Sirona Says

Why does society accept discrimination and yet it is outlawed in the workplace?

 

I feel like I am stepping into the lions den, writing this post today, as it is on the thorny subject of race discrimination - more directly, white vs black.
Within the world of recruitment / employment / job seeking etc the whole subject of discrimination is around us. We are now subject to many restrictions about what we can / can't say, what questions we can't ask because of the risk if inference for something else, and what we are allowed /not allowed to put on career websites etc.
Even with all these legal restrictions, companies still flout the law and blatantly discriminate. So much so that the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions), recently sent out 1000+ bogus applications for jobs, with similar CV's but with 'white' and 'non-white' sounding names. They were trying to prove discrimination is still rife in the employment market - with the (mad) end goal of having nameless CV's!. In my opinion I think that sets a dangerous precedent.

What I can't get my head around is the way that discrimination by skin colour can be so public with things like the MOBO's , Black Movie Awards and (unbelievably in my opinion) the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (and for all these awards ceremonies there is no comparative white awards), and yet in the workplace it is legally outlawed.
These seem to have become an 'accepted' part of society, but do you think that the flip side would be so true? Surely if there were 'White' only award ceremonies, there would be uproar from the 'non-white' community?

So returning to the workplace for a moment, is it any wonder that discrimination still goes on, when 'society' is still giving out very mixed messages to people in a very public way?

Is Diversity ruining Christmas?

My message to companies who are abstaining or cancelling Christmas parties for non-financial reasons is as follows: stop sitting on your 'company fence', forget all the political correctness crap and give your employees what they want - Christmas cheer in the form of a party (or similar)!

Diversity is slowly ruining Christmas, and many companies are sitting behind this excuse, rather than making a positive 'statement' to their staff. As an example, NCP (National Car Parks) have cancelled their Christmas party and Christmas bonus this year because "their workforce is now so diverse with so many different religions, they don't feel it appropriate to just recognise Christmas"
So is tradition being swept aside in favour of political correctness? .............Totally!!
Personally I think it a complete load of baubles!! Every country has its own ways of celebrating history, tradition or religious festivals. When you live or work in that country, wherever that may be, you should respect the ways of that country, such as Thanksgiving in the US in November, the Chinese New Year in February in China and Eid-ul-Fitr - sometimes described as a 'Muslim Christmas' (and of course there are many more).
So why don't companies stop this nonsense and treat their employees with intelligence and integrity. If individuals want to avoid going to the Christmas party, then that is totally their choice, but don't penalise the majority of your employees who want to celebrate, what is to them, the main holiday of the year.