Discrimination in the workplace has been a hot topic and it has been a popular source of content for news outlets. While some companies may in fact have discriminatory practices (by disparate impact or disparate treatment) there are times where employees may feel dissatisfied with the company, their decision making, and values and may feel like they are being treated unfairly or discriminated.
Recently, I was in a meeting with a manager and an employee. The employee claimed he was being discriminated since a co-worker made more money than he did and he mentioned that he could produce the same work as his co-worker. Bold statement, especially since he has been in a personal improvement plan due to his low quality of work, inability to read complex schematics and to difficulty communicating and not asking questions when in doubt . These performance issues resulted in several costly mistakes on his part as well as having to re-work projects. After explaining compensable value, ranges of pay and performance pay, he was still dissatisfied with his rate of pay but understood where the differences in pay and was more interested in knowing the path towards advancement rather than just asking for a higher raise. The employee gained pay understanding and this created a shift in his feelings of inequity and discrimination.
Moral of the story is, I do not believe everything I hear on the news because I have seen both sides working in HR. My perceptions of the company would be changed based on the evidence and claims made. My decisions to support or apply to the company would depend on the facts of the claims, if they were corroborated, as well as how egregious they may have been.
By Nicte Chandler
One thing I found interesting about your post is that the individual was complain about lack of pay. In all of my jobs I have had one of the biggest rules is to not discuss pay with anyone but management. I think the way you handled this situation was great. It can be easy for us to see someone doing better or in this case making more money and instantly become defensive and feel like we are being treated poorly. Seeing as he was already on a program to help him with his lack of work and communication shows us that he is already struggling. Using the lack of pay probably made him feel like he had some type of leverage in the situation. However, I think sitting him down and explaining that discrimination is not the case here it is lack of work ethic and showing him personal examples was awesome! Not only are showing him why things are the way they are but also showing him what they could be if was to work harder.
Thanks Shelly, its important to help individuals understand there are legal basis for differences such as job performance, experience and knowledge.
Nicte