Discriminating against an employee during hiring, promotion, compensation or termination is unlawful. Different types of discrimination exist, and anyone can commit them in a workplace, from seniors to colleagues.
An employee discriminated against can file a lawsuit, which can result in expensive penalties and bad reputation. For this reason, you should prevent discrimination in your business. Here is how to do so.
Train your employees
Discrimination is mostly linked to stereotypes and unconscious biases. An employee may unknowingly make a derogatory comment, leading to misunderstandings. Thus, you should have discussions with your employees to spot factors that may be discriminative. In addition, have anti-discriminatory policies that everyone should observe.
Further, you need to have special training with your recruitment team. The team should represent the company’s fairness and diversity qualities in the hiring stage.
Pay attention to the language you use
The language in your contracts, memos, job postings and other business communication may be discriminative. It will help to learn about and avoid words that make some of your employees or job applicants feel excluded.
For instance, words like go-getter with lots of energy, tech-savvy or fresh-minded may discourage older job applicants. A ‘speak English only’ policy may also be discriminative to some employees.
Language discrimination is mostly associated with age, gender, and disability status. Using neural words can help you include all employees when passing information.
Have inclusive images on your website
Your website represents your company’s brand. Thus, having photos of employees of only a few groups may suggest discrimination. Consider having images of employees from different groups on your online platforms.
Discrimination is one of the leading causes of business disputes. If your company is accused of this offense, consider your options to resolve it.
