Equal employment opportunity
Equal employment opportunity refers to the approach used to ensure fairness and impartiality in their employment and recruitment practices (Byars & Rue, 2010). This term was first coined by President Lyndon Johnson during the signing of the executive order that prohibited employers from discrimination against employees based on sex, race, gender, age, and religious affiliation. The concept of equal employment opportunity has gained enormous acceptance across the world, and many firms have been forced to implement the laws. Therefore, it has come to pass that it is illegitimate for a firm or employer to segregate against an employee based on any of the elements mentioned (Byars & Rue, 2010).
The need to provide equal employment opportunity for all qualifying employees has stimulated the emergent issue of diversity at the workplace. As organizations expand due to globalization, most of them are gaining impetus to accommodate diversity as they penetrate world markets. In the current global trends, it is incumbent upon employers to implement equally-based and discrimination-free recruitment and management practices in work stations (Byars & Rue, 2010).
Equal employment opportunity serves to give guidelines for employers to treat their employees fairly and respect the actual worth of an individual while using skill, experience, knowledge, and merit as key attributes for consideration (Byars & Rue, 2010). Clearly, equal employment opportunity helps organizations to remain diverse and gives the disadvantaged an opportunity to move along with the rest of society.
Recruitment Techniques and their effectiveness
Employment referrals
Employment referrals have been pursued by most employers as one of the recruitment methods. Studies show that though employment referral schemes are a traditional approach for recruitment, it remains widely used. This is where employees are drawn from their related networks. A growing body of literature suggests that the rate of employment via this approach has grown substantially over the past decade.
A survey of organizations that use this recruitment technique reveals that it is less costly attracts required skill (Byars & Rue, 2010). However, critics have argued that this technique has implications from diversity and equality grounds. They argue that this technique has limitations of discrimination. However, proponents of the employment referrals argue that when properly and fairly instituted, this method can offer the best mechanism of obtaining skilled employees. They argue that firms using this approach must be able to set clear and objective boundaries of participation by stakeholders.
Internet recruitment
The emergent explosion in internet technology, internet recruitment has grown to be a fundamental medium of recruiting employees by employers and recruitment agencies around the world. Internet recruitment has been cited as an effective approach to recruiting Information technology, graduates, and middle-level managers. With internet technology, firms can encourage direct applications that allow all potential employees are allowed to undergo the recruitment process (Byars & Rue, 2010).
The effectiveness of internet recruitment for most employers includes a reduction in recruitment costs, accessing a wide pool of skills, shortened recruitment cycle. The technique can be efficient because it allows firms to utilize technology to yield an objective view by matching applicants against key recruitment criteria (Byars & Rue, 2010). Fairness and equality-based approaches can be assured since the technique creates a chance for firms to utilize a number of pre-selection tools, which improves the likelihood of marching skill with vacancy.
References
Byars, L. L., & Rue, L. W. (2010). Human Resource Management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.