Ban the box update

NOTE: This post was originally published in August 2016 and has been updated with more recent data.

The Ban the Box movement was initially reviewed in this blog in the 2013 post, Should the box be banned? The movement continues to grow and this blog has updated the progress.
Since the last update in September 2018 there hasn’t been much in the way of new legislation. However, some states are refining their Ban the Box laws. Massachusetts passed a Ban the Box law in 2010, which included private employers when most states have laws only covering State job applications. 

In October 2018, a Massachusetts criminal justice reform bill went into effect that included further Ban the Box regulation. The new regulations include disclosure of misdemeanor convictions for three years instead of five. Employers cannot inquire about expunged records. Applicants that have had records expunged may legally answer “no record”.

While past private employer Ban the Box bills have failed in Colorado (Law already cover State employers), the 2019 legislature may be amenable to idea.

What is “Ban the Box”?

For the last several years there has been a movement to remove from employment applications the “box” that asks the question, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime” or any inquiry about criminal history. What has become known as  “ban the box”, the campaign feels that one’s criminal history should not be a consideration of employment at the time an application is submitted, rather, at a later time during the interview process. It is felt that asking this question on the application reduces the chances of those with criminal records to be employed. Employers should meet applicants first, get to know them, give a chance to explain themselves and then get to the criminal history. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated its policies, issuing guidelines in 2012 suggesting that employers wait until after a personal interview before making inquiries about criminal history.

In January 2014, there were fifty-six cities that had “banned the box”. As of September 2018, that list included over 150 cities and counties, and 32 States (Eleven of which have laws that include private employers)

CURRENT STATE LIST

Arizona

California*

Colorado 

Connecticut *

Delaware 

Georgia 

Hawaii*

Illinois*

Indiana

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana 

Maryland 

Massachusetts*

Minnesota*

Missouri 

Nebraska 

Nevada

New Jersey*

New Mexico 

New York 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon*

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island* 

Tennessee 

Utah

Vermont*

Virginia 

Washington*

Wisconsin

*States with laws that also cover private employers

The Society for Human Resource Management posted a good article that breaks down laws State by State, which can be viewed at Ban the Box Laws by State and Municipality .

Maryland Ban the Box

            Maryland’s law took effect October 1, 2013, and applies only to State of Maryland employment applications. State government cannot ask about criminal record or criminal history of an applicant until the applicant has been provided an opportunity for an interview. Exempt from the law are positions in the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Baltimore passed a similar law in 2014, restricting employers with 10 or more workers from asking a candidate about criminal records until after a conditional employment offer is made.

In 2017, Louisiana became the first state to enact a ban the box law for state institutions. Maryland passed a law in 2017, but the Governor vetoed it. In January 2018, the Maryland legislature overrode the Governor’s veto, reinstating the law.

As the laws regarding criminal history continue to evolve the legislative season is a good time to review your interview and questions and job application content.

Click here for other posts relating to Ban the Box.

How AI affects finding a job

AI hiring is making finding a job difficult

When my children were looking for jobs I so wanted to tell them to print a bunch of resumes and go door to door. That was five plus years ago and the old ways of applying for jobs had already changed. October 2018 had the news that Amazon was abandoning its use of AI (artificial intelligence) recruiting software. 

Watching my kids search I realized how hard it was to get yourself in front of a real person in order to sell yourself. Being at the end of a long career and not having had to look for a job in a long time, I felt for them in this new world. A majority of companies have online applications. Which saves a lot of time and effort as applicants can sit at home and get their resume to as many businesses and recruiting companies as they can. The problem then and now is knowing how to write your resume and complete the applications. Not that’s its any great discovery, but I long suspected that companies used algorithms to filter the resumes. If your application doesn’t hit the right marks it may never make it to a hiring manager.

AI Recruiting

In November 2018, Amazon admitted to having a secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias towards women. Reuters reported that Amazon had been developing software since 2014 that would review applications. The hiring tool would assign candidates scores of 1-5. Developers realized that the program “learned” by reviewing resume patterns over the last ten years. During that period a high number of resumes came from men. The models developed skewed towards assigning men higher scores. The system taught itself to rank lower the word “women” and downgrading women colleges.

