To be shocked by this?

[lizzlebizzle33]

DP filling out a job application for very well known grocery store, the usual tick boxes appear such as gender, age etc but it actually asks your sexual orientation.

AIBU to think that this is none of their concern and definitely should not affect your chances of employment? Why are they asking this? I have never come across it before. Have you?

" When did companies start doing this? "

about 20 or 30 years ago.

Is it a tick box answer or can you put Northeast?

What has North East got to do with sexual orientation?

Orientation as in direction

Definitely been a thing for years and years - certainly my whole career, so the last twenty or so.

@DullAndOld I hear what you are saying and I can see the reason behind why they do it I just feel it should matter more who is best qualified or suited for the job and not if you help them to tick their equal rights boxes that's all.

It is good practice to ask for status including sexual orientation- so that they can monitor whether they are being an accessible employer.

However all this should be on a separate piece of paper that goes to HR and shouldn’t be part of the application form.

It's making sure they are not institutionally racist or sexist. People are subconsciously biased, and choose people like them in interview. With this system, if that happens it becomes evident.

It's the opposite of discrimination!

But these forms aren't used for selection at all - the recruiting manager doesn't get to see them, they are for HR to use for business purposes such as statistical reporting. Companies may make changes to their recruitment practices to become more attractive to certain demographic groups but they don't make recruitment decisions at an individual level based on protected characteristics.

It's completely illegal to discriminate based on protected characteristics, even positively, so you're breaking the law just by recruiting someone because they're a woman gay or BME* just the same as if you were avoiding recruiting them.

Businesses who use these forms have procedures for keeping them away from recruiting managers to ensure that they can't be accused of using them to discriminate. I'm not saying that no firm ever has, just that it's really far away from normal practice.

*You can actually specifically recruit based on protected characteristics under very specific circumstances where it's a requirement of the job - for instance, you can specify that you need a person with a specific disability to act a part on TV.

Yes they should appoint on the basis of merit. That's why straight, white men do so well - because they are so much better than the rest of us. No institutional sexism or racism anywhere. No unconscious bias. Nothing to monitor here.

This is totally normal now. I allows work places to monitor the diversity of the applicants / workforce, and take action if they are not attracting a Diverse workforce. By that, I mean a workforce that reflects the society we live in. I can assure you, as someone who has shortlisted countless job applicants in the public sector, I have never been made party to that information. I don't need to be. It's the kind of thing that people get outraged by, but for no good reason, as this is a force for the good. And you are never obliged to disclose.

If you come to N Ireland you can also be quizzed about your voting habits and what religion other people would perceive you to belong to (not what you actually consider yourself to be). And you can theoretically be prosecuted if you answer incorrectly.

They should write "I am the only gay person in the village" 😄
A dear friend of me underwent gender transformation .....what do you write then....tbc?!

yikes.in most U.S.states it is illegal to ask about
Race, color, creed, sex, national origin, age 40 or above, disability, ancestry, pregnancy, off-the-job use of tobacco,
the first 5 are all states the others are dependant on the job type and how many employees(?)in company
some states like california are more detailed
california
Race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, breastfeeding, sex, gender identity, gender expression, age 40 and above, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, retaliation

most follow the basics of the cali laws but dont have them"on the books" and the retaliation one is if you were a whistleblower at another job or filed a discrimination claim on an employer

When I was interviewing candidates for an NHS post, one diversity form came back with 'none of your fucking business so fuck off' on the sexual orientation bit.

I had to fill in this question on a form to take a Legs, Tums and Bums class at the local leisure centre.

I have never seen a less diverse class: endless lines of wobbly white women (yours truly being amongst the most wobbly). How is it relevant to anybody, though, what sexual orientation any of these women were?

If you are in the UK - under the data protection act this sort of data (and your voting practices and religion treaclesoda) are classified as “special category data” and the organisation must have a specific and lawful reason for asking you to disclose this. Check out the ico website for your rights. You can ask them what that reason is.

Just for the posters saying it's ok because it's in a separate form and the interviewer won't see it, it was on the same form on this occasion.

OP that doesn't mean the interviewer or person shortlisting will get to see it. Unless they are actively seeking someone of a specific gender or sexual orientation, it will be used purely for monitoring purposes.

it should matter more who is best qualified or suited for the job and not if you help them to tick their equal rights boxes that's all.

They don't use it to decide whether to hire someone or not. The person making that decision shouldn't even see this information.

However, if they identified that they weren't ever getting applications from a certain group, say people with disabilities, then they may need to look into why they aren't getting these applications. It might be that they are unintentionally discriminating against this group in some way. They can't correct that discrimination is they aren't aware of it.

This info may be on the same form but it's usually on a separate page which is removed before the form goes forward to the people making the shortlisting decisions. Information on applicants is important for the company to know that it's not putting barriers in place by the way it's advertising.

I have never seen a less diverse class: endless lines of wobbly white women (yours truly being amongst the most wobbly). How is it relevant to anybody, though, what sexual orientation any of these women were? It's very relevant if you're trying to provide a service which doesn't indirectly discriminate.

This is a common question. One organisation I worked at was majority white, not just employees but also applicants. Not reflective of the local area at all. The strategy was to bring in apprentices via local college, paid work experience as part of a BME “work prep” course and targeted job advertising in different media.

In France they do not collect this information, so are unable to 'see' racist discrimination.

The forms get separated before the recruiters see the personal information. It becomes anonymous data used by the company for monitoring.

This is a good thing, not a bad thing! It fights discrimination.

@DalekDalekDalek

They don't use it to decide whether to hire someone or not. The person making that decision shouldn't even see this information.

However, if they identified that they weren't ever getting applications from a certain group, say people with disabilities, then they may need to look into why they aren't getting these applications. It might be that they are unintentionally discriminating against this group in some way. They can't correct that discrimination is they aren't aware of it.

Explained this way Meeks a little more sense to me thank you.

I recently had an HR representative call me to ask if I was diverse before deciding if I was offered an interview or not. It's happening all the time.