HR Diversity in the Workplace:

Human resource management and managing diversity

Human resource management is related to employee matters. The main aim

of building it was; no employee must be forced to do anything which he is
not liable to. This reason was enough to create a special kind of a
management department which works only for the problems relating to the
employees and the employer. There are many conflicts which takes place in
a company related to the employer's will over the employee or the employee
violating the rules of the company. The HR department prevents both and
facilitates both from the solution.

There are certain laws and regulations this HR department follows:

Managing diversity

Managing diversity means to manage the various types of matters and

employees in the company. First of all, there are certain matters in the
company regarding the salary and the needs of the employees. This
salary issue is also in the hand of the HR department to see whether
the employee is under paid or is highly paid. For instance there is an
employee who is being underpaid, and if this is really the case then
the HR departments consider his point and give him a raise. Secondly,
there are certain times loans being provided to the employees. Here
the duty of the HR department is to see which employees are good
enough and what the requirements to get a loan are. Normally, these
loans are payback in installments, so the HR department sees whether
this employee can pay it back and according to his earning they give
him the loan and fix his installments. This is one function of how the
HR manages the diversity.

Affirmative action

Affirmative action refers to the hiring and firing of employees not on

the basis of their race, color, creed and religion. This means that the
HR management department undertakes the responsibility of not to
discriminate and treat people on the basis of their work. If a person is
good in his work and he is being treated not fairly as he belongs to a
 different religion than the employer, so this is against the affirmative
action rule. The HR department has to take a positive decision here.

Secondly, there are many other things which should not be forced on
the employees. For e.g. making a dress code for the company which is
allowed in one religion but prohibited in another, so the employee of
the other religion cannot make it up to the mark. This is also a
violence of rules. The HR department is responsible of such and much
other similar violence of rules.

The above given are some very simple and common steps taken by the HR
department to keep a balance in the company.

 Diversity issues related to race, gender, age, disabilities, religion, job

title, physical appearance, sexual orientation, nationality,
multiculturism, competency, training, experience, and personal habits
are explored in these links. The bias is toward valuing diversity.

Search for Similarities – Just Like Me

Want to develop effective working relationships with diverse people at
work? Start with similarities, not differences, among people when you build
relationships. Diversity in the workplace adds a special richness, but also
special challenges. Effective diversity work relationships are critical for your
success.

Prevent Employment Discrimination and Lawsuits

In employment discrimination lawsuits, the business always loses.
Consequently, creating a work culture and environment for employees that
honors diversity and discourages employment discrimination in any form is
critical for your success. Employers need to adopt several serious guidelines
for the prevention of discrimination in the workplace....

Equal Employment Opportunity

Equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws make it illegal for employers to
discriminate against an employee or potential employee in certain
workplaces.
Appreciating Diversity During the Holidays: Diversity’s About More Than
Just a Simple "Happy Holidays" Greeting Card
Guess who's not celebrating Christmas this year? Millions of people in the
world. That's right. Many people don't hold Christmas religious or holiday
celebrations either as followers of non-Christian religions (Buddhists,
Muslims, Hindus, Jews) or as individuals with no religious affiliation. Find
out more about honoring diversity and religious or holiday celebrations.

Nix Political Discussion at Work

In a workplace that honors diversity, every person’s politics, religious
beliefs, sexual orientation and opinions about non-work issues, should, for
the most part stay home. Unless you work in a setting that is dependant on a
particular set of beliefs, political discussion potentially causes conflict and
hard feelings. Nix politics and political discussion at work.

Women and Work: Then, Now, and Future

Employers will be challenged to provide family-friendly solutions for

working people who need flexibility for child care and elder care. These
solutions may include:

• job sharing,
• part-time employment,
• staff working from home or telecommuting,
• flexible starting and stop times and flexible core business hours, and
• periodic paid and unpaid work interruptions for child care and elder
care.

Attendance systems that are inflexible will drive qualified and committed
employees to employers that address family issues with creativity and
concern.

Employers need to pay more attention to the Equal Employment

Opportunity guidelines. They exist to create equity and too many employers
are still working them as a numbers game because of reporting requirements.

As recommended by the Women Employed Institute, make women more

aware of careers that offer higher pay opportunities. Most women's jobs are
clustered in "female" occupations that pay poorly. Promote and educate
women about these opportunities so women pursue opportunities for
education in these higher paying opportunities. Catalyst, which monitors the
progress of women in the workplace, reported that as of 1998, only 2.7
percent of the highest-paid officers at Fortune 500 companies were women.
Women continue to dominate lower paying domestic, clerical support, and
administrative-type occupations.

