What is discrimination in the workplace?

6 of September, 2022

Discrimination is a longstanding problem that has eaten deep into most societies in the world. No matter the location, there are always people constantly suffering from discrimination. Whether because of their race, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or other defining factors. To make matters worse, this sort of behavior has spilled over into the workplace, creating even more problems.

As an employer, it is your job to provide a work environment free of discrimination for your employees. One where they feel free and safe enough to put in their very best to the tasks assigned to them. Learning about workplace discrimination and how to handle it is key to helping you achieve this.

What is considered discrimination in the workplace?

Workplace discrimination is any unfair or biased treatment of employees or staff in a workplace simply based on their race, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or other distinguishing factors. This biased treatment often affects hiring, firing, promotion, salary levels, benefits, and other key decisions that affect employee experience. 

Over the years, there have been a lot of laws to prevent acts of discrimination, and while this has been helpful to mitigate the situation a bit, it is not completely eradicated and is still causing major problems in many workspaces. Some of the most common types of workplace discrimination include age and race discrimination. 

Age discrimination in the workplace

Age discrimination in a workplace is the unfavorable or prejudicial treatment of individuals who are, in most cases, older than their peers. According to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), it is against the law to treat individuals who are age 40 and above less favorably than others in the same workplace. This is an example of the many laws that exist to combat workplace discrimination.

Race discrimination in the workplace

As with the case of age discrimination, race discrimination is the unfair treatment of employees of a particular race. This is oftentimes associated with the color of the skin, however, racial discrimination can also affect those with certain racial characteristics such as hair texture, accented speech, facial characteristics, and many more.

How to combat workplace discrimination?

Discrimination in the workplace has eaten deep into the system and has caused a lot of problems not only for the individuals affected but also for the business organizations involved. So, how can organizations combat this and ensure a seamless workflow and continued productivity? One of the ways to combat this problem is by nipping it in the bud before it escalates. 

Business organizations need to put their foot on the ground and make it clear that workplace inequality is not okay. But how would you do this if you own a large organization and can’t monitor every single person individually? Well, this is quite simple. Large organizations can handle this problem through a whistleblowing channel. 

Conclusion

A whistleblowing system is one where employees, clients, and even suppliers can anonymously report any unwanted acts that they might have observed. This system helps increase the transparency of the organization and makes them more trustworthy. There are reliable tools like Sesame HR that can help combat this issue. By maintaining that much-needed transparency, businesses can boost productivity and efficiency. And finally, eradicate discrimination and other unlawful acts that can jeopardize the consistency and productivity of the workplace.