Login or become a Shortlist subscriber

"Wellbeing washing" puts new placements at risk

Organisations are effectively "catfishing" candidates by not portraying an honest picture of their EVP during the hiring process, a recruitment leader says.

This is especially occurring in the form of "wellbeing washing", where a company sells up its wellbeing and lifestyle benefits, with promises that are only surface-level, says Karan & Co CEO Lauren Karan.

"It's almost like catfishing an employee," she tells Shortlist. "You're saying to somebody, 'we care about wellbeing, we don't work crazy hours, you'll have work-life balance and flexibility', and that's what you sell to get the employee in."

But when they start, "it's like 'hang on, I'm working crazy hours, I don't have flexibility, everything that I was sold is a lie...