The Impact of Fair Treatment in the Workplace

Introduction 

Fair treatment within the organization entails non-discrimination and embracing of diversity, be it cultural or social diversity as it affects the workplace. The rules governing the relationship between the various levels of the workforce play a significant role in determining the contribution and productivity of each stakeholder involved. This being the case, in as much as the federal laws do not protect or consider the rules prohibiting discrimination in the workplace to be constitutional, there is still need for the organization to adopt specific laws prohibiting discrimination to embrace diversity. This is because while the federal law may no longer see the need to protect the rights of employees from discrimination, discrimination still plays a major role in defining the interactions between employees with their fellow employees, and their interactions with the management, both of which greatly affect their productivity, and hence reflect on the company’s productivity. These practices are key to achieving equality and corporate governance (Anderson, 2015). The value of fair treatment plays a leading role in enhancing corporation within the workplace, encouraging employee development, team building and emphasizes ethical corporate governance. 

Prohibiting Federal Forms of Discrimination Prohibited by Federal Laws 

The Federal Government prohibits some workplace forms of discrimination, including the paying of different wages based on gender to workers substantially doing the same work, according to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (Murphy, 1970). By voluntarily prohibiting this form of discrimination, the organization encourages active participation from both male and female employees, boosting their morale which then translates to productivity. It is only natural that when the female employees are discriminated against by being paid less than their male counterparts, they will cow away from actively participating in their duties and obligations since they are not motivated to work (Peters & Wolper, 2018) . But by ensuring equal to both genders, the organization can avert these issues. 

Secondly, discrimination on employee compensation system is another form of discrimination in which only a selected section of the stakeholders is allowed access into the company's insurance policies and programs, like medical bill covers and life insurances while the rest are left uncertain of their coverages. Insurance policies play a critical role in securing the future of an employee and making them motivated in their work. This being the case, insurance policies should cover medical bills in case of an accident or illness incurred during one’s service at the company, death insurance policies should include a compensation program to the bereaved family to help them overcome the emotional trauma of the loss of their loved one. This should entail covering morgue and funeral expenses, remittance of monthly stipend for upkeep, and if possible, hiring an able individual from the departed employee’s family to replace his services. Everyone desires to work for an organization that they feel is not only concerned with their productivity and input into its operations but genuinely cares for the employee's future as well (Grollman, 2014). It boosts the confidence, trust and loyalty an employee has in their boss, thus gets them excited and motivated for work. 

Freedom of worship is another form of discrimination prohibited by the federal laws. Most organizations discriminate against the freedom of religion of the workforce in the sense that it only recognizes one day of prayer for the employees, which in most cases happens to be on Sundays. This implies that only those workers who ascribe to Christianity and other forms of religions whose holidays are catered for in the U.S. as being conventionally of the western protestant faith are allowed room to attend religious services while the rest who have their worship days in the middle of the week are discriminated against by not being allowed to visit their religious ceremonies. This act is discriminatory since the minority group tends to feel sidelined and not recognized or made part of the organizational culture. For instance, the Jews, Islam, and the Eastern-rooted faithful are not recognized by the western protestant faith holidays. By feeling secluded in the corporate culture, these workers would tend to feel secluded and not recognized by the organization, hence will be demoralized in their work. But by embracing religious and cultural diversity where every stakeholder is allowed the freedom of worship in their designated days, the workers would feel appreciated and part of the larger organizational family where the organization takes their interests and diversity into consideration (Vickers, 2016). Thus, they will be more open to contributing towards the development of this diverse work environment by bringing in their expertise and insights that to some extent may be based on their religious beliefs, especially on such matters as it pertains to the organizational ethical considerations and practices. 

As far as the costs and benefits are concerned, prohibiting these forms of discrimination would mean a more diversified workforce which in the end reflects the diverse market the cost of implementing these regulations however would include the time and finances invested in training employees on discrimination prevention in the bid to making reasonable effort for both the organization and the fellow employees to accommodate diverse religious practices, holidays and ritual observations. 

Prohibiting a Federal Form of Discrimination Not Prohibited by Federal Laws 

This means banning such discriminatory acts that may not be initially prohibited by federal laws. One such unfair act would be the sexual-orientation based discrimination. This form of discrimination implies treating employees of the LGBT society, or cross dressers with contempt and other forms of discrimination. This kind of discrimination is not healthy for the business because employees need to feel comfortable in their working environments for their production to be exploited to the maximum (Ruthergien, 2016). The benefit of prohibiting this kind o discrimination is the creation of a large pool of potential LGBT workers to make hiring decisions and increase the chances of them getting advanced technical skills. This would however come at the expense of the business experiencing a questioning of the societal culture the company thrives on. It could lose some of its valuable traditional and highly religious clientele and employees. 

