Warning about adopting Apprentice style interview skills

By Simon Rice-Birchall
Partner, Human Resources Group, Eversheds Leeds.

Telephone: 0845 498 4978

Email: simonricebirchall@eversheds.com

SIR Alan Sugar, who fronts the show billed as a 12-week job interview, has recently commented that he believes it is right that women are asked about their plans to have children and how they expect to look after their children while at work.

In last year’s series, the Amstrad tycoon put pressure on contestant Katie Hopkins to think about whether she could commit to the job, as she had two children to care for and would need to re-locate to London.

While this exchange obviously took place as part of a TV entertainment programme, employers should be reminded that using such behaviour during a real job interview could land them in hot water. In the real world, employers are on dangerous ground if they voice concerns about childcare provision in an interview situation.

Potentially, they could find themselves falling foul of sex discrimination laws. Also, comments about people being too old or too young for a particular job are classic examples of direct age discrimination and would almost certainly give rise to a discrimination claim under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.

Businesses need to be aware that an individual who comes for a job interview, or fails to obtain an interview, has the right to bring a discrimination claim if they feel they have been unfairly treated on the grounds of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or age. Therefore, employers need to have the right processes in place to ensure that the recruitment process is handled fairly right from the first stage.

This might require training for managers and ensuring that the best practice principle of ‘best person for the job’ is adopted throughout the organisation.
While Sir Alan Sugar is famed for uttering “You’re fired” to the apprentices under his charge, in the real world it’s actually very difficult to terminate an apprenticeship in line with obligations under employment law.

In fact, case law has shown that unless circumstances make it impossible for the employer to carry out the purpose of the contract i.e. teaching the apprentice his or her trade, very little will justify the apprenticeship being terminated.

This warning comes at a time when the Government recently has announced plans to double the number of apprenticeships to 500,000 a year by 2020.

Given the impending downturn in the UK economy, employers need to remember that even in a redundancy situation they may not be able to release apprentices.
An employer could only be permitted to end an apprenticeship if the business was shutting down or changing the nature of its work completely. A simple need to reduce headcount would not suffice.

Employers should be prepared to show a little more patience to their real-life apprentices, than is shown to their TV counterparts.