Hiring Who You Know as a Threat to Diversity While recommending a friend for a job...

 

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Hiring Who You Know as a Threat to Diversity While recommending a friend for a job has always been a natural way of recruiting employees, it might present a major barrier to diversity because employees tend to recommend people like them- selves. The social media may compound this problem as more and more companies rely on social media as a source of internal re- ferrals and thus save time and money in their recruitment efforts. For example, both Ermst & Young and Deloitte now hire about half of their employees from these internal referral sources, combing employee networks such as Linkedin and Facebook to identify potential candidates. These social sites allow companies to trace connections between job candidates and their employees, facilitat- ing the generation of internal referrals and thus avoiding the use of cumbersome job-search sites such as Monster.Com. In fact, pro- Experiential Exercise: Team spective candidates using those open-ended job search sites now suffer from negative stereotypes. Some coporate recruiters refer to applicants from Internet job sites as "Homers," referring to the lazy, doughnut-cating character Homer Simpson, and they refer to Monster.Com as "Monster.Ugly." Social sites such as LinkedIn do not carry a stigma for potential applicants because the company can trace the connection between a potential job candidate and cur- rent employees, and this removes much of the information uncer- tainty surrounding other potential candidates who are not part of the network. 4-14. Some companies now use incentives for current employees when new hires are socially linked to them and thus their social sites served as a source of internal referrals. What are the pros and cons of this practice? Explain. Team Exercise 4-15. The director of HR has appointed you to a committee responsible for investigating allegations that reliance on internal referrals through social sites undermines the diversity efforts of the firm. The class is divided into groups of five students, each of which is asked to develop a set of procedures to investigate such allegations. 4-16. In a role-playing exercise, one of the students is asked to take the position in favor of heavy reliance on internal refer- rals, in particular by combing social sites. Another student is asked to defend the opposite view, arguing that such a practice eliminates equal opportunity for employees outside the network who are more likely to utilize job sites such as Monster.com. Students will debate in small groups for approximately 15 minutes, to be followed by a class discus- sion of the issues raised to be mediated by the instructor. Experiential Exercise: Individual Critical Thinking Questions 4-12. Do you really think that social sites may inadvertently rein- force "segmented communication channels" as discussed in this chapter? Explain. 4-13. If you were an HR executive in a company that relies on internal referrals using the social media, what steps would you take to prevent this practice from engendering a more homogeneous workforce and thus blocking the firm from meeting its diversity objectives? Explain. 4-17. Rescarch social sites that may be used for internal referrals and those job sites that are open to any potential candidate. Based on this research, do you think that the social sites may promote more segregated employee networks, reducing the firm's access to a more diverse set of candidates? Explain. Sources: Based on Swartz, N.D. (2013). In hiring. a friend in need is a prospect, indeed, www.nytimes.com; Coy, P. (2013) Blacks lose when whites help whites get jobs, www.businesweek.com; Society for Human Resource Management (2014). Employers focus on inclusion, www.shrm.org. Hiring Who You Know as a Threat to Diversity While recommending a friend for a job has always been a natural way of recruiting employees, it might present a major barrier to diversity because employees tend to recommend people like them- selves. The social media may compound this problem as more and more companies rely on social media as a source of internal re- ferrals and thus save time and money in their recruitment efforts. For example, both Ermst & Young and Deloitte now hire about half of their employees from these internal referral sources, combing employee networks such as Linkedin and Facebook to identify potential candidates. These social sites allow companies to trace connections between job candidates and their employees, facilitat- ing the generation of internal referrals and thus avoiding the use of cumbersome job-search sites such as Monster.Com. In fact, pro- Experiential Exercise: Team spective candidates using those open-ended job search sites now suffer from negative stereotypes. Some coporate recruiters refer to applicants from Internet job sites as "Homers," referring to the lazy, doughnut-cating character Homer Simpson, and they refer to Monster.Com as "Monster.Ugly." Social sites such as LinkedIn do not carry a stigma for potential applicants because the company can trace the connection between a potential job candidate and cur- rent employees, and this removes much of the information uncer- tainty surrounding other potential candidates who are not part of the network. 4-14. Some companies now use incentives for current employees when new hires are socially linked to them and thus their social sites served as a source of internal referrals. What are the pros and cons of this practice? Explain. Team Exercise 4-15. The director of HR has appointed you to a committee responsible for investigating allegations that reliance on internal referrals through social sites undermines the diversity efforts of the firm. The class is divided into groups of five students, each of which is asked to develop a set of procedures to investigate such allegations. 4-16. In a role-playing exercise, one of the students is asked to take the position in favor of heavy reliance on internal refer- rals, in particular by combing social sites. Another student is asked to defend the opposite view, arguing that such a practice eliminates equal opportunity for employees outside the network who are more likely to utilize job sites such as Monster.com. Students will debate in small groups for approximately 15 minutes, to be followed by a class discus- sion of the issues raised to be mediated by the instructor. Experiential Exercise: Individual Critical Thinking Questions 4-12. Do you really think that social sites may inadvertently rein- force "segmented communication channels" as discussed in this chapter? Explain. 4-13. If you were an HR executive in a company that relies on internal referrals using the social media, what steps would you take to prevent this practice from engendering a more homogeneous workforce and thus blocking the firm from meeting its diversity objectives? Explain. 4-17. Rescarch social sites that may be used for internal referrals and those job sites that are open to any potential candidate. Based on this research, do you think that the social sites may promote more segregated employee networks, reducing the firm's access to a more diverse set of candidates? Explain. Sources: Based on Swartz, N.D. (2013). In hiring. a friend in need is a prospect, indeed, www.nytimes.com; Coy, P. (2013) Blacks lose when whites help whites get jobs, www.businesweek.com; Society for Human Resource Management (2014). Employers focus on inclusion, www.shrm.org.

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In todays world diversity is an important element in considering whom to hire and whose to promote But diversity does not trump accomplishments and ac... View the full answer