Amazon tried to program in gender-neutral terms but eventually abandoned the project in 2017. Amazon officials told Reuters the program was an experiment to find a way to aid in recruitment of the best candidates. The AI program was never used in actual hiring. Reuters reported, however, that Amazon did not deny that recruiters reviewed the recommendations made by the program. 

The Reuters article cited a 2017 CareerBuilder survey of U.S. human resources managers finding that 55% would be using AI over the next five years.

Application tracking

Until AI is further developed, hiring managers will continue to use Application Tracking Software (ATS). Very simply, ATS reviews applications by word according to parameters set by the company. Back to my rather obvious suspicion online applications are filtered. If your resume doesn’t hit the right notes, your application goes nowhere. It’s also the reason applicants rarely hear back from companies after submitting a resume. It never reached a person who could reply with a polite, “Thank you, but no”.

A JobScan blog posted in 2016, The History of Applicant Tracking Systems credits the first ATS to Canadian Martin Ouellett who created an early form in 1996. Since that time ATS has been refined and developed. As of 2016, over 300 ATS are being used by 90% of companies.

You can definitely feel for people looking for jobs today. The market is tight and getting your resume in front of a real person is difficult. Knowing the playing field and learning the rules of job hunting is a job within itself. If not an education.

Please feel free to share this and any post. See the blog archive for more posts about Hiring.

A generation changes hiring

What benefits are you willing to provide to attract today’s workforce? The U.S. Millennial generation is poised to outnumber Baby boomers by 2019. The Pew Research Center estimates that Millennials will number over 73 million while Boomers decline to 72 million. This population surge also translates to the workforce as Pew reported that Millennials did, in fact, surpass Baby Boomers in 2016.

So the chances of your hiring pool being populated by Millennials is very high. What you were offering in the way of incentives and hiring packages in the past may not be of interest today. Applicants may turn down your offering because of a better package elsewhere. And that doesn’t always mean money.

Companies know that the job marketplace is changing. In order to be competitive, incentives to hire are being reconsidered. Pension plans are being phased out as companies look to save money and retirement accounts have become portable. While one business may pay well another may have a more “millennial” conducive atmosphere. The younger workforce seeks independence and freedom to make choices. You don’t need brick and mortar to start a business and these potential employees know that. Today is easier than ever to follow the dream of being your own boss and launching a business that will change the world. Attracting and retaining talent is becoming difficult and competitive. Companies need to tap into the energy that is driving the marketplace. But how do they draw potential talent into the corporate world? By downplaying the corporate label and integrating freedom and flexibility into the workplace.

Being aware of massive student loan debt facing today’s graduate, companies are offering better than average salary options as well as paying for postgraduate degrees and training. The cube farms of yesteryear still exist to some extent, not everyone can have a corner office. But the office decor is more upbeat and well lighted encouraging a more productive environment. Playing to the work-life balance many companies have embraced the idea of unlimited leave. Which may sound like a pathway to abuse but past studies have shown that employees with unlimited time off benefits actually took less leave. If a business doesn’t have a gym on the grounds they offer access to established gyms nearby. Team bonding events, both on and off-site. Nurseries. Pet sitting services. Meals and snacks. The list is ever growing and is only limited by the employer’s imagination and of course what they can afford.

Studies have shown that the Millennial generation is changing the marketplace. They are also changing the workplace. If not by their expectations of what employers should offer but how the company is managed. The entrance level employees ten years ago are upper-level management and CEO’s today.

You may offer a traditional employment package with a higher salary but if your competitors' benefits and culture are better, you’re losing talent. If not at the hiring phase but during retention. Changes to the hiring and benefits culture may be a slow drag for some employers into a new era but it should also affect the workplace in its entirety in a positive manner.

See the blog archive for other posts relating to the Millennials workforce.

Hiring in the Millennial age May 2017
Customer service in the Millennial age March 2017
Not like all the others September 2016