Hiring and Promotion Practices Meant to Diversify the Workplace 

As can be seen, so far one way to reduce discrimination in the workplace is to make it as diversified as possible by embracing different kinds of stakeholders. Diversity primarily implies experience of the workplace. This means that when the organization embraces an employee spectrum that features varied grounds of employee upbringings based on their family values, core principles, workplace and personal ethics, education and work experience, practical and technical experience, and personal and communicative skills, it plays a key role in achieving the diversification of the work environment where every employee is encouraged to bring a unique outlook to the table. The organization stands to benefit a great deal from this diversity as far as its productions are concerned. Speaking of age and experience, it is essential that the technical know-how of productions is passed from the seasoned players to the new phases in the market. 

As the industry continues to grow, it becomes necessary to embrace this diversity to show the junior stakeholders the conventional ways of production through such platforms that are meant to guide and mentor them. Similarly, as the industry continues to evolve, it becomes necessary to diversify the ways of production by embracing the new technology advancements and means of production. Most of this new expertise is taught in the current profession studies. By hiring junior employees straight from the colleges and other institutions, it becomes easier for the organization to tap into this new knowledge and incorporate it into the organizational culture (Uzuner-Smith & Englander, 2015) . This being the case, it is essential therefore for the organization to embrace age and experience diversity to ensure the incorporation of these points of production. 

By voluntarily embracing measures geared towards diversifying the workplace through hiring and promotion practices, the organization, on the other hand, can increase its global market as well as increase creativity (Miller, & Le Breton-Miller, 2005) . This is particularly the case because a diverse collection of skill and ideas from around the world gives an organization a competitive edge. The workforce brings an insight into the market trends from around the world they come from and lead the conventional ways into how the organization can use these market trends and preferences in incorporating its products and services to fit the demand of the different global markets. In other words, the organization, in this case, is better placed to tailor its products and services to match the demand across the globe. Additionally, multilingual employees assist in communicating respectfully with global clients. This, in the end, reflects in the manner in which sales are likely to go up for such an organization while at the same time strengthening the mutual respect between the organization and the global clients. Not to forget, diversity in hiring increases creativity as the organization is better placed to create an environment that is comfortable for the various stakeholders and is naturally conducive to brainstorm ideas. This is more so the case when it comes to promotion techniques where the workforce feels that the promotion strategies are open for anyone who proves to be a great asset to the organization based on their innovation and creativity. The organization is faced with a workforce that is highly competitive and creative in their problem solving and inventories geared towards boosting productivity while maintaining best practices for the organization (Miller, & Le Breton-Miller, 2005) . However, if this is not handled correctly, it could lead to the creation of a highly competitive, individualistic and divided workforce that is unable to work together leading to disunity and hostility in the work environment to a great extent. 

However, like any other aspect of the business, adopting this promotion techniques would come at the cost for the manner in which the conventional organizational activities and operations are run. This is because it is relatively cheaper for the organization to manage a homogenous workforce than it is to manage a heterogenous workforce which would require a great deal of investments in terms of organizing seminars and workshops to equip the employees with the techniques they would need to boost their productivity. Such modules and tools are important in gaging the various employees’ capabilities and productions to determine what form of promotions should be awarded to them. 

Ethical Considerations of Not Prohibiting Federal Forms of Discrimination 

When the organization does not put in place measures to prohibit such forms of discrimination such as equal pay, it leads to the violation of the ethical consideration of not harming any employee in the organization. This is because it leads to financial strains on the part of the underpaid employees who at the end of the day have bills to pay just like the employees who are adequately paid do. Additionally, there is the issue of single parenthood that continues to grow on an annual basis. What this would then mean for the family and the society at large is that by basing payment on gender needs criteria which tend to favor the males as the traditional providers for the family would imply deteriorating the society as a whole through which case the single parent families headed by mothers would strain to meet their basic needs while the males who have no family obligations would be overpaid, leading to social imbalance. This means therefore that such an employee who is underpaid is harmed by this oppressive system in the sense that they cannot comfortably meet their obligations in life or as American citizens with bills and taxes to pay. Age discrimination, on the other hand, violates such ethical considerations as voluntary participation. This is because some employees are not given enough room to actively participate in making decisions and offering their insight into how operations run. The ethical consideration of voluntary participation holds that every employee regardless of their age or level of expertise should be given enough room to voluntarily and actively participate in the affairs of the organization. This includes, and is not limited to, being engaged in policy implementations, being actively involved in decision making through meetings, more particularly in such meetings that are meant to discuss the affairs that directly affect them. Additionally, each employee should be given equal and free avenues to learn and gain experiences through pieces of training and mentorship programs which should be offered freely without any prejudice or whatever (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015) . But when an organization does not voluntarily prohibit age discrimination, more so as far as exposure to opportunities of self-evaluation and development are concerned, it directly violates this ethical consideration. 