How to Address an Employee Sexual Harassment Complaint

When an employee complains that he or she is experiencing sexual
harassment of any type, the employer has a legal, ethical, and employee
relations obligation to thoroughly investigate the charges. Find out how!
Difficulty: Hard
Time Required: As Much As Necessary
Here's How:

1. Before a complaint is filed, make sure you have posted and informed
all employees of your organization’s policy relative to sexual
harassment. It won’t be tolerated; it will be investigated.
2. Assign a staff member to “own” the complaint. This individual should
be knowledgeable about the organization, the people in the
organization, and the history of the organization.
3. Map out a plan that covers the important people and situations to
investigate in the initial complaint. Basically, plan the investigation,
based on current knowledge.
4. Talk with the employee who is complaining. Guarantee to the
employee that he or she is safe from retaliation and took appropriate
action in reporting the incident or general situation.
5. Inform the employee that you need to know immediately about any
retaliation, purported retaliation, or ongoing harassment the employee
experiences.
6. Ask the employee to tell you the whole story in his or her own words.
Listen; take notes. Write down relevant facts such as dates, times,
situations, witnesses, and anything else that seems relevant.
7. Tell the person accused that a complaint has been filed, and that no
acts of retaliation or unethical actions will be tolerated. Ask the person
to be patient while you conduct a thorough investigation.
8. Assure the person accused that a fair and just investigation will be
conducted on their behalf as well as that of the accuser.
9. Interview any potential witnesses in the same manner. Interview any
potential witnesses in the same manner. Ask open-ended questions
and seek facts that support or disprove the employee’s allegations.
 10.Interview the person who is accused of sexual harassment. Apply the
same listening and respectful approach you accorded the person who
filed the complaint and the other witnesses.
11.Take all the information you received and attempt to reach a decision.
Make the best decision that you can with the information you have.
Consult with other HR colleagues to do the right thing.
12.Make decisions about whether sexual harassment occurred. Provide
the appropriate discipline to the appropriate people, based on your
findings. Make work or assignment setting adjustments if necessary.
13.Recognize that you are not perfect, no situation can be perfectly
investigated. Even when harassment may have occurred, there may be
no facts or witnesses that corroborate a complainant’s statement.
14.Assure that no further incidents occur by following up, and
documenting your follow-up. with the employee who made the
original harassment claim. Keep documentation separate from the
personnel file.
15.Afford the employee, who may have been wrongly accused, the same
courtesy of follow-up and documentation. Adjust working situations
fairly where necessary for the comfort and productivity of all.

Tips:

1. Legally, the employer will want to avoid any possibility or appearance

that the employee’s complaint was disregarded. Respond
immediately.
2. Ethically, the employer will not want to allow such behavior to exist
in their workplace.
3. The trust, morale, and fair treatment of employees is at stake. An
employer’s actions send powerful signals about what another
employee can expect in similar circumstances.
4. You may want to consider reposting and reiterating your sexual
harassment policies across your whole work place. Let the
circumstances guide your judgment.
5. In all cases, make sure you make and keep complete and accurate
documentation. Employees who are unhappy with the results of your
investigation may take additional legal action.
Sexual Harassment Defined

Policies to Adopt to Prevent and Address Sexual Harassment

Your policy handbook needs a:

• sexual harassment policy,

• general harassment policy,
• policy about how sexual harassment investigations are conducted in
your company, and
• policy that forbids an employee in a supervisory role from dating a
reporting employee and that details the steps required should a
relationship form.

The Role of Managers in Harassment Prevention and Investigation

Managers and supervisors are the front line when it comes to managing
employee performance and needs from work. First, and most importantly,
you do not want a workplace culture that allows any form of harassment to
occur. Out of your commitment to your employees and your company,
harassment, in any form, is never to be tolerated.

In harassment, as well as in other law suit-engaging topics, as an employer,

demonstrating that you took appropriate steps is crucial. In fact,
demonstrating that you took immediate action and that the consequences for
the perpetrator were severe, is also critical. And, the front line leader is
usually the person initiating and following through on those steps, so they
have to feel confident about what they are doing. Any form of harassment
can create a hostile work environment including sexual harassment and how
it is addressed. The court's definition of what constitutes a hostile work
environment has recently expanded to coworkers who are caught up in the
situation, too.

As you think about sexual harassment and other forms of harassment in your
work place, keep these facts in mind.

