Effects of Racial Discrimination in Employment
For a long time, governments and their agencies have adopted legislation and strategies intended to discourage discrimination at work. Some of these legislation include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination Act, and the Family & Medical Leave Act, which is meant to discourage discrimination against different working models (Arrow 85). Discrimination at work has a weakening effect on the company. Although ILO lists a wide variety of foundations for discrimination in the workplace, the common ones include marital status, sexual preference, the status of pregnant women, and racial background. Others include the nation of origin, disability, religious beliefs, and age. The objective of this work is to detail the effects of racial discrimination in employment. The summarized findings of effects of racial discrimination in employment include the introduction of a poor work culture, demoralization of the workforce, fall of the societal rating on the organization_x0092_s reputation, increased litigations, and finally reduced profits for an organization (Hammond, Wizdom, Marion & Irene 20).
Literature Review
Racial Discrimination and Employee Performance
Racial discrimination at the workplace does not only hamper the performance of the employees which it discriminates against but also destroys the company in which they work. Research indicates that employees grow immensely distrustful and unreliable in workplaces whereby they are discriminated, and they may contribute to the fall or loss of the company. When employees feel that the level of racial discrimination at work is above tolerable levels, they quit (Krieger & Stephen 1371). When a single employee quits a job, management may view it as an inconsequential loss; but when a large number of workers strike or quit, the company will experience a pinching a financial flow. Potential and skilled employees reject racially discriminative work environment; therefore, organizations which practice ingrained racial discrimination may not get the expected quality of recruits in the job market. Companies are also likely to spend additional funds on training new employees when others quit due to intolerable racial discriminations (Feagin, 102).
Pyschological Effects of Racial Discrimination
Choosing to leave an organization is always a hard decision to make. Many employees may choose to endure the pain of racial discrimination and rejection at work even if they feel undervalued and unappreciated due to challenges of getting new jobs or adapting to new job environments. Staff members who experience less competent or comparatively less qualified workmates promoted and awarded massive remuneration since they belong to a chosen race would undergo psychological stress. They would feel unacknowledged and unmotivated to deliver their best work to the organization (Hammond, Wizdom, Marion & Irene 22).
Discrimination and Communication Breakdown
Discrimination triggers failure in communication amongst workers and even cripples communication linkage between employee and management. The failure of communication marks the rupture point where workers strike, infightings entrench, legal battles commence, and many other negative issues may arise in an organization. Racial bias causes employee conflicts which emanate due to amplified jealousy and feelings of betrayal. Organizations should have a predictable model of rewarding employees and encourage workers to work hard to gain promotion as opposed to depending on other discriminative approaches.
Legal Actions and Impact on Reputation
Organizations may experience legal actions against them if racial discrimination is suspected. There are several bases of law such as Civil Rights Act and many others which legal practitioners may base their arguments on in sustaining legal attacks to firms. Undertaking court cases are not only financially debilitating but may also prove detrimental to the company's global image, especially if the company's products or services are consumed globally. People may also direct their complaints to the government agencies concerned with equality at work. The fall in the reputation of a company is injurious to the stakeholders. When society suspects the presence of racial discrimination, they react in multiple ways. The employees become demoralized when people link them to such organizations. Customers are likely to reject the services and products of the firm in trying to condemn it (Arrow 83). Many other stakeholders are likely to shrink their contributions to the organizations and may cause its failure. If the company does not change, it may eventually fall.
Research Questions
Some of the typical research questions this paper addresses include:
- Does racial discrimination trigger depression amongst employees?
- Do some employers assign jobs based on races?
- Do some people of certain races consider themselves inferior or superior?
- Are people from certain races more likely to get better jobs than others regardless of their merit and experiences?
Research Methodology
A study was conducted to investigate racial discrimination and depression at the workplace. The subjects were 644 people. The study had 166 cases and 498 controls who were enlisted for prospective case-control research from a randomized list of 6,000 employees in two hospitals in California. The subjects were assigned a structured telephone-based questionnaire which aimed to evaluate their physical and psychosocial exposure to racial discrimination and depression at the workplace (Arrow 91). Regarding racial discrimination, the people were asked whether they had experienced discrimination at work and they were required to answer "yes" or "no". For participants whose response affirmed the question, eleven additional questions were asked regarding discrimination. A job content questionnaire with a 14-item type was employed in the assessment of job strain. The CES-D (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) was used in the measurement of the depressive symptoms for the participants. The study also recognized the demographic variables such as age, sex, and occupational categories, which define the job of the respondents (Arrow 85).
Findings and Discussion
The study findings showed that fourteen percent of the sampled hospital employees experienced racial workplace discrimination within the duration of one elapsed year. Between 12 and 16 percent of the respondents reported the rampancy of racial discrimination at work. The study findings also exposed employees of African American origin as more likely to view their race and the origin of unfavorable treatment in job categories. The study showed that racial discrimination in the workplace causes depression, promotes litigations against an organization, spoils reputations, and causes reduced acquisition of better talents from the job market (Hammond, Wizdom, Marion & Irene 24). The study established a linkage between racial discrimination and many other poor mental health statuses for the victims. The study found that Africans and Latinos were more likely to be allocated low-paying job positions as contrasted to the majority whites who held managerial roles. African American and Latinos were mainly employed in the handling of the clerical roles (Krieger & Stephen 1370).
Conclusion
In summary, the promotion of racial discrimination in employment is heavily damaging to both an organization and to the victimized employee. Discrimination introduces a poor work culture and demoralizes the workforce. Such impacts directly affect company performance. The company which propagates racial discrimination may experience a fall in societal reputation rating and an amplified number of litigations against an organization. Research shows some employers allocate promotions, rewards, and even jobs based on racial bias. According to study African American and Latinos experience the negative impact of racial discrimination as research shows that they rarely get merited rewards or promotions even if they have experience and required skills. In American society, stereotypes establish whites as more superior to other races and their plum positions in management can be linked to their races.
Works Cited
Hammond, Wizdom Powell, Marion Gillen, and Irene H. Yen. "Workplace discrimination and depressive symptoms: a study of multi-ethnic hospital employees." Race and social problems 2.1 (2010): 19-30.
Arrow, Kenneth J. "What has economics to say about racial discrimination?." The journal of economic perspectives 12.2 (2014): 91-100.
Feagin, Joe R. "The continuing significance of race: Antiblack discrimination in public places." American Sociological Review (2013): 101-116.
Krieger, Nancy, and Stephen Sidney. "Racial discrimination and blood pressure: the CARDIA Study of young black and white adults." American journal of public health 86.10 (2015): 1370-1378.
