by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica Mauter

I Just Want To Work With Someone Like Me! - The Black Factor
“[I]f you are a White interviewer or someone who has input into hiring decisions and you can’t imagine many circumstances in which a minority applicant would ‘fit’ in at your company or within your corporate ‘culture,’ then you are probably a racist and—based on that—you should not be rewarded with the power to impact anyone’s livelihood.”

Watch for Interview Warning Signs - BusinessWeek
“Hindsight is better than 20/20—it’s LASIK.” Take some time after an interview, preferably with a friend, to go back over all the little statements that sounded weird at the time.

Accommodating the Female Body by Jessica Roberts - Social Science Research Network
Abstract: “This essay presents a novel approach to understanding sex discrimination in the workplace by integrating three distinct areas of scholarship: disability studies, labor law, and architectural design. Borrowing from disabilities studies, I argue that the built environment serves as a situs of sex discrimination. In the first section, I explain how the concept of disability has progressed from a problem located within the body of an individual with a disability to the failings of the built environment in which that person functions. Using this paradigm, in the next section, I reframe workplaces constructed for male workers as instruments of sex discrimination. I then explain how built environments intended for the male body constitute disparate impact under Title VII. In the final section, I present the architectural school of universal design, which has been a source of crucial innovation in the disability labor rights framework, as a means for both de-abling and de-sexing the workplace.” (via Workplace Prof Blog)

Five ways to feel less guilty quitting, and why Gen Y feels guilt giving notice - Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk
“So Generation Y leaves a job when there is not great personal growth. But in each job they have, they are great at asking people to help them, so they generally feel guilt when they leave one of those people for a new job offer – because Gen Y feels loyal to people who help them…. If you are a young person worrying about quitting, though, here’s a reality check. The company is going to be fine when you leave.”

The Three Signs of a Miserable Job - Patrick Lencioni
Anonymity, irrelevance, and immeasurement (”the inability of employees to assess for themselves their contribution or success”). (via Strategic HR Lawyer)

Who Benefits? - Workplace Prof Blog
According to a study by Duke University law professor Barak Richman, “low-income and minority individuals did not use [mental health and pharmaceutical] insurance benefits as often as their white and higher-income co-workers. As a result, insurance companies disbursed more healthcare dollars to whites and higher-income individuals, leading to a likely wealth transfer from nonwhites to whites and from low-income to high-income individuals, Richman said.”

6 Years After Sept. 11, Muslims See More Inclusive Workplaces - DiversityInc
“As we get further from Sept. 11, 2001, it appears that American Muslims are safer and more comfortable in the office. While reported discrimination cases against Muslims overall continue to increase, incidents in the workplace are decreasing.”

Multicultural is new workplace model - Seacoastonline.com
“As globalization becomes a reality, more and more companies will employ people of every race, nationality, religious background, and age group. These people will work side by side in the same office building, others a hemisphere away. That’s why if your company is still leading the ‘old’ — read ‘white, male, authoritarian’ — way, you’re making a mistake. It would be great if you could magically fill your leadership ranks with men and women from different cultures, backgrounds and traditions. But if that’s unrealistic, Juana Bordas [author of the upcoming book Salsa, Soul, Spirit] says you can gain a lot by simply borrowing their techniques.”

Family-friendly, or freeloader-friendly? - Fortune
A team leader struggles with how to be flexible, accommodating, and fair to the team when personal time is needed for family issues.

Hedge Fund Power! - Washington Post
“If you’re lobbying to keep a tax break, rich white guys making astronomical sums by investing other people’s money aren’t the most sympathetic clients — especially when they’re paying taxes at a lower rate than firefighters and teachers. So the private-equity and hedge fund industry has come up with a cynical new approach, arguing that raising their taxes would hurt women- and minority-owned firms and dampen investment in needy urban areas.”

Recommended Reading is a weekly feature where we link to some of our favorite workplace-related blog posts and articles. If you would like to suggest a link to Erica, please email tips@raceintheworkplace.com