- Nearly 80% of employees receive unfair treatment at work
- They are dangerously demoralized and are growing resentful
Unfair treatment at work is a pressing issue that negatively impacts employees and organizations. This treatment includes behaviour and actions such as a hostile work environment and inequitable, discriminating work culture.
The harassment is such that the employee/employees experience harassment and may even witness favouritism. The unfair treatment at work is mainly due to personal characteristics such as gender, race, age, and disability.
The following article illustrates all the different ways unfair treatment exists in the workplace and how you can handle it.
What is Unfair Treatment and Types of Unfair Treatment in the Workplace?
Unfair treatment at work is where individuals or systems treat employees differently from others for reasons that are unrelated to their job performance. The manager, peer, or subordinate can treat employees differently.
The types of unfair treatment can include:
- Bullying, which is intimidation or belittling of others to create a hostile work environment
- Discrimination which creates unequal opportunities because of the person’s characteristics
- Harassment of an employee where unwanted conduct related to protected characteristics such as sexual or verbal harassment
- Unfair compensation through unequal pay that can be detrimental to the person’s overall wellbeing
- This treatment in the promotion process – an unfair promotion that disregards actual achievements
Unfair treatment at work requires immediate action and handling through an official process that includes:
- Documenting the treatment by keeping a record of the unfair treatment
- Report the treatment by raising the issue with your manager, HR, or someone senior in the company
- Stay away from social media and take care of your wellbeing
- Contact a lawyer if the senior management is unable to resolve the issue and the treatment escalates to a more significant level
| If you or someone you know is experiencing unlawful discrimination, seek help by: Calling 1-800-669-4000 (Voice) Calling 1-800-669-6820 (TTY) Visit eeoc.gov |
Informal resolution is also one of the ways to solve the issue; it is quicker and less stressful for people.
Importance of Addressing Unfair Treatment
Addressing unfair treatment at work is essential for the well-being of employees and organizational health. Addressing the issue helps improve employee engagement and productivity. It also helps improve job satisfaction among them.
Employees who feel their employer cares about their well-being are more likely to be committed to their work. This leads to higher productivity and profitability. It also helps lower turnover.
This is one of the significant ways you can improve their well-being and promote work-life balance.
Examples of Unfair Treatment At Work
This section will include real-life and theoretical examples of how unfair treatment at work can manifest. We asked employees around us and the world about their workplace experience and if they had been mistreated.
One of the employees said –
| “I had recently joined this workplace when I was introduced to this girl working at the organization for a couple of years. She was the manager’s pet. I thought she must be exceptional at her work, and others who work hard must be treated equally. But as months passed, I saw that anything I would report to the manager was ignored. Despite putting in good work and documenting everything with data, it was disappointing to see favouritism. I didn’t know how to complain about unfair treatment at work, so I continued until there was a proper inquiry when many others reported it.” |
This was an example of how favouritism in the workplace can make employees feel inadequate and even demotivated to continue putting in the effort.
One of the most substantial signs of unfair treatment at work is being ignored for reporting something wrong.
Example: Unfair Treatment at Work by Co-workers
Another example of unfair treatment at work is harassment by those working with you. Another one of the employees who agreed to come forward with their experience said:
| “While I was working at my previous organization, a group of employees were “buddies” with the junior manager. Taking undue advantage of this connection, they tried their best to cover my achievements. Things such as excluding me from team activities, and talking over me when I would try to speak to the junior manager. They even started passing comments around me. It was tough to concentrate on my work and show up to work every day.” |
One of the significant ways unfair treatment in the workplace shows up is through other employees too. Not just the senior management or the employer, unfair treatment at work is also perpetrated by co-workers.
The false sense of authority gives them the idea that they can mistreat those new to the team or do not have the same rapport with the senior TL or manager. This is problematic as it can harm the person’s confidence and will to show up at work.
Example of Unfair Treatment Based on a Person’s Health Condition
Another employee came forward to share their experience and said:
| “I had recently joined this office, which was full of people around my age, so I was excited to work with the young energy. A few days passed and I could tell people are acting weirdly around me. I have been diagnosed with ADHD, so it is difficult for me to concentrate on one task at hand. I also suffer from poor social interaction as I cannot differentiate between social cues like someone else my age or even younger than me would. So, it gets difficult for me to make friends. People were making me feel bad and talking about me behind my back. I felt terrible about the entire thing as I was lonely, and there was no one to understand my condition and help me navigate through my deadlines.” |
Mistreatment due to a health condition is also one of the most common ways unfair treatment at work manifests. The problem is no one is patient enough to help someone provide the tools to succeed.
Seeing it from the employers’ or managers’ point of view justifies things for them, too – organizations seldom have a dedicated space to accommodate employees with health issues.
The one way people can help those with a disability, or health issues, is by providing them access to proper tools and resources that allow them to flourish. There are dedicated teams and organizations that can make your workspace inclusive.
7 Common Causes of Unfair Treatment
There are many causes of unfair treatment at the workplace, the following list tells you all about them:
- Discriminatory mindset and views. Treating an employee less favourably than others depending on your views of age, gender, disability and other protected characteristics is one prominent cause. Only hiring men for an accounting job.
