Health questionnaires in recruitment
In my last blog I explored one of the issues raised in the new Equality Act (which will come into force from October this year) – that of equal pay and the culture of secrecy concerning salaries.
Another change in this forthcoming legislation is around the use of Health Questionnaires during the recruitment process. Currently it is fairly common practice for employers to send out a Health Questionnaire as part of the application pack. This usually takes the form of a list of medical conditions, asking the applicant to declare which ones she or he has.
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The new law will ban employers from asking candidates questions about their health which are unrelated to the job they are applying for. There are two main reasons I like this move. The first is that it will be impossible for the recruiter to discriminate on irrelevant grounds of health at this stage in the recruitment process. The second is that it will be impossible for the candidate to claim discrimination on grounds of health at this stage in the recruitment process.
However, on appointment, the employer is entitled to ask new recruits questions about health issues. At this stage they can either make reasonable adjustments if required, or justify their need to withdraw the job offer.
The grey area, I suppose, will be on deciding what health conditions are relevant to the particular post. Clearly, poor eyesight or severe uncontrolled epilepsy would be relevant for someone wishing to apply for a driving job, whereas controlled asthma or diabetes might not. There will be other less clear cut examples. It would be expensive for an employer, having gone through a programme of recruitment to then realise that the candidate they have offered the job to isn’t suitable after all. So there will be a need to make it clear in the application process what the nature of the role is, and what health issues might be relevant.
As a company we have never issued Health Questionnaires during the recruitment and selection process (although we do ask if candidates need any reasonable adjustments to attend for interview – which will still be encouraged) so this change won’t affect us.
What about your business?
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About JaneHattonJane Hatton helps people with disabilities find a job through an Even Break. If you are an employer who is looking to recruit a talented individual from a Jane, then take a look at how you can here
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6 Responses to Health questionnaires in recruitment
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For us this is a tough one, as there are legal requirements for the most common roles that we have – the person must have a valid UK driving licence, failure to have that means that no matter how brilliant you are at driving, you cannot drive for us. There is no reasonable adjustment that we can make if someone is denied a driving licence for health reasons, we have to abide by the DVLA.
By the same token, if someone develops a condition and they lose their licence we rarely have alternative roles that are non driving available. Our back office team is very small and any additional work is outsourced, it's essential that our team is as lean as it can be to keep costs down.
I need to look into this some more as it will have a big impact upon us if we are not allowed to ask if their health can affect/will affect their ability to drive a vehicle.
You are perfectly safe on this one Sarah. Being able to drive is clearly a fundamental requirement for someone doing a driving job, and you will always be able to ask related questions. If the requirement is justifiable for the role you are entitled to ask for evidence of their ability to fulfil that requirement.
In larger organisations it is sometimes easier to find different roles if someone acquires a disability (e.g. in a fire brigade recently a fire fighter developed epilepsy and was no longer allowed to drive, but he was still able to be part of the fire fighting team, just not drive the engine). A small business wouldn't be expected to create a non-existent job to accommodate a newly-disabled employee.
Twitter: evenbreak
I had a member of staff at our gym who failed to mention she has uncontrolled epilepsy. We then discovered she has a heart condition as well (though she hadn't known about this herself at the time of applying).
In this situation, we needed to make someone redundant, and I managed to persuade her that her health situation probably meant she would need to take time off sick quite a lot and working in a gym might not be the best environment for her.
In this, as in all recruitment decisions, the best person for the job is the over riding criteria. If a person's disability or health condition impacts on their ability to do the job, and reaasonable adjustments can't be made, then this isn't the right job for them. The new legislation talks about health factors which are related to the job role still being relevant.
Twitter: evenbreak
Hi Jane
I can see the point of some laws more easily than others. I seem to remember reading somewhere that there have been (heaven knows how many) more laws introduced during this latest Labour government than ever in previous regimes.
I'm not being deliberately awkward here, I genuinely wonder if anyone knows the answers:
Who are the laws really meant to help? Did anyone coming up with the laws ask these potential beneficiaries if they would indeed help? How easily and productively they could be implemented? Will they, in the case of health questionnaires in recruitment, make red tape even more of a nightmare for small and growing businesses? Will they make any difference to those who habitually ignore anything they don't like the sound of, do not believe is in their interest and “know someone who knows someone” who'll help them circumvent them if they're in danger of being caught out?
Twitter: Linda_Mattacks
People will get idea on how to questions regarding any health related topic.
Sample questionnaires