The Effects of Workplace Discrimination

As you can imagine, workplace discrimination has major effects on the people on the receiving end of this treatment. Not only does it put the company in legal peril, it also can negatively impact your employees’ quality of life in a variety of ways.

Among the most serious effects of workplace discrimination include:

• Physical and emotional ailments brought on by undue stress. The occurrence of workplace discrimination, particularly when it is overt and persistent, can result in the emergence of anxiety disorders, low self-esteem, stress, and mental health problems. Employees eventually suffer a physical and psychological toll from all of these.

• Increased absenteeism. Unsurprisingly, when someone experiences discrimination at work, they may utilise more sick days, float days, and vacation time in an effort to get away from it. Both team productivity and personal career progress are negatively impacted by this.

• Negative effects on team dynamic and collaboration. If overt discrimination is a factor in the dynamic, no team can function at its maximum potential. Organizations must carefully examine how their teams are structured and function, and they must seek to get open and frank input from all participants.

• Failure to identify and promote higher performers. It may be impossible for the organisation to recognise and advance high performers into leadership roles due to overt and systemic discrimination. The high performer will probably leave the company as a result of this loss for the business.

• Lost productivity and innovation. Discrimination has a negative influence on the ability to recruit top talent as well as employee engagement, morale, and culture. All of these elements contribute to a decline in productivity and innovation, which again results in a loss for the business.

• Wreaking havoc on your employer brand. Candidates and employees converse. If prejudice exists, it is very probable that individuals will discuss it on open platforms like LinkedIn or Glassdoor. If this happens, it could have a very bad impact on your company brand and hiring efforts.

Workplace discrimination isn’t just a legal consideration. It has serious implications for the well-being of your employees and the future success of your organization.

Therefore, you must take active steps to identify and prevent workplace discrimination as thoroughly as possible.