In March 2006, as part of the equal opportunities bill, an amendment was passed that will make it mandatory for all companies with 50 or more employees to preserve the anonymity of job candidates. The exact terms of implementation will be decided by further legislation. This provision has been created in a context where there is increasing emphasis on issues concerning recruitment diversity. Nevertheless, the new amendment has not received a warm welcome.
The new law on equal opportunities (in French) contains several important provisions that have been largely overshadowed by the debate on the ‘First job contract’ law (Contrat première embauche, CPE) (FR0605059I). These measures (FR0605049I) include an unexpected amendment that was presented during examination of the draft law by the Senate, which states that ‘in companies employing 50 or more employees, information … provided in writing by a job candidate will be examined in conditions where anonymity is preserved’. This is a clear reference to the curriculum vitae (CV), and public opinion has, therefore, linked this amendment to the ‘anonymous CV’ proposal that had initially been suggested in November 2004 in a report by AXA’s former Chief Executive Officer, Claude Bébéar, entitled Companies in French colours (Des entreprises aux couleurs de la France, 1.5Mb PDF) (FR0412103F).
Contrary to expectations, this amendment was approved by the French parliament (Assemblée Nationale) and the Senate, although the former stated that the terms of application are subject to a bill to be issued after consultation with France’s Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d’État). There is uncertainty as to the status that the anonymous CV will have after this consultation process. Moreover, as the law can only be applied after publication of the decree, this process could defer its implementation for an indeterminate amount of time.
Furthermore, this law allows for officials from the High Authority in charge of fighting discrimination and promoting equality (Haute autorité de lutte contre les discriminations et pour l’égalité, HALDE) to use ‘discrimination testers’ through undercover applications, so that an act of discrimination may constitute a penal offence. This measure could be a way to combat labour market discrimination.
Trade union reactions
The trade unions have not reacted enthusiastically to these issues, as the remaining parts of the law on equal opportunities have received less attention amid the controversy over the CPE bill. However, certain organisations have spoken on the subject during parliamentary hearings. In particular, the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT) considers, in line with the Bébéar report, that the anonymous CV ‘does not constitute a unique response to the fight against labour market discrimination’ and that ‘minority representation and recruitment procedures must be overhauled so that diversity may be promoted’. The General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) considers that, taking into account the sheer scale of the struggle against discrimination in the workplace, this measure seems ‘somewhat trivial’, as does the legalisation of testing methods.
The General Confederation of Labour – Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail – Force ouvrière, CGT-FO) has taken a more favourable stand, stating that ‘an anonymous curriculum vitae will allow candidates to get over the first hurdle in the employment race. After an interview with a recruiter, only testing could determine whether there has been further recruitment discrimination.’ The French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff – General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l’encadrement – Confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC), which had stated at the time of the Bébéar report that the idea of an anonymous CV was ‘interesting’, has now declared that this idea is ‘a formula that must be tried’.
Employer reactions
On the employers’ side, reactions have been more negative. The Movement of French Enterprises (Mouvement des entreprises de France, MEDEF) regrets the voted amendment on the anonymous CV, and adds that it would have been better to leave the matter to the negotiations that began in February with trade unions on the subject of diversity in the workplace. The General Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Confédération générale des petites et moyennes entreprises, CGPME) has reacted strongly, by claiming that: ‘the smallest companies often decide not to recruit at all after reading a CV and, whatever the case, they do not have the time or the means to apply the principle of anonymity’. The law is, therefore, seen as being ‘inapplicable’. Syntec-Recrutement, an employer organisation for recruitment consultants, has taken a similar stand and considers that the measure is ‘difficult to apply in reality’ and that there is little chance that it could fundamentally modify discriminatory habits.
If the principle of the anonymous CV is adopted, the bill of application, which is yet to be divulged, will determine the range of this measure’s implications. More specifically, the CVs could conceal some or all of the following:
- elements of civilian identification (name, age, sex, address, nationality, photograph);
- elements that could provide further information on this data (such as dates relating to education and professional experience that could be used to analyse individual track records).
Moreover, it is not yet known to what extent intermediaries in the job market, such as recruitment consultants, temporary work agencies, and internet job boards, will have to implement this provision.
Yannick Fondeur, Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES)