New guidance launched to combat disfigurement discrimination

A national charity is giving employers and jobseekers a helping hand to handle the sensitive issue of disfigurement, in new guidance published today.

Changing Faces, which supports those living with scars, marks or conditions that affect their appearance, has developed guides for employers and jobseekers to overcome employment barriers faced by people with disfigurements.

More than half a million people in the UK have a facial disfigurement. Research by Changing Faces found that 43 per cent of its clients said that they had not applied for a job because they believed their face would not fit in. Some 46 per cent had experienced being treated differently by an interviewer.

Sally Mbewe, a business psychologist and face equality at work adviser for Changing Faces, said: 'With almost one in every hundred people of working age having an unusual facial appearance, many fear that reactions from employers will jeopardising their chances.

'At the same time, many interviewers are fearful of asking the wrong thing, using inappropriate words or being accused of discrimination. These fears mean that many talented and capable individuals are left out of the job market, and employers are losing out on potentially high quality candidates.'

The Equality Act 2010 includes 'severe disfigurement' as a protected characteristic, making discrimination illegal. However, Lucy Wilson, a journalism student at Sheffield Hallam University, experienced rejection when applying for a part-time job in a high street food retailer.

'The interview went well, but I saw them glancing at my hands a few times,' she said. 'Telling them that I engage in sports, and other handiwork, I presumed that they knew that I was well enabled.

'After a week of hearing nothing, my mum actually went into the shop to see if they had chosen someone for the job. They said they hadn't because they wanted to pick me, but weren't sure whether to take me on due to the appearance of my hands.'

Wilson added that the new guidance would have given her the confidence to talk about her disfigurement and deal with her interviewers concerns.

The charity's guide for jobseekers explains how to deal with the application process, as well as the rise in popularity of the 'visumé', a video application, increasingly common in the creative industries.

The guidance also gives advice on how to approach interviewers who are distracted or confused by the jobseeker's appearance.

For recruiters and interviewers, the guide provides advice on what they are allowed to ask, how to avoid being distracted by a candidate's appearance, and how to focus on what they are saying.

'By demonstrating what success can and does look like in the workplace we can start to replace the fear of rejection, of causing offence and of being accused of discrimination, with confident dialogue, open-mindedness and fair decision-making,' added Mbewe.

Launching the guides at Taylor Wessing, Caroline Rawes, head of resourcing at the firm, said: 'The new guides for employers and jobseekers from Changing Faces enable every employer to provide a fair and equal recruitment process when an applicant or candidate has a scar, mark or condition which affects their appearance.

'The detailed information in each guide gives clarity, provides useful guidance and allows for open and flexible communication, and I hope that Taylor Wessing will be the first of many firms who'll adopt the guidelines in the coming weeks.'

The guidance can be found in full here.