A Comprehensive Approach to Addressing Recruitment Risks in China

Recruitment in China comes with risks such as non-compliance with labor laws and violations of employment equality and personal information protection regulations. Understanding these risks and compliance issues is crucial for businesses. Employers should focus on job qualifications related to position requirements and avoid mentioning unnecessary or discriminatory qualifications in job postings.

Recruitment carries inherent risks. Non-compliance with labor laws, as well as violations of employment equality and personal information protection regulations during the recruitment process, can result in administrative penalties or other legal consequences.  Understanding the relevant risk points and compliance issues is crucial for businesses operating in China. 

Recruitment is a critical function that significantly impacts an organization’s success. Beyond filling vacant positions, it serves as an opportunity to showcase company culture and enhance the organization’s overall image. However, recruitment also comes with inherent risks, and being aware of compliance issues is essential.

In this article, we explore risk management strategies for five common activities within the recruitment cycle, including job posting, resume collection, interview, background check, and offer issuing.

To ensure compliance and promote fairness, employers should avoid mentioning certain job qualifications in their postings. Below are some qualifications that are unnecessary or should not be included:

*Notice on Further Regulating Recruitment Activities and Promoting Equal Employment for Women states that in the process of developing a recruitment plan, posting recruitment information, and employing personnel, all employers and human resources service agencies are prohibited from imposing gender restrictions (except for job scopes specially prohibited for female employees) or give priority to certain gender.

** The Employment Promotion Law of the People’s Republic of China states that no employer, when recruiting employees, shall refuse to employ a job candidate on the basis that he/she is a carrier of any infectious pathogen. However, no carrier of any infectious pathogen that has been proven by the medical examination shall enter into any employment that is prone to facilitate the spread of infectious diseases and is therefore forbidden by laws, administrative regulations, or the public health administration department of the State Council before he/she is cured or eliminates the suspicion of carrying such infectious pathogen.

When posting recruiting information, enterprises are recommended to focus on job qualifications related to position requirements, such as skills, certificates, major, and work experiences, and avoid describing requirements that are related to individual characteristics like age, height, gender, religious belief, or hometown.

This article is republished from China Briefing. Read the rest of the original article.

China Briefing is written and produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The practice assists foreign investors into China and has done since 1992 through offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Please contact the firm for assistance in China at china@dezshira.com.