Workplace discrimination has been a hot topic lately since, even during quarantine, people were getting harassed and discriminated against while working from home. If you want to create a business that ensures all employees are treated well and respected, there are some significant steps your business will have to take to succeed.
Here are the significant steps all employees are treated well:
#1 Hire Without Bias But Be Informed
Fighting against workplace discrimination starts before you even hire the employees. When looking at applicants, look only at their abilities and their education. If every employee looks and acts the same as one another, you might have an issue of bias within your hiring team. Take apart the process you go through to hire and accept applications and consider if this is reaching the most people in the best way possible.
#2 Train Thoroughly and Often
Every step along the path of your employees’ careers should be marked with training. Upon hiring, you should make it clear to your employees that discrimination isn’t acceptable. Train on what discrimination looks like, what can be done to stop it, and who they can go to if they notice this is happening.
After the initial training, you should update employees on best practices at least once a year. Although most employees won’t need this training, some do. You can’t tell which employees are on the edge of being cruel to one another, so it’s safer to train everyone and cover all of your bases.
#3 Listen To All Employee Concerns
If employees don’t feel like they’ll be listened to, they’re less likely to bring up concerns to their company. You may think that this means it’s their fault if discrimination goes unreported: but it’s not. Every company owes it to their employees to create a space where anyone can come forward and voice concerns or worries. The most common discrimination cases were forced into happening because employees felt like they had no other route to get listened to or protected. Keep an open-door policy, and listen to your employees.
#4 Review All Promotions and Raises With A Critical Eye
Promotions and raises are the best way to show employees that you like what they’re doing and you’ve noticed their growth and improvement over time. When a company is going through the steps of awarding these perks, the business must take the time to figure out if its choices are based on bias. This means reviewing all employees and considering if the one nominated for the raise or promotion is the best call for it, or if it’s feeding into a boardroom where everyone looks and thinks the same.
#5 Keep A Professional Environment
The way your employees treat each other and how they represent the business depends on the guidelines you set up for them. If you make it clear that you expect a professional atmosphere at all times, people will be less likely to fall into a comfortable disrespect for their coworkers. You can still be friendly and treat all employees with kindness and interest, but don’t let things become so lax that they think they can disrespect each other.
