The Value of Fair Treatment in the Workplace

The problem of discrimination in the workplace environment is a challenging issue because the employees with diverse background strive to gain the equal position in the organization but employers often have to increase their costs to crate equal conditions for employees from different background, race, gender, and so on. In such a situation, voluntarily prohibiting discrimination provides employers with wider opportunities to conduct flexible policies with regard to different forms of discrimination of employees. Before introducing the policy of voluntary prohibiting discrimination, the employer should determine its costs and benefits and elaborate the most effective policy that matches interests of the company and the key stakeholders.

The benefits and costs of voluntarily prohibiting three to five (3-5) federal forms of discrimination prohibited under the federal anti-discrimination laws

Voluntarily prohibition discriminating prohibited under the federal anti-discrimination laws, such as race, gender, and discrimination on the ground of the religious background of employees has both advantages and disadvantages. The voluntary prohibiting of these forms of discrimination creates conditions for the diversification of the labor force and creation of the diverse workplace environment that allows employees with different background and beliefs to contribute to the organizational performance. Such diversity is beneficial for the improvement of the organizational performance because such diversity can help to have a different view on tasks and challenges the organization confronts in the course of its business development. The homogeneous labor force cannot always find adequate solutions to problems the company confronts because they share the same views, values and biases, while representatives of other racial or religious groups or different gender may offer a different view and help to resolve the emerging problem successfully.  

On the other hand, the growing diversity increases costs of employment because employees with the diverse background have different needs and the employer has to match their needs. As a result, costs of employment increase. In addition, the recruitment process becomes more complicated because the more diverse labor force is recruited by the organization. The creation of the diverse workplace environment also requires the development of the code of conduct and ethical policies which are also costly because the managerial staff and employees may need further training to comply with existing ethical norms and regulations that help to respect the diversity in the workplace environment.

The benefits and costs of voluntarily prohibiting a form of discrimination not covered by any of the federal anti-discrimination laws

Voluntary prohibiting a form of discrimination not covered by any of the federal anti-discrimination laws may also bring considerable advantages to the company as well as increase its costs. The major benefits of voluntarily prohibiting a form of discrimination not covered by any of the federal anti-discrimination laws is the creation of the unique workplace environment, where people with the specific background different from others may find the employment and better career opportunities compared to other companies. In such a way, the company may attract employers discriminated by other companies (Robinson, 1993). This is beneficial for the company because discriminated employees will be highly motivated to work in the company and they will do their best to join the company. As a result, the company may employ the best employees from the discriminated group and they will do their best to contribute to the company, where they do not suffer from discrimination.

However, such practice is costly because other employees may have a biased and prejudiced attitude toward the discriminated minority and the risk of internal conflicts increases because employees, who belong to the majority group, may be resilient to the integration of the new minority group into their workplace environment. This is why the company will have to overcome the resistance of employees and create the ground for the effective performance of all employees, regardless of their background. Employees belonging to the majority group may also be particularly resistant to the employment of the minority group because the latter may simply outperform them and, if the company conducts the fair promotion policy, they will get better career opportunities. The prevention of conflicts within the organization is costly and time consuming, while conflicts may deteriorate the organizational performance.

The benefits and costs of voluntarily adopting hiring and promotion practices designed to diversify the workforce

Voluntarily adoption of hiring and promotion practices designed to diversify the workforce creates positive implications for the organizational development but the company should remember that such practices are costly. First of all, benefits of the implementation of hiring and promotion practices designed to diversify the workforce creates more competitive environment in the company. Employees with different background do their best to reach their career goals. They compete with each other and the more diverse labor force means the stiffer competition between employees. The stiffer competition implies better performance of employees because they do their best to outpace other employees.

On the other hand, the diversification of the labor force means higher costs of employment because the company have to create equal conditions for all employees and adapt the workplace environment to the diverse labor force that may need changes in facilities, organization of work and other issues that are costly and may need extra funding from the part of the company.

The ethical considerations of not voluntarily prohibiting the forms of discrimination laws

The refusal of the company from voluntarily prohibiting the forms of discrimination laws raises some ethical issues. The major ethical concern is the discrimination of minorities that means that minority employees will be in a disadvantageous position compared to the majority group (Stopler, 2003). The ignorance of minority group is offensive for their human dignity and creates conditions for unfair practices which may trigger the dissatisfaction of employees with their workplace environment that leads to the deterioration of their performance and downturn of the organizational performance (Polachek & Yoon, 1987). Employees feel uncertain in their future because of unfair practices performed by the company.

The ethical considerations of not voluntarily adopting hiring and promotion practices to diversify the workforce

If the company refuses from voluntarily adopting hiring and promotion practices to diversify the workforce leads to the creation of the homogeneous environment, where the diversity and differences are not tolerated. Such policy raises ethical concerns because the lack of tolerance to diversity leads to the suppression of creativity and different ways of thinking. The homogenous workplace environment encourages the creation of the dominant culture and any deviation from dominant views will lead to the oppression of a ‘dissident’ in the company.

Recommendations

Thus, it is possible to recommend voluntarily adopting hiring and promotion practices to diversify the workforce and adopting anti-discrimination laws provisions to create the diverse environment. Such policy is costly in terms of matching needs of employees with the diverse background, training of the staff, elaboration of the code of conduct and other changes that are costly. Benefits of such practices outweigh their costs, especially in a long-run perspective because the workplace environment becomes more diverse and competitive. Employees perform better in the more competitive workplace environment. As a result, their performance improves and so does the organizational performance.

References:

Polachek, S. and B. Yoon. (May, 1987). A Two-Tiered Earnings Frontier Estimation of Employer and Employee Information in the Labor Market, Review of Economics and Statistics, 69(2), p.296-302.

Robinson, M.D. (1993). Measuring Discrimination against Females: Is the “Non-Discriminatory” Wage the Male or the Female Wage?, American Economist. 37(1), p.45-54.

Stopler, G. (2003). Countenancing the Oppression of Women: How Liberals Tolerate Religious and Cultural Practices That Discriminate against Women, Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. 12(1), p.154-169.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

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freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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