How Do You Avoid Gender Discrimination?

By Nusrat Fathima (Green Delta Insurance)
09:56 AM, April 19, 2012

Gender discrimination in the workplace is an issue that we need to stand against. In today’s day and age, where equal contributions from both sexes in the corporate world are valued, gender discrimination simply should not be tolerated or encouraged.

Gender roles in the workplace differ, but as can often be seen – as portrayed through the media – the roles, responsibilities, and most importantly, the recognition levels are often the same. The differences that do exist are likely to diminish with time and advancement, as it has over the years.
Within Green Delta Insurance Company, a firm believer of equal rights and opportunities, we have uniform policies for both male and female employees (this includes all policies including the spouses of the employees), such as:

  • giving equal chances to both genders to continue employment in the company, provided that terms of contract are observed and exercised;
  • ensuring that women have attained high positions in our workplaces due to their dedication and contributions; ensuring that there is recognition by the company, which rewards this dedication through promotions, pay raises, and other medical or financial benefits;
  • ensuring proper working conditions and fair employment opportunities for both genders; criteria for promotion and retention are equal for both genders, as they are working with the same job responsibilities;
  • correcting, preventing, or stopping any action, behavior, or condition in the workplace that attacks the gender of any employee, affecting his or her work performance;
  • paying equal salary/wage or benefit packages to both genders working with the same job responsibilities;
  • persuading and informing our female staff that nothing can replace good work ethics and performance. “Don’t hesitate to be honest enough to speak your mind. If you are having a hard time with officemates who consider your sex a disability, use it as a fuel to perform and exceed expectations and simply show that when it comes to perseverance and performance, there is no gender difference.

How do you promote diversity?

Diversity is a business strategy that supports and promotes service for a heterogeneous population. Every business and company has a broad diversity of employees. We need to develop the diversity within the workplace to work better as a single unit and also to be able to serve customers. Green Delta Insurance Company’s view is that promoting diversity in the workplace will also decrease the incidents of discrimination among colleagues. Green Delta has some guidelines on how to promote diversity in the workplace.

  • Identify the different ethnicities that are present in the workplace and the percentage of people according to their age and gender. By identifying these, we are able to create strategies that will promote diversity in our organization.
  • Leadership Commitment is another tool to implement policies and strategies to promote diversity in the workplace. We believe that if the leaders know what is important to the organization, then the whole community in the workplace will follow their examples.
  • Provide Equal Opportunities for all our employees regardless of the age and gender of our employees, and ensure that each is given equal merit based on their performances in the workplace.
  • Diversity Training will teach the employees the guidelines to bear in mind on how to avoid discrimination and also provide information on how to promote diversity in the workplace. In addition, this training will also increase the quality of customer service of the company.
  • Mentoring is another strategy we use to break down divisions in the workplace, encouraging senior employees to train the new employees so that they can work together in improving the company. This mentoring activity will not only improve their output but will also create a bond among the employees.

How do you ensure the well-being of employees?

Employee well-being is incorporated into every aspect of Green Delta’s business plans, strategies, and activities. To succeed, we inspire ingenuity, nurture talent, and create an inclusive workplace where people thrive and grow. We balance this with our other business needs. These include:

  • code of policy that outlines employee conduct on issues such as ethics, values, environment, diversity, employee respect, and customer service;
  • creating a clear workplace health and safety program that documents policies and actions, particularly important to ensure the well-being of employees;
  • remaining committed to regular training and development so our employees excel at their work and advance in their careers;
  • developing a culture of personal growth;
  • providing flexible work hours and company holidays to celebrate the holidays that are important to them;
  • fair and unbiased decisions about benefit changes during open enrollment periods;
  • applying marketing techniques that are fair and honest, so that they reflect our company’s integrity, such as avoiding any advertising or communication that could be seen as manipulative or harmful to the public.

Much like the popular saying that “what a man can do, a woman can do better,” Green Delta Insurance Company believes that a woman can also do best.

About the Author
Fathima, Nusrat

Nusrat Fathima is Executive Vice President, MD's Secretariat at Green Delta Insurance.

 
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect CSR Manager's editorial policy.
 
Comments
Post Comment
 
 
 
https://www.csr-academy.org/en/projects/How-do-you-avoid-gender-discrimination.php