Name Discrimination in Australia: How COVID-19 Changed the Game for Job Seekers

Key Insights

• A recent Monash study reveals that during the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring discrimination against ethnic minorities in leadership positions saw a significant decline.
• However, discrimination persisted for non-leadership roles, highlighting uneven recruitment practices across different job levels.
• Researchers submitted 1,239 applications for leadership roles and 7,179 for non-leadership positions in response to 3,500 job ads across six professions in Australia.

Personal Experiences

When Niti Bhargava, a financial expert in Melbourne, struggled to find a suitable job, her recruiter suggested changing her name to something more 'Anglo'. “It was frustrating because I had all the qualifications, but I wasn’t getting any callbacks,” she reflected.

Aamir Qutub, an IT professional, faced similar challenges upon migrating over a decade ago. “I applied for over 300 jobs in three months and didn’t get a single interview. This could have been due to my ethnic name as well as my lack of local experience,” he shared.

Changes During the Pandemic

The first-of-its-kind study explored ethnic discrimination in hiring, focusing on applicants with Chinese and Indian names applying for both leadership and non-leadership roles. The study aimed to understand if COVID-19’s labour market shock influenced ethnic bias in recruitment.

Professor Andreas Leibbrandt, who led the study, stated that the gap in hiring discrimination between English names and ethnic names largely disappeared for leadership positions during the pandemic. This shift marked a significant change from the more pronounced discrimination that existed prior to COVID-19.

Findings on Callback Rates

During the pandemic, callbacks for all applications fell to nearly five percent across all name types, compared to pre-COVID times, when English names received double the callbacks of other ethnic names. In contrast, the ethnicity gap remained statistically significant for non-leadership positions, with response rates for resumes with Indian names around 12 percent, compared to 25 percent for English names.

The study suggests that government anti-discrimination initiatives during the pandemic may have played a role in reducing bias. It also highlights proactive steps for employers, such as implementing anonymous job applications and utilizing AI recruitment tools to assess applicants objectively.

Conclusion

The Fair Work Act 2009 safeguards employees in Australia from workplace discrimination based on age, disability, race, or gender. As the study indicates, hiring diverse leaders could help organizations improve their diversity and inclusion practices.