Diversity In The Workplace

Diversity in the Workplace

Research will show that age, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation are just a few of the diverse issues this county faces in today's workforce. Workforce diversity has evolved from sound public policy to a strategic business model. In order to maintain a healthy organization and maintain a high-performing workforce, management must address the vital issues as they relate to diversity and individual behavior.

Age

Within the next few years, the first wave of baby-boomers will be reaching the retirement age. Thirty percent of the Federal workforce will be eligible to retire in five years and an additional twenty percent will most likely volunteer for early retirement. However, that is not to say that fifty percent of the workforce will leave at once. But it does mean that federal agencies must start planning for the workforce of the future. (Department of the Office of Personnel Management, 2005, p. 2) Nationwide, "people 50 years and older account for 85 percent of the projected workforce growth between 1990 and 2005." (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2003, Ch. 4)New Federal employees will most likely not reach the retirement age while working for the federal government. The federal government is working replacing its workforce with contract employees.

"According to research by the Department for Work and Pensions (2001), one in four older people believe that they have suffered discrimination when applying for a job. Nearly half the organizations surveyed employed no staff aged 60 or over; Line Managers, while insisting they were 'age-friendly', were often ignorant of relevant guidelines and ageism was seen as 'more acceptable' than other types of discrimination." (Anonymous, 2005, p. 8)

This preference for younger employees becomes even more difficult to understand considering the length of time that employees of different ages expect to stay in their current jobs. Research by the International Stress Management Association UK (2002) found that 54% of 18-24 year olds expected to stay in their current job for no more than the next two years (and 32% for no more than the next 12 months). (Anonymous, 2005, p. 8) One way of interpreting these results is that the "Generation X" workforce and those generations following will have to work longer and at more jobs than previous generations. The average employee will have to maintain a high level of skill sets in order to compete with younger applicants if the hiring trend stays status quo. Another interpretation is that as employees become older, they know that realistically their chances of changing their jobs are significantly less, mainly due to a relatively new term called ageism. (Anonymous, p. 9) Sooner or later, employers will have to realize that by failing to employ the best person for the job, for whatever reason, the result will be a negative impact on their profit margins, and ultimately the viability of their business.

Gender

If we look back in history (prior to the l960's), a mother's job was to raise her children and run the household while her husband worked outside of the home. The men were the "bread-winners" and the women were the "child-rearers". It is a well-known fact that in today's American society, two income families are now the standard and a requirement in order to survive in today's economy. Both fathers and mothers are employed outside of the household. New mothers are torn between raising a family and continuing their careers. Business are now addressing this issue and working with new mothers to keep them employed.

A new corporate trend is to allow new mothers the opportunity to bring the newborn child to work with them until they are 6 months old. A contract is signed between the new mother and the employer. The new mother agrees to a pay cut for the time she spends taking care of the baby's needs and if the situation does not seem to be working out, the mother has an agreed number of days to find a daycare provider.

This innovative solution is a win-win situation. The company saves time and money from retraining a new employee and the mother is allowed the opportunity to be an integral part in raising her child during the critical early developmental stages. This flexibility helps the organization retain talented employees without sacrificing business objectives. (Hansen, 2005, p. 91)

On the other hand, one could argue that women are still not able to obtain their full career potential when you have Fortune 500 companies stifling women promotions to upper management. Wal-Mart employs more than 1.2 million employees in the United States. Two-thirds of the 1.2 million employees are women, more women than any other company in the nation (1). However, only 14 percent of the Wal-Mart's employees are store managers. In a decision released on June 22, 2004, "U.S. District Court Judge Martin Jenkins ruled that the six current and former Wal-Mart employees from California, might represent all female employees of Wal-Mart who worked at its U.S. stores anytime since December 26 1998 in a nationwide sex discrimination class action lawsuit." Due to the number of women whom are covered under this case, it has now become the largest class action lawsuit in U.S. history. (Seiglman & Larkin, 2004, p. 2)

An independent study conducted by an Oakland-based statistician, Richard Drogin, found that "men earned on average 37 cents more per hour for similar work". (Drogin, 2004, p. 2) The pay gap grew wider as the management chain grew higher. The Equal Pay Act (EPA) requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same establishment. The jobs need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal. It is job content, not job titles, that determines whether jobs are substantially equal. Employers may not pay unequal wages to men and women who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility, and that are performed under similar working conditions within the same establishment.

Ethnicity

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the piece of legislature that was intended to end discrimination in the workplace. Since 1964, the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 was enacted. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973 also