Development of Discrimination in Workplace

Discrimination happens everyday in the world. Many people face discrimination at work, school, driving, or normal everyday activities. Some examples include different treatment based on race, gender, religion, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity by employers. The major type of discrimination that is sweeping the nation is racial discrimination. The toss up of racial discrimination may seem so crazy to people. Unfortunately, there are many people who are dealing with this problem across America. America is a huge melting pot.

This country has conformed so much due to all the different races that are here. America is the home of the free, welcoming many different types of people. African Americans have reported a large amount discrimination in many different scenarios.

Racial discrimination has been around for a long time and getting the nation over this problem will be a long hard process. They have faced issues when applying to jobs, being paid or promoted, or when dealing with the law. It has to start with this generation to start turning the tables. It all started with slavery. African Americans have always been put down and made out that they are not worth what a white person is. In 1966 the percent of African American officials and managers were 0.87%. In 2013, that jumped up to 6.77%. There has been an increase in acceptance of the Blacks in the workforce. Businesses have been skeptical about having diverse workplaces. Maximizing the value of each employees’ contribution is a key element in business success. Hiring new people allows for a company that will grow tremendously. Showing the United States that different races of people can help grow our nation, and showing our concern and need for these people will make this world a better place.

Racial discrimination in the workplace can be either obvious or subtle. It can be sometimes difficult to see discrimination and take action against it. There have been federal Anti-Discrimination laws that have been put into place to protect individuals from discrimination. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from refusing to hire an employee based on their race, firing or disciplining an employee because of their race, paying an employee less because of their race, giving less bonuses based on someone’s race, failing to give benefits, promotions, or opportunities to an employee based off of race, or improperly classifying or segregating employees or applicants by race.

Just recently a man sued google for not protecting an employee while doing undercover work. This man was from the Moroccan descent (Shu, 2018). He was asked by google to go into businesses and find out information about Wifi signals in stores. He was told to not give any information at all. While gathering this information he was subjected to harassment, including being asked if he was a terrorist (Shu, 2018). This man turned around and sued Google for not disregarding his safety while on the job. Google never provided a ID badge to help minimize harassment. The white people who did this same job did not get harassed like this one particular man did.

Another company being sued for racial discrimination is Founders Brewing Co. Founders’ management named two of the printers the “white guy printer” and the “black guy printer.” Management on the second floor used the white guy printer, while the general employees on the lower level used the “black guy printer.” Evans was a black manager at Founders’ in Detroit where white workers were blatantly racist towards him. Evans was passed over for a promotion to two positions in favor of two white employees (Perkins, 2018). Evans stated he trained these two white employees and had a seniority over them.

In Princeton, New Jersey, a woman is filing a lawsuit because she claimed that she was paid less than her colleagues because of her race and was subject to racially insensitive comments (Toutant, 2018).

Culture diversity can be a very beneficial factor to a company. Diverse culture perspectives can bring creativity and innovation. Bringing people from different backgrounds to preform together an help create some of the biggest most successful companies if it is done right. There are many different people to give ideas. This allows people to bounce personalities off of one another. One suggestion can lead to another and resulting in one of the most complex products.

For companies who sell products overseas it is important to know what it is that is needed in other countries. Having a company full of diverse people can benefit a company when marketing products. Say a company wants to send a toy to China. Having a person from China in the company can give ideas to make the product more competitive and profitable. Having the same culture of people will never allow a business to expand its horizons.

Having different cultures means higher quality, and targeted marketing. A good example of this is Walt Disney World. This is a company made up of many different cultures. When walking into a park there is a station for maps of the park. This map can be found in many different languages. Having people from these different cultures helped in making this map for people like their own. This in turn benefited Walt Disney World by having a higher quality product.

Having diverse talent allows a company to attract and retain the best talent. Advertising being a multicultural company attracts many people. Making people feel they are welcome who ever they are will in turn lead to a huge gain of different talents. It is then more attractive to the public leaving the companies employee turnover very low.

Adaptability means faster and more effective planning, development, and execution. A company with cultural diversity has a quicker ability to see changes in the market. Diverse companies accept change better than companies who aren’t diverse.

Diverse teams are more productive and work better together. Each individual comes from a different background. Each person has their own way of solving problems. Being able to put these different methods together can be helpful when having to solve an issue and being able to grow from it.

Discrimination happens in all different cases, businesses, and atmospheres. It is crucial that Americans stand up to do something to help fight discrimination that goes on. There are many different ways to help eliminate any forms of discrimination. The first very important way would be through education. Many people who discriminate do not know much about another culture other than the look different, talk different, or wear different clothes. Educating employees about discrimination and all the ways that discrimination happens can help get rid of this horrid problem in the workplace.

Encouraging employees to respect one another for who they are and their differences can provide a lot of good to the table. Instead of looking at employees and judging employees by what they look like, encouraging employees to work together may help with this issue. Thinking of a potluck, every individual brings a dish. Incorporating these events into a company can help set aside all the room for discrimination. Inviting employees and their families for some social time can help get rid of some barriers. Inviting families will give people some comfort allowing them to talk to one another. Everyone bringing a dish allows people to respect one another by sharing cultures.

Responding to any evidence or complaints of inappropriate behavior can help in the long run. Letting employees know that discrimination is not tolerated in the workplace can set the mood for the whole environment. Letting each individual know right away what is expected and what standards they are held to will prevent any mishaps of confrontation later on.

Developing a workplace policy that prohibits discrimination can be provided in an employee handbook or employee training. Each company has a code of ethics. In this is where all of the expectations will be explained. Giving training in the beginning of the job and throughout the job duration can help with how to avoid discrimination.

Training supervisors on how to deal with discrimination can be a huge factor to factor into a company. Dealing with this type of problem can be stressful and frustrating leaving the supervisors in a hard spot when having to report these issues. Once a supervisor investigates and establishes that an employee has indeed discriminated or a manager has discriminated another employee they must follow through with the right procedures. Making sure that when a supervisor reports discrimination it is considered an unacceptable behavior.

Constant reviewing of the policy and ensuring it is effective is the last most important job. This can be done with holding a meeting for all staff once a month. This gives the opportunity to go over information and keep it all fresh. This allows a company to make changes wherever the company needs.

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