Why do some job application forms ask for your sexual orientation?

Robert1986

Robert1986

Robert1986

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Its abit invasive IMO. What sort of reasons do they need to know this information?

I am pretty sure its illegal in some countries to ask this. Just like its illegal to ask if you're planning on having a baby in the next year or so, which I have heard been asked in job interviews before.
 
As am employer I've never felt the need to ask this. We've got openly gay staff, openly straight staff and others whose sexual orientation I have no idea of and no interest in.
 
They shouldn't need to know your sexual orientation, I can't conceive of a scenario where it would impact on their, or others, performance in the workplace.

On the other hand, whether a woman is planning on having a child in the foreseeable future should be asked as it's something which could impact the company greatly.
 
Adz said:
As am employer I've never felt the need to ask this. We've got openly gay staff, openly straight staff and others whose sexual orientation I have no idea of and no interest in.
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Quite so!
It really does not matter as long as they don't make a career of their sexual orientation ie The only Gay in the Village syndrome. Or their sexual drive or otherwise is going to impact their work
 
I always thought asking this was bang out of order.

Besides, it's such a meaningless question. For example, I once took it rough for about 10 minutes but because I said 'no homo' straight afterwards it totally wasn't gay.
 
Here is one I've answered before:

One of the reasons for having it on applications (rather than being given the form once you have started) is so that they can ensure they aren't missing out on any possible candidates. Say for example you lived in an area where a good proportion of the community came from ethnic backgrounds and the company never got any applications from ethnic groups. They could look at their recruitment process and company image to see if there is anything that could be stopping candidates applying. Its just about giving everyone the same opportunities.

It isn't anything about quotas, I work in the public sector and have employed quite a few people. I have never been advised of a hidden agenda if there is one. I just employ people soley based on their ability to do the job. When selecting candidates for interview this information isn't available to me anyway even though employment services ask for the information.

The company want to ensure that they are not inadvertently excluding people based on their sexual orientation. They would obviously want to know about this and put it right. They would not want to appeal to any specific group of people, but neither would they want to exclude them. Based on how my employer works it wouldn't make any difference what box you ticked in relation to whether or not you got an interview.
 
In most occasions the bit that shows age, sexual orientation and disability is removed before the person doing the interviews sees them, its almost like a survey simply for HR reasons.
 
Disco Boy said:
Just so long as you are a black, gay, one legged woman with learning difficulties you'll be fine.
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It was not mentioned that this is a local authority job - more particularly ( though not excepting) one a them London councils where one doubles ones council tax when crossing into their domain
 
Because the government sets a bender quoter and each business over a certain number of employees has to hire X number of benders.
 
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