- The government pinned down on Friday seven French companies, accusing them of "discrimination in hiring".
- Candidates whose names sound like Maghreb would have a 25% less chance of getting a response from the recruiter, according to this test. A study criticized by the targeted companies.
- "From the point of view of the method, there are several problems", analyzes Jean-François Amadieu, sociologist of work.
Air France, Accor, Altran, Arkéma, Renault, Rexel and Sopra Steria…. These seven French companies, appointed by the government, are accused of "presumption of discrimination in hiring" towards people with a North African-sounding name. They would be 25% less likely to be recruited, according to the researchers. The study is however criticized by the targeted companies who criticize the methodology. So the government study, promised by Emmanuel Macron, is it reliable? 20 Minutes asked the question Jean-François Amadieu, work sociologist and professor at Paris-Sorbonne University.
Is the method used by the government reliable?
It poses several problems: the testers at Paris-Est-Créteil University have overwhelmingly chosen to use many spontaneous applications. It is not the same thing as responding to online job offers by making false CVs, as is done on further studies.
The second problem is that the authors of the study admit that they were not sure whether they got a response or not from the company (the response email may have fallen into spam, for example). Researchers therefore recognize the possibility of a computer problem. Another question asked by this study: were all the companies receiving the results, in order to be able to explain them?
Because of these various difficulties, the government has stated that it would repeat the test in better conditions. This does not detract from the fact that this result is not a surprise: we can take the example of Accor, whose name had already been given in 2008 and 2017 as a company spreading the CVs of people named North African consonance. For other companies, you have to be more careful.
Does the study itself, which only deals with discrimination on the names of candidates, have any biases?
Yes, the government has chosen to test only the question of origin. Currently, this is not the main discrimination. The first two are evident in the Defender of Rights' investigations: there is age, because being senior penalizes the candidate. In second, there is the physical appearance, in trades in contact with the client, concerning the hostess positions for example, on which one carries out a lot of studies. An obese or senior person will never be a host or hostess or sales hostess. These are two strong grounds for discrimination. There is something inadmissible which consists in always wanting to test the origin. It is very open to criticism, even if I am not saying that there is no discrimination elsewhere. You do the same tests by sending CVs of people 55 or obese, the result is catastrophic.
Can the name and shame technique of publishing the names of the companies concerned be an improvement?
Yes of course, but it's complicated to do, you have to take a certain number of precautions, otherwise companies will try to prove that there is deception. The companies which are turned towards the large consumption in particular, do not like to be quoted in such cases: even on the international level, that poses a certain number of problems. This is one of the methods that makes the most difference: reputation is a very effective lever.
Discrimination is still prevalent in the world of work. Do we have figures?
There is a clear improvement compared to the figures for the 2000s. At the time, it was around 75% less chance of obtaining a job with a North African-sounding name, on a sample of all company sizes. In 2020, it had nothing to do, there was progress, especially in the central human resources departments of large companies.
Which sectors are most affected?
Those where there is customer contact, essentially. This is the case in hotels, cafes, restaurants. Another factor to take into account: the more the sector is blocked, the more there will be discrimination based on age, disability, origin or physical appearance. What is central is the state of the job market.
We just did a study around Cherbourg, which is a large, very dynamic employment area in France, with even a shortage of workers. There, the chances are equivalent on the question of the name first name, there is no difference, because the employers do not have the choice.
Have large companies not already adopted a policy against discrimination? Is this a statement of failure?
For years, they say they take it up, via compulsory training, but have not adopted the measures that are most effective. When companies asked me to ask me what action to take, I told them about the anonymous CV. It is a solution which makes it possible to remove the mention of the name and first name. But 90% of HRDs (directors and directors of human resources) are hostile to the anonymity of applications, they want as much information as possible and explain that they are recruiting on social networks. While statistically, recruitment on these networks is marginal.
France is lagging behind what other countries like the United States are doing: you will never see a photo on an American CV, it does not happen. The objective is to protect the candidate, and to avoid all this discrimination.
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