Recruiting compliance ensures companies hire qualified candidates for open roles while also meeting legal requirements based on local, state and federal regulations that promote equity and fairness.
Why Is Recruiting Compliance Important?
It’s important for a company to ensure recruiting compliance to promote equity for everyone involved in the hiring process. A recruiting and hiring team that effectively tracks and implements any needed updates based on recruiting compliance requirements also saves the company money from potential fines and time spent on unintentional recruiting compliance issues. Failure to comply with hiring-related regulations can also lead to lawsuits and, more importantly, damage to the company’s talent brand.
What Does Recruiting Compliance Protect?
Recruiting compliance supports a fair hiring process, protects candidates from discrimination and promotes pay equity.
Discover actionable tactics and checklists to address wage growth, pay transparency and hybrid compensation within your organization.
Anti-Discrimination
Countries have different laws that promote equal employment opportunities. In the United States, these regulations are created and enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). These federal regulations aim to ensure companies do not discriminate based on a list of protected classes, including race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age and genetic information.
Pay Equity
In many states across the country, it is illegal for companies to ask about a candidate’s current or past compensation. Laws banning discussions over salary history aim to promote equity by preventing companies from underpaying individuals based on their previous compensation. It’s crucial for anyone involved in the hiring process to be knowledgeable of these salary history regulations to avoid large fines and any potential pay equity issues. These regulations can also lead to pay transparency in the form of a pay range provided to candidates who are applying for a particular open position.
How to Promote Recruiting Compliance
Stay Up-to-Date on Recruiting Compliance
It’s important for HR teams to take the lead on staying accountable for any updates or new regulations related to recruiting and hiring. HR and recruiting teams who are knowledgeable when it comes to hiring best practices and current recruiting compliance standards protect the company from potential exposure to legal ramifications. In order to stay up-to-date on recruiting compliance, it is important for HR teams to know where to find these labor law resources. HR teams can access resources from the U.S. Department of Labor’s website or by joining groups for HR professionals, such as the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM).
Interview Training
A great way to promote and communicate recruiting compliance within an organization is to provide interview training to anyone who is involved in the hiring process. An effective interview training provides hiring teams an understanding of why recruiting compliance is important, the different laws relevant to hiring, unconscious bias training and information on best practices, all in order to provide a great interview experience for candidates.
Applicant Tracking Systems
There are a variety of applicant tracking systems (ATS) in the market that can automate a number of processes depending on the needs of a company. More importantly, these technology platforms automate recruiting compliance requirements such as providing a self-identification form for applicants and offering reporting tools that meet EEOC reporting requirements. An ATS also provides process consistency by making it possible for anyone involved in the hiring process to understand the recruiting workflow. Without an applicant tracking system, a company not only risks making human errors in recruiting compliance reporting but it also becomes much more difficult to track the recruiting workflow developed to ensure consistency, equity and compliance.
Discover actionable tactics and checklists to address wage growth, pay transparency and hybrid compensation within your organization.