- Indirect discrimination is when a seemingly neutral practice puts a particular group at a disadvantage.
- Using power to intimidate or belittle co-workers or those new to the team. This creates a hostile work environment.
- The perpetrator has a prejudice against a particular group of people and harasses them in the workplace
- Unfair treatment also stems when you take action against the perpetrator. This is their retaliation against your complaint. And the complaint does not deter them from continuing their behaviour.
- Weak policies that do not discourage mistreatment of employees. Policies in the workplace do not address unfair treatment.
- Unintentional actions are one of the causes of unfair treatment, but it is possible that you could unintentionally mistreat someone. I know, considering the times we are in, it is impossible to mistreat someone unintentionally – but it may just happen.
Recognizing Unlawful Discrimination
Unlawful discrimination may have different forms, some of which are:
- Direct discrimination when someone is treated because of protected characteristics is worse than another person.
- Indirect discrimination is where a rule or policy has a worse effect on someone because of protected characteristics
- Harassment where someone is unfairly treated due to their sexual orientation, sex, or gender identity.
- Discrimination depends on their colour, race, religion, or national origin. This is prohibited under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII.
- Disability discrimination which is prohibited under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990
The guidelines for recognizing unlawful discrimination include:
- Documenting the incident
- Reporting the incident to the employer
- Filing a complaint with the EEOC or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Considering talking to an employment attorney
- Putting your complaint in writing and having some type of confirmation of submitting it.
Identifying Discriminatory Behaviors
Out of the standard identifiers of unlawful discrimination such as discrimination, harassment, and perceptive discrimination, the following qualify as well:
- Failure to provide reasonable accommodation that hinders the employee’s ability to perform their functions to their full potential
- Ageism affects an employee’s functioning due to their age. This is mainly because one has prejudice against age as a characteristic. For instance, providing less work to a middle-aged employee despite their expertise.
- Homophobia is another one of the ways unlawful discriminations prevail in the workspace.
- Racism is another way in which employees may feel discomfort or distrust by their co-workers or employer/manager
- Religious prejudice is another way through which someone may experience unlawful discrimination when someone has a negative feeling towards someone due to their religious beliefs.
The Impact of Unfair Treatment
The impact of unfair treatment on the victim is as follows:
1. Psychological distress: even before someone experiences physical effects unless it is physical violence against them, unfair treatment has a prominent psychological effect. The unfair treatment at the workplace manifests as impaired mental health and reduced self-esteem.
2. Unhealthy work environment: The victim may experience the workplace becoming even more hostile as the unfair treatment worsens. They may even find it challenging to show up to work.
3. Legal action: Discrimination includes harassment which is intimidating or offensive behaviour that aims to humiliate or injure the target.
4. Loss of business opportunities: The victim loses out on climbing the corporate ladder due to unfair treatment or favouritism.
5. Reputational damage: Discrimination can lead to reputational damage for the employer once the incident catches public attention
6. Feeling isolated, anxiety and stress: This is one of the most prevalent effects of the treatment. The victim often feels lonely in their workplace, as they do not have support to fight the unfair treatment at the workplace.
7. Difficulty getting a fair wage or job/promotion: The unfair treatment causes the victim to lose out on potential opportunities such as a fair wage, promotion or a job.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law in the US that prohibits workplace discrimination. It also defines the protected classes.
3 Strategies for Prevention and Resolution
Here are a few strategies to help fight unfair treatment at work:
A. Role of Human Resources
The human resources department in professional settings is essential for managing such issues. HR can professionally intervene and handle problems from discrimination to conflict resolution.
They can help address the conflict instead of ignoring it. They also clarify the incident so that a solution can be reached. The role of HR is crucial in such cases as it can bring parties together and facilitate a discussion between them.
This can help solve the issue at the grassroots level. They also help identify a solution, depending on the discussion, a solution that will help everyone. HR is also skilled to ensure complete implementation of the solution occurs.
The HR must also stay impartial between the parties so that they can provide the best solution. They can also help prevent discrimination or unfair treatment in the workplace by introducing policies.
The Thomas-Kilmann conflict model can be a valuable tool to solve it at the organizational level.
B. Training and Awareness Programs
Awareness is one of the most effective tools to remove behaviour that comes from prejudice or discriminatory mindset. The HRD can train the employees or bring in experts to do it.
This helps address the issue from the grassroots level and creates an intense environment intolerant of unfair treatment. Training is tailored to the organization’s culture and needs.
C. Establishing Clear Policies
Establishing clear policies is an essential way for organizations to develop a culture of no discrimination. It is also how the organization can ensure no mistreatment of their employees.
Preventing unfair treatment i an excellent way for businesses to thrive and is mandatory by law across countries. It is also one of how organizations can reduce employee turnover and create a happy environment.
In addition, they can improve productivity as the employees are happy to work in their environment.
Wrapping It Up!
That was all about the different ways unfair treatment at work manifests and the various types that exist. The article also illustrates how to fight mistreatment and report it to the authorities.
You can handle the situation and bring it under control in several ways. It involves just basic steps that help bring it under control and keep the work environment thriving and well.
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