When engaging these companies, how many of you check if they have the right trade license to operate in their own country, and to provide the services you are hiring them for?

There will always be unscrupulous agents who take advantage of workers, who are in a precarious position because of their low level of formal education or who are just desperate for a job to provide for their families – it’s our job to protect them and be their voice.

Sometimes recruiters are untruthful to workers about the true nature of the job, altering employment terms between the issuance of the offer letter and their employment contracts, and demand huge recruitment fees. The issue in some instances is that these fees are legal in their home countries, even if charging for costs associated to employment is illegal here in the UAE, but this doesn’t make it right. Workers unable to pay the fees in cash are trapped into debt bondage, having to repay large loans at high interest rates, often find themselves forced to sell family jewelry, encash their children’s dowries or put on sale their family land, just to be able to pay the initial amount. Then the individuals facilitating the loans in their home countries, only have access to the workers family members to chase payments or apply pressure on the workers to repay the amount owed.

Companies need to step up and ensure they pay all recruitment-related fees and that they are not passed on to candidates.

Many may ask how their company can help to curb these practices. Businesses looking to recruit workers from overseas should adopt ethical recruitment practices, including carrying out due diligence on the recruitment agencies they hire across all their supply chain. Companies that don’t do so need to realize that should people become aware of their unethical recruitment processes it could have costly legal and reputational consequences.

How can you find your way towards ethical recruitment?

As a recruiter or hiring manager, here are things you can do to engage in ethical hiring practices:

• Develop a company policy designed to protect and respect workers’ rights and freedom and ensure that the policy is communicated & implemented appropriately.
• Ensure that you are using ethical recruitment agencies for your employment needs by conducting research on the agencies your company uses.
• Ensure all the details of the role are shared with the candidate in advance.
• Inform candidates of the recruitment process in advance to set their expectations; if process changes/delays are experienced due to any external factor, make sure to keep them updated as soon as you can.
• Ensure the personal data of the candidate is handled with confidentiality and privacy.
• Needless to say, avoid any discrimination when dealing with applicants, be aware of unconscious biases and ways to prevent them.
• Stay professional during all the phases and remember mutual respect is a must for a successful relationship.
• Even after they are hired, follow up with workers at regular intervals to obtain feedback on the process, ascertain whether the company policy/process is being adhered to or not.
• Work with other industry partners to collectively implement reforms that make unethical recruitment agencies and employment standards unviable.

As a candidate:

• Know your rights and obligations in the recruitment process
• Be an out stander, report any illegal or inappropriate behavior you experience or notice
• Ensure the opportunity you are receiving is genuine, remember the saying:

“If something is too good to be true, it probably is”

• Don’t engage in any unethical practices or allow others to use your need to support yourself or your family to take advantage of you, always “trust but verify “

How can candidates and the average individual help to curb these practices? I believe that if the stories of overseas workers being faced with exuberant recruitment fees, resulting in them entering bonded labor, were known publicly, most of us would feel compassion for them and would condemn these practices. However, how many of us will think of enquiring about a new employer’s recruitment process or the level of due diligence they carry out on the recruitment agencies they use before accepting a role?