by Special Correspondent Adina Ba

An African American partner from a prestigious international law firm was sitting in a conference room prior to a negotiation that would determine whether her client’s corporation would emerge victorious in a multi-billion-dollar acquisition. The lawyer for the target company arrived and asked her to make copies, assuming she was a secretary or paralegal. She made the copies, reviewing the documents her opposing counsel was bringing to the negotiation. She then introduced herself and took the lead in the meeting. She later charged him the appropriate portion of her $800-per-hour billing rate for the photocopying time.

This story is but one example of mistaken identity experienced by 12.7% of respondents who participated in the 2007 Corporate Leavers Survey (pdf), which found that over 2 million managers and professionals leave their jobs every year solely due to unfairness in the workplace at an annual cost of $64 billion to companies. Other examples of unfairness and bias experienced by corporate leavers include:

• Being asked to attend more recruiting or community related events than one’s colleagues
• Being passed over for promotion due to personal characteristics
• Being publicly humiliated
• Being bullied
• Receiving unwelcome questions about skin, hair or ethnic attire
• Being compared to a terrorist in a joking or serious manner

Workplace diversity and fairness expert Freada Kapor Klein is the founder of the Level Playing Field Institute. She tells the story above and examines these trends in her book Giving Notice: Why the Best and the Brightest Leave the Workplace and How You Can Help Them Stay.

Your research claims that the true cost of hidden bias in the workplace is $64 billion annually. Many employers focus on costs of possible lawsuits as the only cost of workplace bias, but your work aims to debunk that myth. What are your comments on this?

(# of professionals & managers in US labor force) X
(% of professionals & managers who left solely due to unfairness) X
(1.5 total annual compensation of professionals & managers) =
(Cost of voluntary turnover due solely to unfairness)

For every dimension of this calculation, we took the most conservative estimate. This is not the outside extreme example, but rather the minimum. An additional statistic which is not included in our cost estimate is that 13% of those who left solely due to unfairness actively discouraged others from buying their former employers’ products or services. It directly cuts into the bottom line in a number of dimensions.

Why do you recommend having only one training program in a company instead of having sexual harassment training and diversity training separated out? Any suggestions on how this can be done?

Separate sexual harassment training is a real problem. It signals that that issue is more important than other issues. Yes, sexual harassment is an important issue, but I suggest CEOs initiate one overall policy for “diversity” or “anti-harassment” which covers all fairness practices in the workplace, including dismantling stereotypes and assumptions of all sexes and all peoples.

What are simple steps employers can take to eliminate workplace bias in an inclusive manner so that all employees can truly experience equal and fair opportunities and treatment?

In Giving Notice, I describe five steps that add up to a comprehensive approach.

1. Policies – As previously mentioned, unifying policies are better than separate policies for different issues. Policies should describe all the behaviors that drive people out the door—the types that we covered in the Corporate Leavers study—including subtle bias, mistaken identity, stereotyping, bullying.
2. Complaint channels – In addition to formal complaint channels, it is also essential to create a safe and anonymous or confidential vehicle to receive complaints from employees. “Employee Resource Groups” are often formed as an alternative to formal HR channels. They can provide a place for employees to receive advice. Employees need a place to go with the subtle, day-to-day problems that we heard in our study before they’re ready to walk out the door.
3. Training has to be mandatory and customized for different constituents. Educate employees on how to speak up and how to best be heard. Educate managers that every action or inaction sends a message. Complaint handlers also need to be trained on how to respond to various situations brought to their attention.
4. Sensing and monitoring mechanisms – Each company requires customized surveys for their specific business. Generic downloaded policies and surveys will not reflect a company’s specific sector and culture. If information collected is truly anonymous, employee trust will remain intact. One must have a high participation rate for success. Also, Employee Resource Groups should be tapped for information on how the company is doing and the company’s reputation on the street. They should keep track of online blogs and public company assessment sites to stay informed of issues that are published about the organization.
5. Commitment from top – If you don’t have that, you cannot excel at steps 1 through 4. Every time senior management looks the other way when a star revenue producer continues to be a bigot, it undermines every effort already undertaken by the organization. Companies should follow the NFL “Rooney Rule” – whenever interviews are being conducted for a coaching position, there has to be at least one African American candidate. If the NFL can do it, everyone else can do it, too. If companies end up having a slate of candidates that is not diverse, there is no possibility that the organizations’ leadership will reflect society-at-large. If they require a few people of color (of all backgrounds) to be interviewed for all positions, then companies take a crucial step towards leveling the playing field for diverse candidates.

How can everyday readers of your book raise awareness of the true cost of workplace bias without turning employers off?

I think whenever one can link impact on business and “the right thing to do,” we’re ahead of the game. Using legitimate humor and stories can also break the ice, especially given the volatility of topics such as racism, sexism, and homophobia in the workplace.

We have to remember that (unfortunately) it often falls on people of color/women/homosexuals to try to make the workplace more welcoming and inclusive because most heterosexual white males have the option of dealing or not dealing with the subject. We have to make it imperative and relatively easy for the majority of people to address these issues. Of course, the financial impetus also matters.

Nobody wants to be perceived by her/his peers as racist, sexist, or homophobic; or as someone who creates an exclusionary or unwelcoming work environment for others. We all need to learn about the appropriate and inappropriate ways to ask questions, and to make dialogue about diversity in the workplace safe and comfortable.