Managing a Diverse Workforce

Chapter 19 Managing a Diverse Workforce The Changing Face of the Workforce Gender and Race in the Workplace Government’s Role in Securing Equal Employment Opportunity What Business Can Do: Diversity Policies and Practices Balancing Work and Life

The changing face of the workforce Diversity Refers to variation in the important human characteristics that distinguish people from one another. The primary dimensions of diversity are age, ethnicity, gender, race and sexual orientation. The secondary dimensions are family status, first language, communication style. Workforce diversity trends: • More women are working than ever before. • Immigration has profoundly reshaped the workplace. • Ethnic and racial diversity is increasing. • The workforce will continue to get older.

Proportion of women in the labor force • In Malaysia, women’s participation in the workforce has increased from 44.7 per cent in 1995 to 45.7 per cent in 2005. (Malaysia Labour force) • Malaysia is among countries in the Asia-Pacific region with the lowest number of women workers. (Star Saturday April 21, 2007). • According to statistics from the Mid-term review of the 8th Malaysia Plan, the proportion of women who are legislators, senior officials and managers has increased from 5 per cent in 2000 to 5.3 per cent in 2002. • Research has shown that the main constraints of females entering the workforce are family and marriage. • The increase in the labor force participation rate of women in Malaysia has resulted in: i). a decline in fertility rate (3.9 in 1982 to 3.3 children per woman in 1993.) ii). The postponement of age at marriage among women (In 1980, women were marrying at an average age of 23.5 years, and in 1991 their age at marriage increased to 24.7).

Proportion of women in the labor force • The increase in the female labor force participation in Malaysia may be attributable to: • Improved maternal and child health care (in organizations), access to family planning services, increased years of schooling, leading to a rise in the average age at marriage; b. Postponement of marriage from age 22.3 in 1970 to age 24.7 in 1991, and longer intervals between children, has enabled more women of all ages to enter and remain in the workforce; and c. Changing attitudes of husbands and parents.

Proportion of women in the labor force d. Women need income to support themselves and their families. - the high cost of living puts financial pressure on families and forcing women into the labour force just to sustain an accustomed standard of living, to provide for their children’s education or to care for their aged parents. e. Having a job will also give women psychological independence and security. - Women, just like men, need to invest and save for their future. - As divorce rates increase, women find that they can no longer rely on their partner’s earnings for support.

The Gender Pay Gap • One feature of the working world is that women in average earn lower pay than men do. • Some studies also show that even where men and women perform the same job, men are sometimes paid more (Ariffin, 1994a). • This disparity is called the pay gap.

Gender Pay Gap • Equality is enshrined in the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, “All persons are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection of the law” (Article 8 (1). • Yet the protection against gender discrimination guaranteed in Article 8 (1) is not upheld in Article 8 (2), “Except as expressly authorised by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, decent or place of birth in any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment.” (Article 8 (2).

Gender in the Workplace (con’t) • The absence of State sanctioned protection against sexual discrimination in the Federal Constitution has failed to protect against a legal system and social structures in which equality between the sexes is apparent. • Women and men are not equal before the law, nor do the sexes have equal protection of law. Women before the law continue to encounter sexual discrimination, in the formulation of laws, in lack of laws to protect women against discrimination, and in the interpretation and enforcement of laws. Inequality, and a failure to protect women against discrimination manifest itself in many detrimental ways in all spheres of women's lives.

GENDER PAY GAP • Gender differentiation is seen in the wage structure of the labor force and the average gap for all types of labor may be as much as 50 percent in the private sector (1990). • The estimated income earned by Malaysian women in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) was only US$ 6,075 in 2003, while men earned US$12,869. This means that women are earning less than half (47.2%) of men’s income. • In fact, the gender wage gap in Malaysia is still relatively large when compared with countries like Thailand (61.2%) and Singapore (51.4%) where the take-home pay for women in these countries exceeded more than half of men’s income. (Year 2006: Source: http://www.mier.org.my/) • Jobs that are considered "heavy or important" are generally carried out by men, and pay better than "light" female work. • At the administrative and managerial level, there are proportionally fewer women (1.7 percent) than men (4 percent). (gender ineaulity pdf. (Figure 4))

GENDER PAY GAP (con’t) • Employment patterns reveal that women are concentrated in labor-intensive operations in manufacturing as clerical workers, equipment operators, production workers, and service workers —positions that require little pre-employment training. • Gender pay gap exist because: • Sex discrimination • The gap reflected women’s choices to pursue lower-paying jobs or slower advancement because of time off for child rearing • Occupational segregation –inequitable concentration of women in particular job categories.

Breaking the Glass Ceiling • Although women and minorities are as competent as white men in managing people and organizations, they rarely attain the highest positions in corporations. • In 2002, only 16% of executives in the U.S were women. • Only 12% of board members of Fortune 500 firms were women in 2001. • Persons of color (men and women) now make up 19% of corporate directors.

Breaking the Glass Ceiling • There are still very few women holding high level positions in organizations even though there are as competent as men. • Their ascent seems to be blocked by an invisible barrier known as the glass ceiling. (vs. glass walls) • Glass ceiling refers to the situation where the advancement of a qualified person to a higher level in the hierarchy of an organization is stopped at a lower level because of some form of discrimination, usually sexism or racism. • It is an invisible barrier which blocks the advancement of a qualified person to a higher level in the organization.

