How to Avoid Gender Discrimination in the Workplace – The company should be a place of inclusion without having to look down on employees who have different backgrounds. But unfortunately, there are still many cases that deviate from this. One of the problems that often occurs is gender discrimination in the workplace.
One form of gender discrimination that often occurs is the existence of a gender gap in the workplace. In certain positions, many underestimate the role of women. Many think that women do not have skills that are less qualified than men. Stereotypes like this must be eliminated, the workplace must be a comfortable place for all employees without exception and regardless of gender.
Moreover, accepting differences in the workplace is not only beneficial for certain groups but can also encourage companies to become more advanced.
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What is Gender Discrimination?
Gender discrimination is certainly not a good thing. This is a form of injustice felt by employees of a certain gender, often they get unfair treatment just because of their gender difference.
There are two types of gender discrimination in the workplace, namely providing different treatment based on gender and even worse the occurrence of sexual harassment.
- Giving different treatments based on gender
These are small examples of discrimination against gender, which you may have witnessed or experienced. In some cases, certain genders receive unfair treatment at work, such as not getting promotions because of their gender, salary differences, unequal benefits, and so on.
- Sexual harassment
This is an example of discrimination against gender which is very detrimental both verbally and physically. Where this discrimination involves unwanted sexual behavior that can harm the victim physically and mentally. One example is when an employee makes a sexual joke or touches another employee without consent.
How Gender Discrimination Affects Organizations
Discrimination in the workplace can lead to many impact. All of these impacts are not profitable and can cost the company some of the good opportunities that only come with having a team of diverse employees.
The following are some of the disadvantages that can occur as a result of gender discrimination in the workplace:
- Decreased employee productivity
- Employees don’t feel safe working
- Decreased employee confidence
- Employees easily feel burnout, anger, frustrated, and paranoia
- Employees cannot mingle with other coworkers
- Work relationship becomes awkward
- Conflict at work
All of the things mentioned above will greatly affect the work ecosystem in your company, very detrimental, right? In addition, the company will also be considered a failure because it cannot protect employees properly.
On the other hand, if the company values employee differences, including gender differences. They will get a lot of positive impact.
According to a study conducted by Mckinsey, having employees of a diverse gender will increase profits by 21% over the usual average. Then, based on a study from MSCI, having female employees can increase productivity significantly.
The company will also have many perspectives that can increase innovation and creativity, so this will help to easily solve some of the company’s problems in the future. Every employee certainly has a different view depending on their respective backgrounds. The more diverse the employees, the more brilliant the ideas that can be considered.
In addition, respecting gender differences can also increase employee retention. Yes, giving fair treatment to all employees regardless of their gender will certainly make them feel safe at work, so this will reduce employee turnover. Companies can also save budget and time without having to recruit to find new employees.
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After knowing some of the negative impacts of gender discrimination in the workplace as well as the positive impacts when the company respects employee differences. You may be wondering how to overcome such discrimination. Don’t worry, in this article Algobash will cover it for you!
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How to Avoid Gender Discrimination In The Workplace
For those of you who want to solve this problem, here Algobash presents some effective ways to improve a more inclusive workplace so that gender discrimination can slowly disappear.
Here’s how to avoid gender discrimination in the workplace:
- Perform an assessment based on skills when recruiting
- Remove salary differences by gender
- Provide opportunities for female employees to be mentors for male employees
- Prioritize work-life balance
- Create more inclusive company regulations
- Provide training to all employees about gender equality
- The boss must be a good example for other employees by respecting gender differences
- Don’t underestimate discrimination in any form
So those are some ways how to avoid gender discrimination in the workplace. Basically, a company’s job is to make employees a valuable asset, treat them well regardless of their gender. Employees must feel safe and protected at work.
If you are interested in knowing other interesting information about technology and the world of work, don’t forget to visit Algobash Insight to find various articles that you can read.
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