• The employee harassing another employee can be an individual of the

same sex. Sexual harassment does not imply that the perpetrator is of
the opposite sex.
• The harasser can be the employee's supervisor, manager, customer,
coworker, supplier, peer, or vendor. Any individual who is connected
 to the employee's work environment, can be accused of sexual
harassment.
• The victim of sexual harassment is not just the employee who is the
target of the harassment. Other employees who observe or learn about
the sexual harassment can also be the victims and institute charges.
Anyone who is affected by the conduct can potentially complain of
sexual harassment. As an example, if a supervisor is engaged in a
sexual relationship with a reporting staff member, other staff can
claim harassment if they believe the supervisor treated his or her lover
differently than they were treated.
• In the organization's sexual harassment policy, advise the potential
victims that, if they experience harassment, they should tell the
perpetrator to stop, that the advances or other unwanted behaviors are
unwelcome.
• Sexual harassment can occur even when the complainant cannot
demonstrate any adverse affect on his or her employment including
transfers, discharge, salary decreases, and so on.
• When an individual experiences sexual harassment, they should use
the complaint system and recommended procedures as spelled out in
the sexual harassment policy of their employer. The investigation
should be conducted as spelled out in the handbook.
• The employer has the responsibility to take each complaint of sexual
harassment seriously and investigate. The investigation should follow
these steps listed in How to Address Sexual Harassment Charges.
• Following the investigation of the harassment complaint, no
retaliation is permitted, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.
The employer must, in no way, treat the employee who filed the
complaint differently than other employees are treated nor change his
or her prior-to-the-complaint treatment. If it is determined that the
employee lied, disciplinary action is necessary, however.

Guide to Managing Diversity in the Workplace

Summary

Excellence through diversity is one of the Chancellor's goals, yet the term
diversity often raises controversy, confusion, and tension. What does it
mean? Is it the same as affirmative action? Why should you focus on it?
When people think of diversity, they may think first of ethnicity and race,
and then gender; however, diversity is much broader than that. In Workforce
America! Managing Employee Diversity as a Vital Resource, diversity is
defined as “otherness or those human qualities that are different from our
own and outside the groups to which we belong, yet present in other
individuals and groups.” Dimensions of diversity include, but are not limited
to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual
orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital
status, military experience, religious beliefs, and employment discrimination
lawsuits, the business always loses. Consequently, creating a work culture
and environment for employees that encourages diversity and discourages
employment discrimination in any form is critical for your success.
Employers need to adopt several serious guidelines for the prevention of
discrimination in the workplace. Don’t wait until you are the target of an
employment discrimination lawsuit before you follow a few simple steps
that could have prevented years of pain.

Employment Discrimination Law Suits Rising

Let’s start by looking at the scope of the problem in employment

discrimination lawsuits. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) statistics reveal that the highest number of employment
discrimination charges in its 45 year history were filed in the fiscal year
ending on September 30, 2010. The EEOC’s statistics about employment
discrimination continue to demonstrate a three year trend of increased
charge filing and litigation. Driven by the dismal economy, a bigger EEOC
enforcement budget, and employee-friendly revisions to EEO laws, the
employment discrimination lawsuit trend is expected to continue.

Key findings in the employment discrimination statistics reveal that in 2010:

• Retaliation discrimination is the most frequently cited form of

employment discrimination (36,258 charges). Historically, retaliation
complaints filed with the EEOC increased 44%, from 22,690 charges
in 2003 to 32,690 in 2008.

• Retaliation is followed closely by race discrimination (35,890

charges).
 • Employment discrimination hit new records for sex, national origin,
religion, and disability discrimination charges.

• Employment disability discrimination charges increased nearly 20%,

due in part, to the 2008 Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments
Act (ADAAA).

• The EEOC handled its first employment discrimination charges

brought under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
(GINA).

• The EEOC received almost 31,000 charges alleging unlawful

harassment; 11,717 were sexual harassment charges. The majority of
harassment charges alleged some form of harassment, other than
sexual harassment, such as race, national origin, or religious
harassment.

“The EEOC also reported that it secured more than $404 million in
monetary benefits for individuals - the highest level of relief obtained
through administrative enforcement in the Commission's history,” according
to Shanti Atkins, Esq., President and CEO of ELT, Inc., a company that
specializes in ethics and compliance training.

Rising Costs of EEOC Suits Expensive for Employers

From an employer’s perspective, settlement costs to resolve an EEOC claim

fade in the face of additional, often unrecorded, costs to the employer’s
organization. Atkins says that these include the costs of:

• the distraction of an organization’s staff for months as documents are

gathered and prepared, an internal investigation is conducted, and
time is invested in fighting the claim,
 • the loss of employee morale while under the constant pressure of a
lawsuit,
• the potential loss of an employer’s reputation as an employer of
choice for recruiting and retaining desirable employees, whether
found guilty or innocent, and
• attorneys' fees which can cost as much or more than an eventual
settlement, if the employer is found guilty.

