Workplace Discrimination: More Common than You Think

Even with Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws and Affirmative Action programs to guide them, workplace discrimination exists. Occasionally, it is deliberate; these are generally the cases which make the evening news. More often, it is the unintended result of practices which don't seem the least bit discriminatory on the outside.

Recruitment Often, employers limit their recruitment efforts in certain ways. Word of mouth: Obviously, advertising job openings is expensive; paying for the ads is only half the battle. Add to it the time spent handling dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of applications, and the cost can indeed make any employer want an easier way. Also, some employers believe that by hiring only those who have a link to the company (whether a relative, friend, or business acquaintance), they are more likely to find qualified, dependable applicants. Always the same media source:Certainly, it makes sense to spend available advertising dollars on tried-and-true media, especially the local newspaper classifieds. The problem with both of these methods? By maintaining the status quo, organizations fail to grow, fail to become as successful as they could otherwise be. Essentially, your employees have learned to "walk the walk and talk the talk", and they are likely to spread the word of any job openings only to people who fit the stereotype for your employee pool. This recruitment is nearly guaranteed to make your company crumble over time. Companies that desire growth in the long run should instead encourage "non-traditional" job seekers (i.e., applicants who do not fit the "norm" for the company): those with perhaps different educational or employment credentials than you might normally seek, or those who "look different" from your typical employee. Take a look at your last applicant pool; if all the people you interviewed looked alike and/or sounded alike, your recruitment practices may very well be unintentionally discriminatory.

Hiring Employment/Educational History: Again, too many companies enter the hiring process with strict pre-conceived notions of ideal qualifications. Once potential employees have made it to an interview, employers have to make hiring decisions. In non-discriminatory organizations, these are made on the basis of skills, not on appearances. Interviewers who eliminate applicants who have accents, or who do not "look professional", or "unusual" mannerism are allowing opinion to interfere with sound business decisions. We may justify decisions by thinking, "Our customers expect to see someone who is physically fit/who looks good in a suit/who doesn't talk 'funny'," but in the end we are really just refusing to hire someone who makes us uncomfortable--hardly a logical business decision.