Still, on ethical considerations, it is crucial that the organization observes hiring and promotion practices geared towards embracing diversity to build on the ethical considerations of justice and human relations. Both of these emphasize on granting equal opportunity to all members of an organization based on their competence and ability rather than whatever background they come from or what gender they are. In other words, justice and equality are about embracing diversity and giving workers equal opportunities to prove themselves and their ideas. In reference to hiring, an organization that does not embrace equality and justice in their recruitment violates this form of discrimination, in addition to exposing the organization to the risk of losing a great asset for the company. This is because most of the potential workers discriminated against during hiring procedures could be potentially great innovators. Similarly, on promotion, discriminating against potential candidates because of cultural diversity puts the organization in a spot where it could lose on a great asset by not giving every worker the equal chance to prove that they are worthy of the post. Not only does this form of discrimination violate the ethical consideration of granting every employee equal opportunity, but it plays a significant role in promoting hostility and enmity within the workforce in which a section of the employees would resent whoever is promoted in their place due to discrimination (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016) . In the end, not only does this act strain the relationship between the promoted staff and their colleagues, but it dramatically affects their work interaction, in which case it becomes difficult for these two to work together or follow the commands or directives issued by the party that is considered to have been favored. 

It is important to point out that by not voluntarily adopting hiring and promotion practices meant to diversify the workforce, the business is faced with the ethical dilemmas of integrity and credibility. An organization that is not integral in its approach of employee welfare is subject to questioning by the customers who would hold then that the organization does not adapt a liberal approach in handling the diverse customer population in the same manner. On the one hand is the need for the organization to save costs by managing a more homogenous workforce, but on the other is the need for the organization to assure the customers’ trust in its integrity and credibility when dealing with the diverse clientele. 

Final Recommendation 

Based on the benefits of prohibiting age discrimination, it is essential to adopt the laws prohibiting this form of discrimination. This is, mainly because it saves the employer the resources and expenses incurred in hiring new employees every now and again. Age discrimination for workers above the age of 40 implies that employees in their late 30s might resort to quitting before they are laid off forcefully. For any employer, high rates of employee turnover are never in the best interest of the company since it reflects on slowed or low-quality production. To avert this, it is essential that the organization adopts this law prohibiting age discrimination towards a particular class or category of employees. However, when it comes to equal pay discrimination, more insight should be given into the matter. In as much as it is true that employees deserve equal pay and that gender lines should not dictate this payment, it is also important to point out that assuming equal pay regardless of the amount or level of production an employee engages in could be disadvantageous to the company and the workforce as well. On the part of the organization, it would be to some extent paying more for relatively low-quality production. For instance, if a departmental manager is supposed to be paid the same amount as an operational manager, then it would mean that the company would spend a high amount to pay for the services of one of these managers over the other. Similarly, this could lead to demotivation on the part of the workers who feel they do much work compared to others yet at the end of the day get paid the same amount, say if the department manager is to be paid $50,000, then it is only fair that the department operations manager earns something about $40,000, based on the fact that he has less responsibilities in the department. This being said, the prohibiting of equal pay discrimination should not be adopted without clearly laying these provisions. 

However, it is essential that the retailer, in this case, adopts hiring and promotion practices designed to diversify the workplace. This is because this plays a significant role in increasing productivity and competitive advantage on the part of the organization as far as the diversification of ideas is concerned. It also builds on the positive reputation the community at large has on the company which goes a long way in establishing business connections and associations with the suppliers and the clientele at large. Lastly, this practice should be adopted for the simple reason that it increases creativity and innovation, leading to high-quality production due to the cross-fertilization within the organization among the various heterogeneous groups involved. In contrast, a non-diversified workforce would only be detrimental to the company whose image would be questioned by the customers due to the ethical dilemma of integrity and credibility it gives room to. 

Conclusion 

To cap it all, the prohibition of discrimination plays a vital role in not only embracing diversity but also to a great extent in building the organization's reputation and its interactions with the suppliers and clients as well. It is crucial therefore that the retailer adheres to these laws prohibiting discrimination to encourage innovation and to embrace cultural diversities and ideological differences which at the end of the day form the basis of diversified products and operations by the retailer. 

References 

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Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, O. (2015). Ethical decision making for business (2nd ed., p. 32). Mason, Ohio: South-Western. 

Grollman, E. A. (2014). Multiple disadvantaged statuses and health: the role of multiple forms of discrimination. Journal of health and social behavior , 55 (1), 3-19. 

Miller, D., & Le Breton-Miller, I. (2005). Managing for the long run (1st ed., p. A single page). Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. 

Murphy, T. E. (1970). Female Wage Discrimination: A Study of the Equal Pay Act 1963-1970. University of Cincinnati Law Review , 39 , 615. 

Peters, J., & Wolper, A. (2018). Women's Rights, Human Rights (1st ed., p. 4). Florence: Routledge. 

Rutherglen, G. (2016). Employment discrimination law (1st ed., p. 2). Florence: West Academic. 

Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2016). Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach Seventh Edition (1st ed., p. A single page). Boston: John Wiley & Sons. 

Uzuner-Smith, S., & Englander, K. (2015). Exposing ideology within university policies: A critical discourse analysis of faculty hiring, promotion and remuneration practices. Journal of Education Policy , 30 (1), 62-85. 

Vickers, L. (2016). Religious freedom, religious discrimination and the workplace (1st ed., p. 3). Washington: Bloomsbury Publishing.