Are all HR questionnaires this bonkers these days?

[NoCloudsAllowed]

These were my options for gender and sexual orientation on a job application the other day. Is this typical?! It's been a while since I was job hunting.

"Butch", if it was indeed a "gender", surely is going to overlap with at least one of the other "genders"? eg Butch cisgender, or Butch transgender etc?

@yetanotherusernameAgain 'Why do serial shaggers not have an identifying name?' They do, it's Dave

If someone puts Butch for one and then Questioning for the other, surely that tells you absolutely nothing (apart from that they are probably not going to be leaving long hairs in the basin)?

This is hilarious.
How is "gender non conforming" a gender identity? You have to know which gender you're not conforming with!

Did they give descriptions/definitions of each of them?

I've recently been asked to apply for something that involved a very similar section in addition to insisting on the declaration of pronouns (it's mandated on the forms and because it's online you can't progress to the next section without it).

They've also stated that applicants must include pronouns on CVs.

UK, not something with an office based in other countries.

And if you put omnigender and omnisexual, that's going to fuck with the inclusion data surely? No way to tell what sex you are, so what needs you might have, or what rights might need to be protected or taken into account?

Make sure to tick the most bizarre one and they’ll automatically hire you to fulfill their DEI quotas 😂

Nope

Not in UK but it could be quite interesting if they did and people knew🙈

Honestly, most of the time these are just copied from some form an HR person found on the internet. They are so often full of mistakes and they don’t really know why they are collecting it.

As an HR consultant, the number of times I have advised people on this and they can’t tell me why they are collecting this data and what they plan to do with it is alarming. There is just a feeling that they ‘need to do this to be inclusive’.

Particularly noticeable in small organisations. Pointing out to people that if you include this on surveys you will often make people personally identifiable and so they feel they can’t answer honestly. It’s amazing how this just doesn’t occur to people.

Well I’m a run of the mill heterosexual but they can fuck off if they think I’d tick cisgender.

@AppleDumplingWithCustard I thought that as well

Well, unless it lets you pick multiple answers, you can't anyway - you're either 'female' or 'cisgender'...

I think on that form, I'd just click "other" and leave it at that.

On the forms I've looked at, even though selecting 'Other' shouldn't require an explanation, it invariably brings up a mandatory response box to enter your own description of 'other'.

I'd select 'other' and make them scratch their heads trying to work out what they had missed...

I’ve applied for loads of jobs in the last couple of years and yes most of them are as bonkers as this. Not really something you can argue about when you need a job to pay the mortgage and feed the family 🥲.

The EDI form where I work has all the usual crap but the only compulsory questions are nationality and sex at birth. There’s a note saying something about statuory requirements for those two.

I'd phone HR and ask them to explain each one to me. They wouldn't have a clue. Just don't answer?

For most online forms, you have to answer mandated questions or you can't select 'next' to progress through the form and complete it.

Just as an aside did you know that employers can only keep certain data about their employees. https://www.gov.uk/personal-data-my-employer-can-keep-about-me

Had similar in a recent application to a UK company. Annoyed that Gender ID (with list of ridiculous options) and sexual orientation were mandatory although there were options for prefer not to say. Makes me paranoid that it'll cause bias. I'm sure only biological sex is mandatory to monitor under equality act. 'Human Remains' department obviously captured

What the hell could "other" cover

HR person here.

What a load of absolute rubbish. I'd resign before sanctioning this absolute captured claptrap.

All we actually need to know is

Do you have the right to work in the U.K.?
What was your sex at birth? (If it's a sex-specific role). I think there is also a sex requirement on the HMRC payroll form.

We need to make sure that we're not so open-minded that our brains fall out.