Outstanding claims of discrimination on any company would impact how I feel about a company. Claims suggest to an outsider potential wrongdoing or discrimination which could feed into a bigger company culture problem. If one of my favourite company’s had discrimination claims I would be likely to first ignore the fact, because they are my favourite company after all. I would likely turn a blind eye in the first instance and put it down to bad luck. If more claims started to appear, I would then start to pay more attention to them all and my viewpoint would most likely change. In this situation I would change my viewpoint to more a negative association and would likely stop investing into the company and their products or services. I would also decide against applying to work for that company as it is not a culture that I wish to be affiliated with. I want to work for a company with a good company culture than treats their employees well and as equals.
I think this highlights the importance of public perception and employee satisfaction. For a company to be successful and remain successful, they must treat all employees fairly and well thus building employee satisfaction. If employees are satisfied and feel treated as equals, they are more likely to work more productively with higher levels of engagement. The public will interpret this level of employee satisfaction and make their consumer decisions on this basis, whether positive or negative. People, like myself, are attracted to companies with ethical values and standards that align with my own which further highlights the importance of remaining ethical and treating your employees as equals to one another.
Working for a company with good culture and that treats their employees right is something almost every desires, which is why it is so important for companies to make sure they are doing just that. They are going to be very unsuccessful in the long run if they do not take steps to prevent discrimination.
Hi Abigail,
I appreciated that you pointed out the sad truth that the first response of the people who love a certain company that is faced with a discrimination charge would be to ignore it. Since these individuals have an emotional tie to the company, their first reaction would be to defend or completely dismiss the case due to prior positive perceptions of the company. This impression would be so ingrained in their minds that it would first cloud their judgement to the fact that there could be an actual issue with the company. I really liked this point of view in that if this was the only case if discrimination brought to this company, there may not be a lasting change in our attitude at all. Great post!
I agree that public perception plays a large part in recruitment. It will be a lot harder to recruit employees that shed a positive light on the company. They will ostracize certain groups from their company. People usually want to work for certain companies because of the culture, and if the culture is discriminatory many people will be turned away form that.