Toronto-based organization FoodShare announced on Monday that potential candidates will be compensated $75 per hour for interviewing with them.
“It’s something that we have been thinking about for quite a while,” said FoodShare’s Executive Director Paul Taylor while talking to Humber News this week.
“We have been focused on centering justice and equity in our work. And for us, that means not just the work we do out in the community, but also how we do it and how we support our colleagues who are doing this work,” said Taylor.
The decision comes after the company felt that attending interviews should be considered labor as candidates might be taking time off work to do the interview. “Preparing for an interview is labor. It’s labor that employers have been expecting people to do it for free,” said Taylor.
“Candidates have to take on so much of this and not only are they preparing for interviews, but often they have to take time off work. They need to go on long commutes, secure and pay for child care in order to attend the interview,” said Taylor.
University of Toronto Professor Rafael Gomez told Humber News that calling it labor is however a stretch.
“Considering it compensation for the time that could otherwise be used in a more productive purpose,” he said.
“If an employee or a potential employee, the prospective candidate wants compensation, it should be up to the firm to say yes or no,” said Gomez, who specializes in labour market analysis.
However, making it a norm in bigger corporations could be more difficult. “With these things, the market decides if it proves to be successful,” said Gomez.
“In terms of economics, why would you give someone money for just showing up to an interview?” said University of Toronto Associate Professor Raji Jayaraman.
Incentivizing job interviews would be beneficial for smaller firms as it would help them attract more candidates, but Gomez said that bigger corporations are attractive enough for candidates to attend regardless of the incentive.
“They might use this strategy to make sure that the applicant pool is deep enough to at least get a few qualified candidates that they can select from,” said Gomez.
Makiong compensation the norm is still in its early phases.
“I think we have to build momentum to start by making it the norm, demanding it, and having a policymaker legislate this sort of thing,” said Taylor.
But there are factors that need to be taken into consideration. “It really depends on how tight the labor market is, the demand and supply. If there’s relatively little supply, and there’s a lot of demand it is in the company’s best interests to provide incentives for people to apply to their jobs,” said Jayaraman, who teaches economic analysis.
“It is possible that it will be an effective strategy,” said Jayaraman.