Most U.S. companies act swiftly and forcefully to root outdiscrimination based on race, sex, age, or appearance when theydiscover it. And there are good reasons to do so: intolerance on thejob hurts morale and productivity. It's illegal under civil-rightslaws. And offending companies can face expensive lawsuits and ruinouspublicity.
But Steve Robbins, a business consultant whospecializes in diversity issues, points out that not all intolerance onthe job is clear-cut, easy to spot, or even conscious and deliberate. In a country in which, according to a Washington Post-ABC News pollthis month, 3 in 10 Americans still admit to feelings of racial bias,prejudice can bubble up in subtle ways.
So-called harmless jokesaround the office water cooler aren't so harmless to those beingmocked. And Robbins says such behavior can fester when executives anddepartment heads ? no matter how sensitive and enlightened they maysee themselves ? are part of what he calls an all-white boys' club;they can easily miss offensive innuendos or shrug them off as no bigdeal.
Other signs of what Robbins calls unintentionalintolerance at work include high turnover among women and people ofcolor. He says it's a red flag when these folks get the lion's shareof poor performance evaluations. Workplace stress, lack of promotionopportunities, and what he calls flat-out exclusion can sometimesexplain their inadequate productivity.
Steve Robbins notes thatbiases can be deeply and darkly held and are hard to change. Butcompanies that allow even unintented intolerance to turn into offensivebehavior are asking for trouble. Big trouble.
[Steve Robbins is the author of , published by Davies-Black.]