Online newspaper E24 tells that parts of the management at Sopra Steria have operated with the term “blacklist” for job seekers.
They have seen e-mails from director Odd Inge Bjørdal to their management group, where things like “Put on blacklist” and “Check she’s on the Blacklist” when job applicants are assessed – including former employees.
Bjørdal is director of technology and operations in Scandinavia, who call themselves “one of the largest competence centers within IT infrastructure in the Norwegian market”.
The use of the term arouses strong reactions, and Bjørdal is self-critical.
Shouldn’t be real
– The word “blacklist” should never have been used, and as leader I should have immediately distanced myself from the term, writes Bjørdal to E24.
He claims there isn’t one real “blacklist”, and that the term has only been used for one “status” people get if they are not relevant for the position they are applying for.
But regardless, he promises the online newspaper to stop using the word.
– We have occasionally had a direct and informal tone between the managers, and I am sorry that this has developed under my leadership, Bjørdal tells the newspaper.
Monday 18 March 2024
“Worst I’ve Heard”
Regardless of what “blacklist” actually means in practice, the term arouses strong reactions.
– That is the worst thing I have heard, says Nito lawyer Kirsten Rydne to E24.
– I do not have words. It sounds so frivolous. To say something about the severity, we need to know more. But just the very word “blacklist” makes hairs stand on end.
Econa, a professional organization for economists, also reacts strongly.
– The fact that Sopra Steria chooses to operate in that way is grave and sad. On a general basis, everyone has the right to a safe and good working environment, says managing director Nina Riibe at Econa to E24.
Thursday 14 December 2023