To have been “racially” profiled by HR

[Donotfitin]

I don’t have a British name (like at all), so HR assumed I needed a right to work code, so asked for one, rather than asking if I was a citizen or not.

As a UK citizen I only need to provide my passport, so the whole thing took me completely by surprise!

Its the first time in my whole life that it was assumed that I wasn’t a citizen. I’ve

Whataboutery 101

I think you’re overthinking this to be honest

Yeah, you are right they did not ask you for a passport, they asked for a share code

doesn’t have to be due to racism

could be because they copied and pasted some template response without looking into your specifics in any depth

or they could have confused you with someone else?

the first thing about working for central or local government that you need to know, is that everyone is incompetent. Don’t assign malice or racism when it’s likely someone doing the bare minimum on auto pilot.

I aggree with you. They need to update their procedures sharpish. Saying that as someone with a Spanish name who is also a British citizen. Some people´s brains explode with that one. Your name should be Sarah Twiddlethumb in order to be British.
I would have answererd, no idea what code you refer to, but here is my British passport...

That’s new info re who sent it. You’d think they had encountered a variety of names on their job.

it was addressed to me.

best practice would be to ask for both.

I never said it was with malice, just that they made assumptions based on my name

I was interested in this so did a bit of Googling (immigration boards, fb groups etc). It seems the UKVI account becomes invalid and it doesnt automatically update with the new status.

Id imagine that when you go through the process to generate a code it'll say something like "if you have citizenship you shoud not generate a code" and/or the immigration status would show as invalid or out of date to the employer.

It doesn’t matter if it was addressed to you, that doesn’t automatically equal racism.

Listen, I want you to take the job then re-read my message about 2 weeks into the job. You’ll know exactly what I mean by shit colleagues - whereby this isn’t racism, just people doing their jobs with a lack of care. The best of the best, do not work at local councils unfortunately.

I’d see it as a sign of sloppiness to come in the role, but you have zero evidence to equate that to racism

Well it's plain stupidness of the person who sent you the email, why oh why assume that someone needed to send their share code rather than ask for passport in the first instance unless as you say is stereotyping, which again is stupid in their role.

Like - We check all new employees for right to work, could you please provide us with a copy of your British passport or share code, whichever is applicable.

I fall under the category of having to show a share code and it's astonishing how many British people that actually work with recruitment or in similar fields who have not got a clue. I have had it reversed, they seem to assume in my experience that if you have been here for a while then you are good to go as in my case, as I am white, have a fairly British/European sounding name and speak and write English.

Which is why I used quotes.

Regardless, their incompetence was result of a bias.

It reminds me somewhat of the quote from the American comedian George Carlin from back in the 1990s:

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realise that half of them are stupider than that"

And unfortunately for the OP, a fresh wave of them have just waded in.

Are you still going to work for them since they're

a) sloppy
b) unprofessional
c) racist
d) clueless about employment or practice
e) any combination of the above

Just wondering

Me too and I haven't got a passport so that caused them a few headaches. BUT what they didn't ask me for was the code that they asked OP for because you, me, and OP will never ever have the code or be able to get the code that they asked for. The reason we won't be able to get the code they asked for is because...we're British and British people can't get a code. Aaaagghhhh!

Some people come on mumsnet and it's like:-

1. Skim OP
2. Find kneejerk obvious thing to react to
3. Open mouth, let random bit of brain fall out onto keyboard
4. Leave thread, forever unaware that youre the twelfthty billionth person to make that dumb point.

And the person saying it's "Sloppiness"... well that implies we all might make kneejerk parochial assumptions about names at work, that amount to microagressions, if we didn't keep ever vigilant.

Someone made the wrong assumption and didn’t follow best practice, I don’t think that’s a reflection of the company as a whole.

Why? Why would it be wrong to assume someone isn't British if you don't see any issue other than requirements around right to work in the UK, if someone isn't British?

Sure, maybe it was racist or xenophobic, or maybe it was just an assumption based on nothing more than "foreign surname - must be non-British - better ask for proof of right to work" and clumsy phrasing?

So much this! 💯

Asking for Right to Work is a must in any onboarding process.

However, the best practice is to be inclusive and give the options, rather than assume one option applies and not the other.

🙄

Some of you are really tying yourselves in knots to deny the racial profiling here. It’s shameful.

I've recently joined a new employer and as part of the onboarding process I was asked to share my QR code. I am also a British citizen and had to do this via the gov.uk app thing. I'd need to go back and check my emails to double check the wording used but was definitely asking to share a QR code.

I don’t see how….

Ok then, if you feel that way then refuse the job. Drama over.

If you genuinely feel you are being discriminated against then you should not take the job.

Also interested to know about this QR code.