Before we can prevent discrimination, it is important to understand what it is. Discrimination occurs when a person or group is treated less favorably than another due to their circumstances or personal characteristics. Some of these factors associated with discrimination include:

• race
• age
• religious belief
• gender
• sexual orientation
• marital status
• pregnancy
• political belief or activity
• union membership or activity
• impairment or disability (whether temporary or permanent)
• and more

How does discrimination affect employers?
Discrimination can lead to helping to avoid lower employee morale, decreased productivity, increased employee turnover, lawsuits, costly litigation, and more. Most employers will want to avoid this at all costs.

A few pro-active steps can help prevent workplace discrimination include:

• educate all your workers about discrimination
• encourage workers to respect each other’s differences
• respond to any evidence or complaints of inappropriate behavior
• deal with any complaints of discrimination promptly and confidentially
• develop a workplace policy that prohibits discrimination
• train supervisors and managers on how to respond to discrimination in the workplace
• make sure the workplace policy is properly enforced
• review the policy regularly to ensure that its effectiveness is maintained

If you would like to establish an environment that will help prevent workplace discrimination, then we can help.