Discrimination in the workplace can have many faces — whether due to age, disability, origin or gender. In recent years, however, more and more attention has been drawn to the challenges in everyday working life that a wide variety of groups of people still face. Legislation is also slowly creating the legal framework to counteract discrimination, for example based on gender. Since the end of 2018, it has been possible to register your own gender not only as “male” or “female”, but also as “diverse.” In addition, according to the General Equal Treatment Act (§ 1 AGG), employers in Germany may not discriminate against applicants based on their gender.
But how can I create a non-discriminatory working environment as an employer? Companies are often uncertain how, for example, people of the third gender can be better involved in communication with applicants. Gender often seems complicated.
Don't worry! Here we explain how you can bring more inclusion into the application process so that gender discrimination in our working world is a thing of the past in the future.
Job ads: The first step
In Germany, according to the General Equal Treatment Act (§ 1 AGG), employers may not discriminate against applicants on the basis of their gender. Since 2019, job advertisements should also be formulated in a gender-neutral manner. Gender neutral — What does that mean exactly?
A well-known method is the double naming of a job title, such as “project manager and project manager”, in combination with the abbreviation (m/f). The aim is in fact to appeal to both female applicants and male applicants. However, this salutation — often unintentionally — excludes a very specific group: namely people of the third sex. Since the groundbreaking Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court As well as the legislative amendment in favour of the third sex and the possibility of registration in the birth register, the AGG also covers protection against discrimination against the third sex — even though it does not know the third sex itself.
But what does the term “third gender” actually mean?
The third gender includes intersex people who were born with both female and male sexual characteristics and therefore cannot be clearly assigned to the female or male gender. Should intersex people refuse to be categorized as female or male themselves, they can now officially register their gender as diverse since 2018. Not only intersex people but also non-binary people benefit from this regulation. People whose gender identity cannot be described as either male or female, although, in contrast to intersex people, they only clearly have male or female gender characteristics are considered non-binary.
In order not only to address female or male people and to violate the AGG, it is important to include all applicants linguistically using gender-neutral language.
Gender-neutral language? Sounds complicated, but it's actually not too difficult to implement in practice. The classic (m/f), which stands for male or female, must now be added a third abbreviation. (m/f/d) is then often used, where the d stands for “diverse” here. Alternatively, the following formulations may also be used:
- mwd: d for diverse
- mwa: a for different
- mwx: x for any
- mw*: * for any
However, it is not enough just to make the job title gender-neutral. Instead, attention should also be paid to gender-neutral language in body text. In doing so, every company has the freedom to gender as it wants. Because there are no fixed rules for gender in running text. We summarize the most common methods for you here:
1st gender asterisk
The best known is probably the so-called gender asterisk, in which the male and female forms of a term are separated by an asterisk. The small rays of the asterisk, which point in different directions, symbolize different gender identities. For example: employee, employee
2nd underscore
Alternatively, in some cases, an underline is used to represent the entire, colorful spectrum of genders. Here, the male and female versions of the word represent the two outer poles. For example: employee, employee
3rd colon
Recently, the so-called gender:colon is now being used more and more frequently. Because a recurring criticism of gender-appropriate language in general is that the flow of reading is interrupted in an “unpleasant” way. However, the colon is considered the most reader-friendly option. Apart from that, in contrast to the gender asterisk and the underscore, it is reproduced by voice output programs for blind or visually impaired people through a short break in speaking and is therefore more inclusive in more than one way. That's why the gender:colon is often our method of choice;). For example: employees, employees
Our tip: With creativity, gender-neutral formulations can also be found as an alternative. For example, instead of “We are looking for a sales employee,” he says “We are looking for reinforcements for our sales team.” And from “You are (a) team player? “Will “Teamwork be your thing? ”
Job interviews — that's what matters
Anyone who really values fighting discrimination in their company should, however, be careful to use gender-appropriate language and other measures throughout the application process. Because inclusion doesn't stop with the job ad. Quite the contrary: This is just the beginning.
It is therefore important to continue using the preferred variant of gender-appropriate language in all written contact. Gender asterisk, underscore or colon — that is up to each company. Also note: Not every applicant wants to be addressed as “Mr.” or “Mrs.”. How about just using the first or last name instead? This is how a “Hello Mr. Mustermann” becomes a “Hello Max” or “Hello Mustermann.” The same applies, of course, to personal contact during a telephone or job interview. Care should also be taken to gender orally. Although this may sound strange to some ears, it is a first step that inclusion in the company is not only played out, but above all actively lived out by employees.
In application portals, too, you can pay particular attention to addressing as many genders as possible in the application data input mask and then offer not only the options female and male, but also diverse when selecting the gender (in addition to name, address, etc.).
Another important step to avoid discrimination in the application process is to be careful not to ask inadmissible questions during the interview. Therefore, it is, for example, not allowed to inquire about the gender or sexual orientation of the applicants. Questions about family planning, such as the intention to marry or a possible desire to have children, are also prohibited. In addition, asking applicants about a current pregnancy should be avoided. Finally, questions about partnerships or family circumstances are also taboo. Questions such as: “And what does your husband do for a living?” , can be avoided. Don't forget: Of course, you shouldn't just cover questions about gender or sexual orientation. Rather, there are also questions about other characteristics, such as age, origin, political beliefs or religion, disability, which may violate the AGG. A more comprehensive overview can be found in our checklist.
Should a discriminatory question be asked, applicants do not have to answer it and may even lie without facing consequences after employment.
To ensure that there is no doubt as to whether applicants have not been discriminated against because of their gender, we recommend that you carefully plan and document every step of the application process. For example, if the selection criteria for a job interview have been clearly defined in advance, both an invitation and a rejection can be plausibly justified. On the one hand, hard factors, such as grades during studies, language skills or previous professional experience, but also soft factors such as creativity, communication or analytical skills, can be decisive. In addition, it is easy to identify and record these qualities in a job interview by asking the right questions. In principle, a personal interview with applicants should, if possible, also be conducted with two people, according to the “six-eyes principle”. This ensures that another witness is present in the event of a dispute. Alternatively, consent can also be obtained from the applicants to start the interview.
If you want to be on the “safe side” in particular, you should also document the course of the job interview with notes and establish a process for storing all application data. Applicants' personal data can be stored for up to 6 months, but should then be deleted for reasons of data protection law.
It is not difficult to present yourself as an inclusive company that particularly cares about “diversity”. But at the latest when you look at successful applicants, the working environment in the company or the filling of management positions, the façade often crumbles. If you want to achieve real change and combat discrimination within your own ranks, you must actively invest time and resources. It is therefore important to prepare the entire application process, adapt language and communication and respect different perspectives. Only with the necessary effort can all applicants be given a fair chance of finding the vacant position. Conversely, it is not only the company's reputation that benefits from an inclusive application process. Rather, this ensures that only the person with the highest qualification and the best skills is really employed.
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