Discrimination in the workplace and how to avoid it in 2023

In a perfect world, there would be no discrimination in the workplace, and everyone would feel comfortable and accepted every day when they go to work. But it seems we are a long way off this goal, with over half (51%) of European workers reporting that they faced workplace discrimination once or more in the past 12 months. Also of concern is the fact that 1 in 6 people feel that they are discriminated against “often”, or “all of the time”. Considering this, it should come as no surprise that one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is to “reduce inequality within and among countries” - Goal 10 of 17. However, as our research confirms, we have a lot of work to do before this is achieved.  

The EU’s Amsterdam Treaty states that it is illegal to discriminate in the workplace based on the following characteristics: 

• age 
• disability 
• racial or ethnic origin 
• religion and belief 
• sex 
• sexual orientation

In the PageGroup Sustainability Insights survey of 4,755 workers and jobseekers across Continental Europe, conducted between May and June 2022, age was highlighted as the most common cause of discrimination. In the survey, over a third (34%) of the respondents said they had been discriminated against at least once in the past year due to their age. This was followed by gender (23%) and cultural background (22%). 

Suffering from discrimination in the workplace can result in people feeling unsafe – either physically or emotionally, excluded, and disadvantaged. It can also lead to broader cultural issues in the workplace, causing dissatisfaction and unhappiness across teams. The results of our Sustainability Insights research are another reminder for Human Resources and Talent Development Managers to be aware of, potentially taking action to resolve or guard against workplace discrimination. 

While the unacceptably high levels of discrimination can seem overwhelming, there are actions we can all take to help improve conditions in the workplace. The first step is becoming aware of how discrimination may be hiding in your company’s policies and procedures, and how employees may be trying to fit in to protect themselves. 

Direct discrimination: What does it mean? 

The most obvious form of discrimination in the workplace is direct discrimination. The Equality and Human Rights Commission defines direct discrimination as “what happens when someone is treated less favourably because of a protected characteristic.”  

We might see this as someone being excluded from a project because they are a woman or given a particular type of work because of their race or ethnic origin.  

The challenge of indirect discrimination 

Indirect discrimination is the legal term used to describe policies, practices or procedures that appear to treat everyone equally but that, in practice, actually discriminate against a particular group of people.  

This might look like: 

• Requiring all employees to be available to work Saturdays – which discriminates against those who practise Judaism because Saturday – the Sabbath – is a day of rest. 
• Requiring all employees to work full-time – which may discriminate against parents who may have family responsibilities that need consideration. 
• Requiring all employees to wear a strict uniform – which might discriminate against those who wear head scarves. 
• Requiring all employees to stand during their shift – which discriminates against those who may have an injury or disability that requires extra physical support.  

Even organisations that have diversity and inclusion initiatives may have policies in place that indirectly discriminate against some of their employees. This may be because they have had the policies in place for a long time and they are due to be revised, or because when they were made, those making the decisions were not aware of how their policies may harm some of their employees.  

Whatever the reason, these policies can result in employees being discriminated against, so it’s important to be aware of them, to examine your organisation’s current practices to ensure they don’t exclude or discriminate against anyone and regularly update them as part of an ongoing, constantly evolving process. 

Not only can this help people to feel less excluded, but having truly inclusive policies can also foster a greater company culture for all, providing fresh perspectives and cultural learnings, and boosting productivity as your personnel become happier and more relaxed. Deloitte reports that teams with inclusive leaders are 17% more likely to report that they are high performing, 20% more likely to say they make high-quality decisions, and 29% more likely to report behaving collaboratively. Also, it reported that a 10% improvement in the perception of inclusion increases work attendance by almost 1 day a year per employee. 

It is important to note that, on some occasions, indirect discrimination may be permitted when not doing so may affect job performance. While it is generally rare for those situations to arise, it might be appropriate to move someone out of a job, for example, if they are physically unable to perform some of the required tasks, and no workarounds are available.

