How to report on ED&I effectively

1 - Why is reporting on ED&I data important?
2 - What ED&I data should I record?
3 - The requirements around sex and gender
4 - When should I record ED&I data?
5 - How long should I keep data and what about people who are hired?
6 - What does this mean for my applicant tracking system?

Why is reporting on ED&I data important?

You do not have to track how many job applications you receive from different groups of people, or the characteristics of the people working for you - unless you are hiring in Northern Ireland!

But it can be beneficial.

It is against the law to treat someone less favourably than someone else because of a personal characteristic such as religion, sex, gender reassignment or age.

Discrimination can include:

• Not hiring someone
• Selecting a particular person for redundancy
• Paying someone less than another worker without good reason

You can discriminate against someone even if you do not intend to. For example, you can discriminate indirectly by offering working conditions or rules that disadvantage one group of people more than another, or through methods of sourcing and advertising candidates.

So recording and monitoring can help employers identify if they are operating fairly, or if they need to improve. It could also help defend the Employer against accusations of discrimination. Doing so for the advantages that employing a diverse range of people brings is compelling:

• Diverse companies enjoy 2.3 times higher cash flow per employee (Deloitte, 2021)
• 19% Revenue Increase for companies with diverse management teams compared to their less diverse counterparts (Boston Consulting Group, 2021)
• Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. (McKinsey, 2021)

What ED&I data should I record?

It is stated in the Equality Act 2010 it is against the law to discriminate against anyone because of:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

These are called ‘Protected Characteristics.’ Typically, these underpin the question employers ask and the data they record. The answers – often in the form of a list – can vary. Your ATS – like Jobtrain – may have used these to pre-populate questions and answers that you can choose to use or you can create your own. We would advise referencing those used by the ONS, or ISO.

Employers with operations and employees within Northern Ireland will likely be subject to legislation requiring them to monitor and report data about religious affiliations of applicants and employees. This is known as Article 55 and is overseen by the Equality Commission Northern Ireland. Full details can be found here.

In all cases the person being asked or provide an answer option along the lines of ‘’Prefer not to say’,’ The latter is more useful to the Employer as they can statistically record how many took part and how many preferred not to answer specifically.

If you collect data of the protected characteristics of job applicants or staff, you must protect their data, and you must not discriminate against a candidate based on their personal information.

The requirements around sex and gender

Sex - which is defined as Female or Male - is a protected characteristic and so should form the basis of monitoring, using that terminology.

In an effort to promote diversity within their organisation, some employers may - or may intend to - collect equality information on gender identity and trans status to promote diversity within the organisation. This sometimes leads to Sex being replaced by Gender as part of an employer’s monitoring questions and data capture, rather than it being an additional question to Sex.

Referring to the protected characteristics above:-

The EHRC Employment Statutory Code of Practice states that monitoring of transsexual staff is a very sensitive area and opinion continues to be divided on this issue.

Gender reassignment and any information related to an individual’s gender history will constitute special category data under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, which can only be processed for certain specified reasons.

Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, it is a criminal offence for a person who has acquired (in an official capacity) protected information regarding an individual’s gender identity to disclose that information to any other person.

We would therefore recommend employers think carefully about their needs and justification for collecting this sensitive data, and if necessary, seek legal advice.

When should I record ED&I data?

In the context of recruitment, it is important this is data is collected from all who apply at the point they apply. This will give you a full picture of all your applicants, which is useful in understanding not just who is applying, but how they progress within your recruitment process, and ultimately whether they are hired or not.

Bear in mind, different levels of job – particularly senior ones may have short application processes, or may come via an agency.

Are you doing any sourcing that is bypassing your online application process in your ATS? Think about how to collect this data for all applicants regardless of the application route. Your ATS may have an agency portal that can help agencies submit applicants and still capture this data, and/or it may have a two-stage application facility that prompts candidates to add missing data after initially applying.

What should I report on and what should I look for?

You should report on the count of applications for each protected characteristic versus attraction source/method.

This will give you an idea of whether you are attracting a diverse of applicants, and subsequently if the method or source of attraction is having a positive or negative influence.

Count of Applications, Interviews, Offers and Hires for each protected characteristic This will inform you if candidates with a protected characteristic are not progressing through the process. This may point to direct discrimination, such as bias or prejudice from those making the selection or hiring decisions. It could be indirect/unintended discrimination, such as selection criteria or procedures that adversely affect those with a certain protected characteristic. The initial data will not give you the answer, but it will highlight if you have a problem and where it might be so you can investigate further.

How long should I keep data and what about people who are hired?

GDPR will give you all you need to know about keeping personal identifiable data, but the key theme is only as long as justifiably required.

However, reporting on personal characteristics should always be strictly anonymous and traceable to an identifiable person. Thus, it should be non-identifiable statistical data, in which case you can keep it indefinitely. What you need to do is separate the personal data that should be promptly archived and deleted once no longer justifiably required, from the non-identifiable statistical data. Check if your ATS -  like Jobtrain - can do this automatically.

What does this mean for my Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?

• Capture equality data consistently for all applications within it and try and ensure that all applications are logged by taking advantage of features such as an Agency submission portal.
• Check the questions and answers align with the personal characteristics in the Equality Act and if in Northern Ireland Article 55 too.
• Ensure to facilitate a way of opting out of answering questions.
• Check your system can separate the personal identifiable data and equality data, so that the latter can be stored anonymously for statistical reporting.
• Create your reports and review and refine regularly.