In addition to these hard-to-quantify costs, Atkins says that the average

single claimant lawsuit results in defense costs of $250,000 and a jury
verdict of $200,000. Other sources place the average verdict awards even
higher, at nearly $900,000 in 2007, with the average settlement nearly
$550,000. In any case, jury awards are expensive for employers. Class action
lawsuits, which are also increasing, generally result in lower per claimant
awards but can cost an employer millions of dollars in cash and untold
millions in the above employee costs listed.

While the potential costs of employment discrimination lawsuits are high, on

the plus side, employers have some recourse. According to Gail Zoppo, at
DiversityInc.com, employees who feel they are experiencing employment
discrimination should first complain to their employer. This gives the
employer the opportunity to investigate the alleged employment
discrimination and provide recourse through their normal complaint
resolution process.

Employees who do not believe that their complaint was ad arental status,
and work experience (Loden and Rosener 1991, 18-19).

It's important to understand how these dimensions affect performance,

motivation, success, and interactions with others. Institutional structures and
practices that have presented barriers to some dimensions of diversity should
be examined, challenged, and removed.

Guiding Principles

• Workforce diversity is a reality at Berkeley. We already reflect the

national demographic trends predicted for the year 2000 by the
Hudson Institute in its 1987 report, Workforce 2000. At Berkeley,
women make up 60% of the workforce while people of color
constitute 43%. Accommodation issues for this diverse workforce,
 such as childcare, elder care, flexible work arrangements, disability
accommodation, and literacy are being addressed in the workplace.
• Managing diversity is defined as "planning and implementing
organizational systems and practices to manage people so that the
potential advantages of diversity are maximized while its potential
disadvantages are minimized," according to Taylor Cox in "Cultural
Diversity in Organizations."
• Managing diversity well provides a distinct advantage in an era when
flexibility and creativity are keys to competitiveness. An organization
needs to be flexible and adaptable to meet new customer needs.
• Heterogeneity promotes creativity and heterogeneous groups have
been shown to produce better solutions to problems and a higher level
of critical analysis. This can be a vital asset at a time when the campus
is undergoing tremendous change and self-examination to find new
and more effective ways to operate.
• With effective management of diversity, the campus develops a
reputation as an employer of choice. Not only will you have the
ability to attract the best talent from a shrinking labor pool, you can
save time and money in recruitment and turnover costs.
• The campus will fulfill its role as a public institution by reflecting the
diversity of the state as well as meeting the increasing demand to
provide culturally informed services to an increasingly diverse
customer base.

Managing Diversity

To address diversity issues, consider these questions: what policies,

practices, and ways of thinking and within our organizational culture have
differential impact on different groups? What organizational changes should
be made to meet the needs of a diverse workforce as well as to maximize the
potential of all workers, so that Berkeley can be well positioned for the
demands of the 21st century?

Most people believe in the golden rule: treat others as you want to be treated.
The implicit assumption is that how you want to be treated is how others
want to be treated. But when you look at this proverb through a diversity
perspective, you begin to ask the question: what does respect look like; does
it look the same for everyone? Does it mean saying hello in the morning, or
leaving someone alone, or making eye contact when you speak?
It depends on the individual. We may share similar values, such as respect or
need for recognition, but how we show those values through behavior may
be different for different cultures. How do we know what different cultures
need? Perhaps instead of using the golden rule, we could use the platinum
rule which states: "treat others as they want to be treated." Moving our frame
of reference from an ethnocentric view ("our way is the best way") to a
culturally relative perspective ("let's take the best of a variety of ways") will
help us to manage more effectively in a diverse work environment.

Your Role

You have a key role in transforming the organizational culture so that it

more closely reflects the values of our diverse workforce. Some of the skills
needed are:

• an understanding and acceptance of managing diversity concepts

• recognition that diversity is threaded through every aspect of
management
• self-awareness, in terms of understanding your own culture, identity,
biases, prejudices, and stereotypes
• willingness to challenge and change institutional practices that present
barriers to different groups

It's natural to want a cookbook approach to diversity issues so that one

knows exactly what to do. Unfortunately, given the many dimensions of
diversity, there is no easy recipe to follow. Advice and strategies given for
one situation may not work given the same situation in another context.

Managing diversity means acknowledging people's differences and

recognizing these differences as valuable; it enhances good management
practices by preventing discrimination and promoting inclusiveness. Good
management alone will not necessarily help you work effectively with a
diverse workforce. It is often difficult to see what part diversity plays in a
specific area of management.

