How equal is equal employment opportunity?

Deepanie PERERA

Have you ever been subjected to discrimination in securing employment or at the workplace? A promotion lost, discriminatory transfer, equal pay issue, discrimination due to age, race, religion, nationality, gender or sexual orientation? Sounds familiar? Well, the purpose of this article is to focus on an important right that we call equal employment opportunity (EEO), which today largely confines to organizational rhetoric but an area often ignored, casually regarded, and consistently failed to comply with.

The high importance attached to EEO, is gaining much momentum and attention all over the world.

EEO today largely limits to an attractive chorus to escalate organizations to a sought after employer of choice status, in order to woo those prospective employees in a fiercely fought market place for talent.

What is EEO?

Put simply, equality or treating all people equally or as one and the same in relation to employment is equal employment opportunity. The work place therefore, must be free from all forms of discrimination and harassment. This would aid in the removal of the beast called discrimination from the system, while reinforcing a fundamental human right.

Many contemporary theories by researchers and scholars that underpin discrimination have emerged, that alone requires a separate essay! Let us understand discrimination first.

Discrimination

Discrimination is twofold - direct and indirect. Not promoting an employee due to his / her race, religion or gender constitutes direct discrimination. If a prospective employee fails to secure work but if it does not necessarily appear to look discriminatory at face value is the indirect type. For example, if educational or professional qualifications obtained from another country is disregarded.

EEO and the law

The developed world I must acknowledge has advanced in their commitment to enforcing EEO laws with a great deal of success. In the USA , the fourteenth amendment of the constitution has been fashioned predominantly around an EEO friendly environment, with protection for all individuals. Some of the major laws covered by the amendment are abolishment of slavery, right to contract, perform, modify, and terminate, equal pay, forbids colour, race, religion, sex or nationality discrimination, age discrimination (hiring 40 years and older people), disability discrimination, pregnancy discrimination and women and minority discrimination.

Though not in great detail, Sri Lanka's legal system encapsulates some anti discriminatory laws. But for us the biggest challenge is its enforceability. The loopholes and the lackadaisical attitude of law enforcing officials have left it open for those who violate EEO to easily get away.

How many we are an equal opportunity employer slogans and taglines do we see? They are found in abundance in recruitment advertisements, and organizational literature.

We are not short of seeing discriminatory ones too. Aren't we? I am referring to age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion, pregnancy, and even trans-gender and sexual orientation and so on.

Ironically, some of the material and communication vehicles that carry vacancy advertisements are in paradox. If one claims to be an equal opportunity employer, how could you publish age and gender discriminatory lines, like "age between 18 - 25," "good looking female wanted," etc.?

Gender parity is high on agenda in most developed countries; with companies having to explain to individuals if any act of discrimination had taken place. Litigation and suing is commonplace by victims. Goes to prove how farther we are due to several reasons. Primarily, due to the long drawn out process of litigation, the costs involved and issues in relation to reputation and perception in the market place (which may threaten the chance of a victim to secure future job/s).

Women and discrimination

In the context of our discussion, it is worth visiting the position of our working women who make a significant 33.5 percent (as at 4th quarter of 2009) of the total employed population contributing to our economy. To say the least, global statistics are disturbing. Two thirds of worker hours are put in by women, who make a minute one tenth of world's income and own a paltry one-hundredth of the world's property.

The majority of our numbers are made by women in apparel and plantation industries. How many organizations really value the contribution they (women) make? Then how come they are not equally positioned as their male counterparts (assuming they are a right fit for the job with competencies that are on par) who do the same job with same results? What about equal pay for equal work? Are women, children of a lesser god? This is a gross violation of a fundamental human right. But the reality prevails, not only locally but globally too.

Women do keep hitting the glass ceiling each time they seek career advancement, impeding their success rate. This phenomena explains the small number of women who make it to our boardrooms.

On a positive note, as for gender parity, organizations must capitalize on this.

Men and women by nature have very different job descriptions, which as a result have been instilled different strengths to deliver on the different needs -all by Mother Nature (refer Men are from Mars and women are from Venus). During the Stone Age, men were meant for hunting and providing for the family, whilst women had to bear children, protect their nests and socialize, etc. Therefore men are naturally good at strategy and focus whilst women are better implementers, good at building relationships and known for their multi tasking skills. Result "play for your strengths." As for team dynamics, one's strengths can be complemented for other's weaknesses, bringing diversity on board.

Commitment

Obviously, just because we insert in promotional material claiming to be an equal opportunity employer would not qualify one as an EEO employer. It's like having those vision and mission statements, values, etc beautifully sitting on the walls with little or no congruence with organizational philosophy and strategies. They must be internalized. What is required first is commitment for the cause at national level. We must be serious, very serious about EEO.

Time is opportune, with forthcoming constitutional reforms. And EEO law could be made an integral part of the constitution through Acts. It would not only protect human rights, but aid in positioning Sri Lanka well in the global space.

Don'ts

A pivotal part of the process in transforming to an EEO is to remove issues of bad governance and compliance. All sorts of discrimination must be eliminated. This includes fairness and non-retaliation against people who take action against discrimination. Remember, it's their right. Best practices and benefits "to employee and the Employer."It is critical that the hiring process is devoid of bias and discriminations. It must be robust, merit based, transparent, rational and fair, enabling a person-to-job fit, minus the risk of discrimination charges. A grievance process is a must. Performance management, career advancement, transfers, training and development, employee advocacy practices must all comply with best practices accepted globally. Workplace diversity must be acknowledged and put to good use.

Research has it that highly diversified teams deliver better results and are more productive. Periodically carried out independent EEO compliance audits is a necessity. Organization wide training to educate and update employees, particularly the decision makers and supervisors, on EEO is would play a keyrole. Improved business results, strong culture and good image would be unquantifiable returns through above investments.

Employees too have a role to play. While performing at their best and upholding organizational values, they must not be involved in discrimination and bullying of any sort and condone to same, and upon knowing such violation blowing the whistle (reporting the issue) is very important. It would not only save your colleague/s but save the organization and even the industry at large.

An employer of choice either in the public or private sector, must certainly have these best practices of EEO introduced, complied, benchmarked and model the way for the benefit of their followers.