Harassment in the Workplace, Essay Example

As a human resource officer working for Tesco Company, one of my roles as HR officer is to ensure that employees are not discriminated against in their places of work. However, a recent incident involving sexual harassment of junior female employees has made me realize that discrimination is still a major issue in places of work today. Although there are laws prohibiting such inhuman acts, this case revealed that employment laws without proper commitment from the management cannot eliminate workplace discrimination. This incident has broadened my understanding of workplace discrimination, particularly against female workers.

Discussion of Incident

First of all, employment laws themselves without commitment from the organization have been ineffective in eliminating sexual discrimination in places of work. This is because such harassments are pinned down and leaves no traces of evidence to be presented in court of law. The incident of sexual harassment I witnessed involved senior manager and a junior female employee. The victim was meant to believe by fellow employees that such incidences are common and that she could be sacked if she reported the matter to the authorities.

Since the victim was familiar with laws on workplace discrimination, she came to the HR office to request for code of conduct manual and reported the case to me. Upon investigating, I realized that many cases of sexual harassment are not reported. I undertook to follow up the case with senior management, but it proved to be a difficult task for me as most employees were unwilling to support my course. Nonetheless, through my efforts the case was taken up by authority and justice was done to the victim. However, it left me with many questions than answers on the effectiveness of employment laws regarding workplace discrimination.

A close monitoring of the victim in the days that followed further revealed the impact of sexual discrimination on the health and work performance of employees. I found that work production of the victim went down drastically after the incident. It also led to depression as affected employees tend to look down upon themselves besides ruining relationship between employees and management. Further investigation revealed that most employees resign from work after being victimized which explains the case of increased employee turnover in most firms. The consequences of such discrimination are bitter pills to swallow for both the organization and the employees hence the need to develop a lasting solution to discrimination.

It is therefore important to develop a culture of zero tolerance to discrimination in places of work. This would, however require the commitment of all employees, particularly the senior managers. Employees should also be sensitized about their rights, particularly in regard to laws on employee discrimination. Employees should also be trained on the negative effects of discrimination to the company, the individual and the society Constant and random investigation should conduct by the office of human resources to assess if there is any un-reported case of discrimination.

Conclusion

The incident of sexual harassment has confirmed the existence of workplace discrimination in modern times. Many efforts are employed by perpetrators to hide their inhuman acts, most of which even go unreported. Employment laws on workplace discrimination seem to be ineffective and it is important to revise the current laws and efforts to make them effective in addressing this problem. Discrimination free workplace environment is not only good moral but also beneficial to employees, organization and society at large.