Minorities in the workplace often have distrust when it comes to the fairness of promotion policies of companies. According to Woog (2018), this distrust develops when the advancement rules are not clear. Meaning, when people cannot understand how or why some people get promoted while the others are not, especially when it looks like people who are qualified are getting passed over for candidates who are less or equally qualified in a group of non-minority. As such, because of these unclear rules of the promotion, Woog (2018) asserts that most of the people of color and women employees fill in the gap with an explanation that bias is involved in promotion because of their gender or race.
Discrimination has affected promotions chances in the workplace in so many ways. According to Hammond, Gillen, and Yen (2014), many cases where employers have promoted workers by disqualifying or selecting them based on factors such as race, sex, gender, religion, age, disability, pregnancy, or political opinion among other protected factors have been reported. For instance, research shows that employees who feel discriminated have reported cases of qualified employees being passed over for promotion by their employers for candidates who are less qualified or may be equally qualified based on the above-protected factors.
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Discrimination harms workplace productivity. Firstly, in organizations where discrimination exists, it hurts the morale of workers, the environment and culture (Pratap, 2017). This is because, discrimination can affect employees psychologically, resulting in anxiety and depression, and in this way, it adds to the work stress of workers and in turn reduces their job satisfaction and morale. Finn (2017) adds that the lack of motivation can result in increased absenteeism and a lack of motivation to meet assignments’ deadline. Secondly, discrimination can harm workplace productivity by increasing conflicts and reducing focus (Pratap, 2017). In this manner, discrimination distracts employees from their jobs, increase the feeling of rejection, and also give rise to circumstances not favorable to company or workers. As such, friction and conflict are certain in reducing productivity through negatively affecting performance.
According to Chuasiriporn (2018), employers are dealing with workplace racial discrimination by establishing a clear policy statement regarding the zero-tolerance stance of a company on workplace racism and also by embracing diversity in the workplace. Woog (2018) emphasizes that this policy entails policies to clarify the criteria for promotion through establishing clear expectations and standards for all workers; encouraging minority employees to establish connections and network; training managers to give feedbacks that are clear and to coach workers on career development.
Because of the zero-tolerance policies by employers in conjunction with the various Employment and Discrimination Acts prohibiting discrimination of any kind in the workplace, there have been some positive changes regarding workplace discrimination. For instance, the pertinent laws of federal enforced by the “Equal Employment Opportunity Commission” including the “Civil Rights Acts of 1964 Title VII, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and Americans with Disabilities Act”, all have helped to diminish workplace discrimination (Bosworth, 2018). These Acts have diminished workplace discrimination because they have enabled discriminated employees to be aware of their rights and as such, they are encouraged to report such cases whenever they exist. Due to this, discrimination does not openly occur in the workplace, and a few cases which take place are covert. Additionally, employers have also realized the negative effects discrimination has cost them in their organization thus they try to discourage it through zero-tolerance to discrimination policies.
Conclusion
Workplace discrimination carries with it a number of negative effects including harming the productivity of employees in the workplace by affecting them psychologically and physically, thereby reducing their morale. Because workers are at the core of every organization, employers should be increasingly concerned about their welfare to enhance the growth and productivity of an organization. Therefore, it is the work of employers to ensure that no kind of discrimination exists in their organization by strictly implementing zero-tolerance discrimination policies.
References
Bosworth, K. (2018). Promotion discrimination in the workplace. Chron . Retrieved October 5, 2018, from https://work.chron.com/promotion-discrimination-workplace-7412.html
Chuasiriporn, A. (2018, July 27). How to deal with racism at work. Chron . Retrieved October 29, 2018, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/deal-racism-work-18745.html
Finn, L. (2017, July 5). The effects of discrimination in the workplace. Career Trend . Retrieved October 29, 2018, from https://careertrend.com/effects-discrimination-workplace-2727.html
Hammond, W. P., Gillen, M., & Yen, I. H. (2014). Workplace discrimination and depressive symptoms: a study of multi-ethnic hospital employees. Race and social problems , 2 (1), 19-30.
Pratap, A. (2017, March 10). How discrimination harms workplace productivity. Cheshnotes . Retrieved October 29, 2018, from https://www.cheshnotes.com/2017/03/how-discrimination-harms-workplace-productivity/
Woog, D. (2018). Why minorities distrust employers’ promotion policies and practices. Monster. Retrieved October 29, 2018, from https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/minorities-distrust-promotion-practices
