How To Prevent Discrimination In The Workplace
Discrimination in the workplace is the unfair treatment of an employee based on their sex, race, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, or religion either during employment or during the recruitment process. Discrimination in the workplace is unlawful if the person being discriminated against is a member of a protected category (for example gender, age, disability, religion, national origin, race, sexual orientation, and pregnancy).
Discrimination can transpire between an employer and the employee, as well as between co-workers themselves, and includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Denying someone a position based on the person’s personal characteristics
- Giving one employee a contract which includes different condition from another
- Overlooking someone for a promotion
- Being denied training, compensation or benefits
- Unfairly terminating a contract
- Harassment based on personal characteristics or sex
For more see: Here’s What You Need To Know About Discrimination In The Workplace
It’s no surprise then that if a company is accused of discrimination against their employees, not only will harmony be lacking, but it could severely impact the company’s reputation. In some cases, discrimination is direct and very obvious like paying your female employees less than the male ones for doing an equal amount of work.
However, in other cases, it’s more subtle and the employee may not even realize they are committing an act of discrimination. For example, advertising a job asking for a “woman” for a makeup artist, or “a man” for construction work. This immediately hinders the opposite sex from even applying without even looking at qualifications. Or the employees may not be aware of discrimination going on in their company because they’re not the one delivering it. So, the best thing someone can do for their company is to take measures to try and prevent it before it ever happens. Here are some of the things employers can do to prevent discrimination in the workplace:
Start from the beginning
When you’re advertising a position for a job opening at your company, try to avoid using terms that could make a group of people feel excluded from even applying. Use “looking for an experienced individual”, rather than using “man” or “woman”.
Raise awareness
Educate your employees on what is and isn’t discriminatory behavior. For example, think of holding a training where the issue will be dealt with in detail – from knowing how to identify it, to what steps you can take if you’ve been affected.
Create a discrimination policy
Have a policy in place for dealing with discrimination which will allow your employees to feel free to issue a complaint or seek help. Include in the policy that all employees are to be treated equally, and let them know discriminatory behavior won’t be accepted.
Make someone in charge of dealing with complaints, but also let any person who’s in a position of power, like supervisors and managers, know they are also tasked with reporting complaints and helping the employees deal with them. Then, make sure to deal with the complaints fast, and don’t let discriminatory behavior go unpunished.
Have a handbook
Have an employee handbook where all the rules and policies regarding discrimination in the workplace are included, as well as the steps they can take if they feel like they’ve been discriminated against.
Seek professional advice
Before you try to implement any policies, it’s a good idea to consult with an attorney on what should be included. Moreover, if discrimination does occur, and you think the issue is too sensitive to be dealt with personally, and especially if the descrimination was done against a person in a protected category, seeking professional advice is always suggested.