Breaking the Glass Ceiling • Glass walls on the other hand refer to fewer opportunities to move sideways into jobs that lead to the top. • For example: females and minority managers are often found in staff position such as public relations or human resources, rather than in line positions in core areas such as sales, marketing or production where they can acquire broad management skills necessary for promotion. • Another problem of filling top position is that recruiters rely on word-of-mouth i.e the old boys network from which women and persons of colour are often excluded.

Government’s Role in Securing Equal Employment Opportunity • Eliminating work place discrimination and ensuring equal job opportunity have been a major goal of government public policies. • The following steps have been taken with respect to equal opportunity, affirmative action and sexual and racial harassment. 1. Equal Employment opportunity 2. Affirmative action 3. Sexual and Racial Harassment

Equal Employment Opportunity • Equal Employment Opportunity • Laws that are implemented to promote equal treatment of employees. • EEO rules apply to most businesses in the following ways: • Discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental disability, or age is prohibited in all employment practices. • Government contractors must have written affirmative action plans detailing how they are working positively to overcome past and present effects of discrimination in their workforce. • Women and men must receive equal pay for performing equal work, and employers may not discriminate on the basis of pregnancy.

Affirmative Action • Refers to taking positive steps to hire and promote people from groups previous discriminated against. • The purpose of affirmative action is to reduce job discrimination by encouraging companies to take positive (that is affirmative) steps to overcome past employment practices and traditions that may have been discriminatory.

Affirmative Action • This involves a concerted effort to enlarge the pool of applicants so that no one is excluded because of part or present discrimination. • The principle of affirmative action however, leads to reverse discrimination happens when one group is unintentionally discriminated against in an effort to help another group. (in helping women and those in minority, those in the majority are discriminated against.)

Affirmative Action • Critics of affirmative action also argues that affirmative programs could actually demoralize or stigmatize the very groups they were designed to help. • For example: if a women were promoted to a management position, other people might think that she got the job just because of affirmative ation even if she were truly the best qualified candidate.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT • Sexual harassment at work occurs when any employee, woman or man experiences repeated, unwanted sexual attention or when on-the-job conditions are hostile or threatening in a sexual way.

Sexual Harassment • In Malaysia, sexual harassment is governed by the Code of Practice on the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. (http://www.mohr.gov.my/mygoveg/makluman/prevention.htm) • For the purpose of this Code, sexual harassment means: a). Any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature having the effect of verbal, non-verbal, visual, psychological or physical harassment: i). that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived by the recipient as placing a condition of a sexual nature on her/his employment; ii). or that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived by the recipient as an offence or humiliation, or a threat to his/her well-being, but has no direct link to her/his employment.

Sexual Harassment • Sexual harassment may be divided into two categories, namely sexual coercion and sexual annoyance. • Sexual coercion is sexual harassment that results in some direct consequence to the victim's employment. • An example of sexual harassment of this coercive kind is where a superior, who has the power over salary and promotion, attempts to coerce a subordinate to grant sexual favours. If the subordinate accedes to the superior's sexual solicitation, job benefits will follow. Conversely, if the subordinate refuses, job benefits are denied. 2. Sexual annoyance, the second type of sexual harassment, is sexually-related conduct that is offensive, hostile or intimidating to the recipient, but nonetheless has no direct link to any job benefit. However, the annoying conduct creates a bothersome working environment which the recipient has to tolerate in order to continue working. • A sexual harassment by an employee against a co-employee falls into this category. Similarly, harassment by a company's client against an employee also falls into this category.

Sexual Harassment • Sexual harassment in the workplace includes any employment-related sexual harassment occurring outside the workplace as a result of employment responsibilities or employment responsibilities or employment relationship. • Situations under which such employment-related sexual harassment may take place includes, but is not limited to: • at work-related social functions; • in the course of work assignments outside the workplace • at work-related conferences or training sessions • during work-related travel • over the phone; and • through electronic media.

RACIAL HARASSMENT • Racial harassment happens when ethnic slurs, derogatory comments or other verbal or physical harassment based on race are made, and it creates a threatening and intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment or interfere with an individuals work performance.

Diversity practices Actions taken by companies to manage diversity effectively: • They articulate a clear diversity mission, set objectives, and hold managers accountable. • Implement diversity programs and provide diversity training to promote sensitivity and awareness among employee toward diversity. • Reward managers based on how well their departments meet various diversity goals. • They spread a wide net in recruitment, to find the most diverse possible pool of qualified candidates. • Those in charge of hiring and promotion need to seek all workers who may be qualified. • Need to move beyond word of mouth which may produce a pool of applicants who are similar to people already working for the company or in particular jobs.

Diversity practices Actions taken by companies to manage diversity effectively: • They identify promising women and persons of color, and provide them with mentors and other kinds of support. • Identify techniques that can break glass ceilings-assigning mentors to promising female and minority managers and by providing opportunities that include a wide-ranging line management experience. • Set up diversity councils to monitor the company’s goals and progress toward them. • A diversity council is a group of managers and employees responsible for developing and implementing specific action plans to meet the firm’s diversity goals.

Benefits of managing diversity • Companies that promote equal employment opportunity generally do better at attracting and retaining workers from all backgrounds. • Businesses with employees from varied backgrounds can often more effectively serve customers who are themselves diverse. • The global marketplace demands a workforce with language skills, cultural sensitivity, and awareness of national and other differences across markets. • Companies with effective diversity programs can avoid costly lawsuits and damage to their corporate reputations from charges of discrimination or cultural insensitivity.

Managing a Diverse Workforce