To illustrate, the following two examples show how diversity is an integral

part of management. The first example focuses on the area of selection, the
second example looks at communication:

Issues
 • How do you make the job sound appealing to different types of
workers, such as people with disabilities?
• How can recruitment be effectively targeted to underutilized groups?
• How do you overcome cultural bias in the interviewing process,
questions, and your response?

Strategies

• Specify the need for skills to work effectively in a diverse

environment in the job, for example: "demonstrated ability to work
effectively in a diverse work environment."
• Make sure that good faith efforts are made to recruit a diverse
applicant pool, particularly underutilized minorities and women.
• Focus on the job requirements in the interview, and assess experience
but also consider
• transferable skills and demonstrated competencies, such as analytical,
organizational, communication, coordination. Prior experience has not
necessarily mean effectiveness or success on the job.
• Use a panel interview format. Ensure that the committee is diverse,
unit affiliation, job classification, length of service, variety of life
experiences, etc. to represent different perspectives and to eliminate
bias from the selection process. Run questions and process by them to
ensure there is no unintentional cultural or institutional bias.
• Ensure that appropriate accommodations are made for disabled
applicants.
• Know your own cultural biases. What stereotypes do you have of
people from different groups and how well they may perform on the
job? What communication styles do you prefer? Sometimes what we
consider to be appropriate or desirable qualities in a candidate may
reflect more about our personal preferences than about the skills
needed to perform the job.

Fair vs. Same Treatment

Many people think that "fairness" means "treating everyone the same." How
well does treating everyone the same work for a diverse staff? For example,
when employees have limited English language skills or reading proficiency,
even though that limit might not affect their ability to do their jobs,
transmitting important information through complicated memos might not
be an effective way of communicating with them. While distributing such
memos to all staff is "treating everyone the same," this approach may not
communicate essential information to everyone. A staff member who missed
out on essential information might feel that the communication process was
"unfair." A process that takes account of the diverse levels of English
language and reading proficiency among the staff might include taking extra
time to be sure that information in an important memorandum is understood.
Such efforts on the part of supervisors and managers should be supported
and rewarded as good management practices for working with a diverse
staff.

Managing Diversity is Different from Affirmative Action

Managing diversity focuses on maximizing the ability of all employees to

contribute to organizational goals. Affirmative action focuses on specific
groups because of historical discrimination, such as people of color and
women. Affirmative action emphasizes legal necessity and social
responsibility; managing diversity emphasizes business necessity. In short,
while managing diversity is also concerned with underrepresentation of
women and people of color in the workforce, it is much more inclusive and
acknowledges that diversity must work for everyone.

Consequences of Ignoring Diversity

Ignoring diversity issues costs time, money, and efficiency. Some of the
consequences can include unhealthy tensions between people of differing
gender, race, ethnicity, age, abilities, etc.; loss of productivity because of
increased conflict; inability to attract and retain talented people of all kinds;
complaints and legal actions; and inability to retain women and people of
color, resulting in lost investments in recruitment and training.

How Well Do You Manage Diversity in Your Unit?

• Do you test your assumptions before acting on them?

• Do you believe there is only one right way of doing things, or that
there are a number of valid ways that accomplish the same goal? Do
you convey that to staff?
• Do you have honest relationships with each staff member you
supervise? Are you comfortable with each of them? Do you know
what motivates them, what their goals are, how they like to be
recognized?
 • Are you able to give negative feedback to someone who is culturally
different from you?
• When you have open positions, do you insist on a diverse screening
committee and make additional outreach efforts to ensure that a
diverse pool of candidates has applied?
• When you hire a new employee, do you not only explain job
responsibilities and expectations clearly, but orient the person to the
campus and department culture and unwritten rules?
• Do you rigorously examine your unit's existing policies, practices, and
procedures to ensure that they do not differentially impact different
groups? When they do, do you change them?
• Are you willing to listen to constructive feedback from your staff
about ways to improve the work environment? Do you implement
staff suggestions and acknowledge their contribution?
• Do you take immediate action with people you supervise when they
behave in ways that show disrespect for others in the workplace, such
as ethnic jokes and offensive terms?
• Do you make good faith efforts to meet your affirmative action goals?
• Do you have a good understanding of institutional isms such as racism
and sexism and how they manifest themselves in the workplace?
• Do you ensure that assignments and opportunities for advancement
are accessible to everyone?

If you were able to answer yes to more than half the questions, you are on
the right track to managing diversity well.