Diversity in the Workplace Essay

Discrimination are more common in workplaces, because some people only think of discrimination as making a distinction and judgment of a person based on color of skin. Discrimination goes far beyond color of skin. A person can be disseminated agonist for their age, disability, gender, religion, or even for being pregnant. In a workplace there are standards and policies in place to decrease the chances of a person being discriminated against. When the staff is diverse in a workplace, discrimination less likely to happen. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission indicates that it is â€Å"illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability† (). I experienced discrimination in the workplace, and after making an EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) complaint on a supervisor, she became more discriminatory towards me. The supervisor would make racist statements, once she found out I put an EEO complaint in on her, she would deliberately change my schedule, and put me on shifts that I could not work, to get me to quit. Most places do not give â€Å"set schedules† which means a person works the same shift and works the same hours on the same days. However, the position I worked, was a set schedule position. After going through weeks of the hostile environment, and continued derogatory statements, I quit as it was stressing me out, which caused me to lose severe weight. There are federal and state legislation that supports fair and impartial practices in the workplace. Federal legislations that supports fair practices include: †¢Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; †¢The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination (Scott, 2014). †¢the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older; †¢Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended (ADA), which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments; †¢Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who  work in the federal government; †¢Title II of the Genetic Information Nondisc rimination Act of 2008 (GINA), which prohibits employment discrimination based on genetic information about an applicant, employee, or former employee; and †¢The Civil Rights Act of 1991, which, among other things, provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination (Scott, 2014). There are responsibilities that human resource managers should uphold to protect the employees from discrimination in the workplace. It is important for human service mangers to strive to have a diverse workplace, while maintaining awareness of equal employment legislation and affirmative action (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2012). Human service mangers objectives should include, but are not limited to promoting awareness of workplace diversity, develop and maintain a highly skilled, diverse and effective workforce, where all employees and members are valued, encouraged and provided with opportunities to develop their potential (Workplace Diversity, 2014). It I s also import to develop a supportive workplace culture which allows employees and members to balance their work and personal life, and provide a discrimination and harassment free workplace; and embrace workplace diversity principles in recruitment and selection processes (Workplace Diversity Plan, 2014). It is important for human service mangers and others who make decision to be aware of the effects of their practices (book). Their practices could either mak e the organization more effective and receptive, or continue discrimination against, women, elderly people, color people, and others (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2012). There are many strategies involved in risk management. One strategy is human resources being accountable and responsible for providing information and recommendations about local, state and federal laws pertaining to equity and human rights, including an affirmative action place (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2012). When human resource management are aware of their practices, human service organizations less likely to have cases of discrimination in the workplace. Another strategy is providing training in diversity and equity to increase knowledge and understanding of critical issues, improve job-related skills, develop leadership, and ensure responsive, sensitive support for individuals (Workplace Diversity Plan, 2014). Diversity within the workplace are paramount for human service workers and for management of human service organizations, because human  service organizations can offer services to a more diverse community with staff, who are culturally competent. This makes them able t o give services to all group of people leaving no error for discrimination. When a human service organization is committed to helping children who are sexually abused, these is no room for discrimination. Diversity is important in the dream organization called ChildFocus Sexual Abuse Organization (CFSAO), as many children will be from different ethnic backgrounds, with different beliefs, and different social-economics statues. The experience explained above consists of a supervisor making racist statements. In the CFSAO, diversity would have a huge influence on the clients as well as the human service workers. Racism would have a negative impact on the sexual abused children, which would further traumatize and victimize a child. It is necessary for the staff to be culturally competent, and sensitive to the experiences of all sexually abused children and their families. Culturally competency would apply to the development and management aspects of human services, because it provides human service workers with effective services that are equally accessible to each of the diverse groups that the organization serves. In conclusion, there are federal and local laws that protect people from being discriminated in the workplace. The human resource managers should be aware of their practices during the interview and hiring process, by hiring a more diverse group of people for a human service organization. This would decrease the chances of human service workers or clients from being discriminated against. There are strategies that can help human service agencies decrease discrimination in a workplace which can include promote awareness in the workplace diversity, and develop a supportive workplace culture which allows employees and members to balance their work and personal life (Work Diversity Plan, 2014). It also important for human service workers to be culturally competent, so they are capable of serving all groups of people from different backgrounds.