Discrimination is ‘the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.’ (Dictionaries, n.d.)
Discrimination within the workplace is common and occurs across all types of employment industries, there are numerous forms of discrimination including, sex, gender, age, race, disability, and religion. Discrimination in the workplace has negative effects both for the business and individual employees; for example businesses can have a decrease in labour productivity, increase in financial costs and for employees it can cause health related implications (Paludi, 2012). It is a morale responsibility for managers to identify discrimination and use the correct discipline and remove it in order to create a legal, successful and happy workforce. ‘Discrimination based on sex, race or religion can 't be tolerated.’ (Woodman, C. (2011).
Sexual Discrimination –
In the UK ‘twenty-five percent of female workers have experienced discrimination in the workplace. (Wires, 2013). These figures are high for a 21st century world and magnify how much of an issue this is for current managers. However, considering all women only gained the right to vote in 1928 (Myers, 2013) this is an improvement. A change in legislation was put in place to combat the issue in 1975 The Sexual Discrimination Act, ‘created to render unlawful certain kinds of sex discrimination and discrimination, promoting equality of opportunity between men and women’ (Legislation.gov.uk, n.d.) Managers today must abide by this act, if they identify sexual discrimination or committing themselves, under UK Law the business and individuals involved are taken to court and can face imprisonment depending on the scenario. The way managers approach this issue is to enforce clear workplace policies and procedures that prevent sexual discrimination among their work force, although there are legal policies set in place having
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