The organisational cost of discrimination

Although occurrences of direct or indirect discrimination can sometimes appear as isolated incidents or, perhaps due to a lack of reporting, not particularly frequent, the effects can have a real impact on organisations. Overall, 23% of our respondents say they have been affected by gender discrimination. However, when breaking down the data by gender, 38% of women say the same, compared to 12% of men. In addition, as seniority increases, so does the prevalence of gender discrimination, with 31% of C-suite employees experiencing it, compared to 21% of non-managerial level workers. 

The true cost of such experiences can be seen in the latest Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey & Company, which shows that women in leadership positions in the U.S. are “more than 1.5 times as likely as men at their level to have left a previous job because they wanted to work for a company that was more committed to DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion).  

Adding to those statistics, 41% of respondents aged over fifty say they have experienced age-based workplace discrimination in the past 12 months. Translated simply, this means that 4 out of 10 workers aged fifty or above could be looking to leave your organisation and, consequently, take all their skills and institutional knowledge with them.  

Are your employees ‘code switching´? 

Another thing to look for in the workplace is employees who may be ‘code-switching’. Code-switching is a practice of adjusting your style of speech, appearance, behaviour, and expression in ways that help you to fit in, minimise negative attention and enjoy the benefits everyone else has access to.  

In our survey, 2 out of 3 respondents said that they didn’t feel like they could be completely themselves while they were at work.  

It’s a fundamentally human trait to want to try to fit in with your cultural group, and employees will do this in the workplace so they can feel like they are a part of the team, and perhaps be promoted or treated well by their boss. And while some behaviour may be appropriate – for example, speaking more formally or being tidy – some changes in behaviour can be more problematic.  

These might include: 

• Women laughing along with jokes they find offensive. 
• People of colour changing their natural hairstyle. 
• Speakers of other languages trying to minimise their accents. 
• LGBTQIA+ people avoiding talking about their personal lives.

How to prevent discrimination in the workplace 

While this may paint a grim picture of the less noticeable type of discrimination in the workplace, there is a great opportunity for you to improve the situation within your organisation, and to better communicate the measures you currently have in place.  

Doing this can not only help to improve the culture and productivity of your current team but also help attract the best talent in the future.  

There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to reducing or eliminating the hidden discrimination in your workplace, but it’s important to first understand and learn from your current employees about the discrimination they are facing.  

PageGroup’s ‘Have Your Say’ programme regularly encourages employees to share their thoughts and experiences in a confidential manner, which helps us to learn what areas need work, and what we’re doing well that we can replicate in other areas.  

Some other effective practices organisations might consider to prevent or reduce discrimination in the workplace include: 

Company Culture 

• Continually work on building and fostering a culture of inclusivity and welcomeness by celebrating differences (for example, through team-building events or cultural activities) 
• Fostering an environment where diversity is celebrated, rather than merely tolerated, and people feel comfortable and proud being themselves 
• Using onboarding to set the tone with each new hire and make sure that they understand fully what is allowed and what is expected from them in terms of diversity and inclusion. 

Education 

• Providing ongoing education about discrimination and related issues, including training, workshops, and partnerships with groups that specialise in this area 
• Providing management training to ensure best practices are coming from the top down 

Policies and Procedures 

• Revising current policies and procedures – and perhaps engaging an outside consultant to help – to identify any unintentional discrimination that may be happening 
• Instituting inclusive hiring practices, possibly using a form of ‘blind recruitment’ where identifying information is removed from CVs (even excluding identifying details like the candidate’s name). Another simpler example is to remove gender-identifying language from job postings. 
• Ensuring that, at a minimum, all legal requirements are respected and embraced, and that a clear written internal policy on discrimination and harassment is widely shared and easily available 
• Protecting your employees’ rights to privacy regarding any details which may be used to discriminate against them (for example, their religious beliefs, sexual identity, or their age). 

The most important practice of all is to listen to your employees - and to act. No organisation is perfect, but if you’re learning and valuing your team, and moving in the right direction, it’s bound to have a positive effect on culture and performance while helping us all move closer to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.