For many decades, workplace discrimination has been a thorn in the flesh. Many employees have complained that they are often discriminated in their jobs in various ways, including on the grounds of gender, race, religion, disability, nationality, age, and other factors. These issues led to the creation of the Equal Employment opportunity Commission, which has played a pertinent role in the creation of rules and regulations geared towards eliminating workplace discrimination, such as the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, there is another form of discrimination that many organizations have been oblivious about, and it is common in many of them: Promotion discrimination.
In many American corporations, promotions have been unfair across the board. In many instances, there have been promotions that are not based on merit or qualifications. Many employees complain that they are not considered for promotion despite being more qualified and experienced than their colleagues who are given promotions ( Akomolafe, 2013). They say that most promotions are not merit-based, thus, they are discriminatory in nature, ignoring employees who deserve to be promoted. For instance, in 2016, two cases related to the failure to promote employees were filed against Salesforce Inc in the United States District Court of Indiana. The company’s employees, Maria Boyd and Tanya Blackwell, who were stationed in Indianapolis, sought legal redress against the corporation claiming that the company ignored offering those promotions based on their gender and race ( Akomolafe, 2013).
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Moreover, promotions are offered based on an employee’s race. It is unfortunate that, in the Twenty-first Century, American corporations still discriminate in regards to promotion based on race. There are several instances in which employees have not been promoted to senior positions in the organizational hierarchy due to their race ( Akomolafe, 2013). Many minority groups, including African-Americans, are not offered promotions to take senior cadres in the corporations. Still in the case of Salesforce, Boyd said that the basis for which she was not promoted was her race and sex (she is a Puerto Rican). Additionally, Blackwell alleges that she was discriminated from being promoted due to her color (she is an African-American). These examples reveal how American organizations blatantly discriminate against their employees based on their race ( Akomolafe, 2013).
Furthermore, organizational managers in such organizations have different standards or expectations that they use in giving promotions. The expectations are higher for an individual from a minority group to be promoted, while the Whites can easily maneuver their way up the organizational ladder ( Lips, 2013). This form of discrimination is done in a subtle manner such that it is not easy to discover that it is an aspect of discrimination in promotion. Often, it is difficult to find a Black-American being in the top management of an American company. The major reason for that is the fact that most of them are not easily given an opportunity to grow in the company structure. In the aforementioned case, Boyd states that she was hired by the company in 2008 as a contracted revenue specialist. In 2010, she was promoted, and became a manager. In 2013 she was promoted again, working as a global manager, credit and collections. In 2014, her immediate supervisor, Blackwell, recommended her for promotion. By that time, Blackwell was serving as the director, credit and collections. However, Boyd was not offered the recommended promotion. When Blackwell enquired as to why she was not promoted, she was told that time for promotions had elapsed since they are done in May and November. However, the truth is that the recommendation letter for her promotion was sent in October ( Akomolafe, 2013). Moreover, Boyd claims that men and non-Latinos were offered promotions although their files were sent at the same period or even later.
Additionally, some of the senior employees play it dirty to ensure that some employees do not get their promotions, even when they qualify to get them ( Mattke, Schnyer, & Van Busum, 2013). For instance, in the same case above, Blackwell was informed that Boyd’s promotion application “fell through the racks” since the company’s senior vice-president did not sign it. As a result, the company promised that she would be promoted in the following year. However, that did not happen. This reiterates senior managers’ schemes that are meant to deter some specific employees from getting promotions in an organization. The case of missing files is not new in many organizations, denying qualified and competent employees the promotions that they deserve. Boyd adds that the corporation has a disproportionate number of men and Caucasians across its upper management levels. This aspect reveals the extent senior officials can go in discriminating minorities from getting promotions so as they can find a place in the senior positions in the company ( Mattke, Schnyer, & Van Busum, 2013). Moreover, Blackwell made allegations that were similar to those made by Boyd.
In a nutshell, promotion discrimination is a common phenomenon in American corporations. As much as such enterprises boast of diversity in the workplace, the truth is that most employees from the minority groups are not allowed to easily climb the organizational ladder to become senior managers. Top management positions in such organizations are held by men and members of Caucasian communities, which reiterate the blatant discrimination against some cadre of employees. Therefore, it is evident that the practices of such companies promote discrimination, rather than addressing it. This happens openly, and many organizational leaders are oblivious of it.
References
Akomolafe, S. (2013). The invisible minority: Revisiting the debate on foreign-accented speakers and upward mobility in the workplace. Journal of Cultural Diversity , 20 (1).
Lips, H. M. (2013). Acknowledging discrimination as a key to the gender pay gap. Sex roles , 68 (3-4), 223-230.
Mattke, S., Schnyer, C., & Van Busum, K. R. (2013). A review of the US workplace wellness market. Rand health quarterly , 2 (4).
