by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica Mauter

A Brand You World: Global Summit
A teleseminar on personal branding with tracks on career management, talent management, and entrepreneurship. If you don’t call in to catch them live, you can access all the content online later.

The Feminine Critique - New York Times
“Don’t get angry. But do take charge. Be nice. But not too nice. Speak up. But don’t seem like you talk too much. Never, ever dress sexy. Make sure to inspire your colleagues — unless you work in Norway, in which case, focus on delegating instead.”

Did you hear? The office gossip is disliked by most of the staff - San Francisco Chronicle
Office gossip is #1. (via The Future of Work Weblog)

After Black-Noose Doll, One Woman Fights Back - DiversityInc.com
“Welch was working for a pharmaceutical company when she found a black doll with a noose around its neck on her desk. It was during Black History Month, while she was the only black employee in a salaried position working in her department.” Includes audio of Welch speaking on the topic.

Unconscious Bias still exists - Gautam Ghosh
“Do recruiters and sourcers need to be made aware of their deep seated biases, which maybe they don’t even know exists? Because if they are aware of it and still do it, it means that they are actually depriving their organizations of talented employees.” Gautam Ghosh talks about a study in India indicating that there is still significant bias in hiring based on caste, which was only identifiable by a job applicant’s last name.

How to Prepare for a Performance Review and What to Do If You Get a Bad One - About.com Career Planning
Familiarize yourself with the process and try not to knee-jerk if you don’t like what you hear.

Hey, What’s In Your Wake? - Practical Job Search Advice
When writing your resume, “What I Did” means accomplishments, not duties. Liz Ryan talks through some examples with great explanations of why it’s better to word it one way over another.

The Worst Job Interview Question Ever - Employee Evolution
“Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” Because when you’re fresh out of school, all your life’s milestones events have happened every four years and that’s the time horizon your brain works on.

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 [email protected]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Watercooler is the section of the blog in which we share with you real-life horror stories from the frontlines of race in the workplace. This week, we have a story from Melinda:

I am a white woman who has worked with one particular white woman for the past eleven years. I have identified her as Woman A in the following story.

My office sits on the other side of the wall of Woman A. Last Thursday following an afternoon phone call received in the office, I heard Woman A say (rather loudly) to a new co-worker across the hall, “I can’t understand a word they’re saying,” A few minutes later, the phone rings again, and the new co-worker (whom I’ll refer to as Woman B) answers the phone. At this point, Woman B replies to Woman A by saying, “Why can’t they just speak English?”

At this point, I already had an idea of where this conversation might be going, and my blood began to come to a simmering point. Woman A is notorious for opening her mouth without a thought as to what is coming out of it, whether that be in appropriate time, place, subject, company or otherwise.

I missed the first few words of what Woman A said next, but the words that followed were more than I needed to hear - when she said “towel head”. I swear that my blood pressure went up so fast I could feel myself burning up all over with the rage I felt at her ignorance behind her words. Woman B then asks Woman A, “What’s that, a farmer?”

I got up from my desk to go shut the door to my office. As I was doing this, I heard Woman A come out of her office to go to Woman B and explain exactly what she meant by her “towel head” reference at which point they both began to laugh hysterically. Continue Reading »

by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica Mauter

Revenge of the fembots: happy to be child-free - Boston.com’s The Job Blog
“Unfortunately there are too many bad inferences in this piece including the fact that ‘unmarried’ is a mental illness; and that men who don’t marry are simply ‘bachelors,’ but women who don’t marry are either spinsters or fembots? Neither one is flattering.”

The Great American Makeover: The Sexing Up and Dumbing Down of Women’s Work After Jespersen v. Harrah’s Operating Company by Dianne Avery - Social Science Research Network
From the abstract: “Jespersen held that Harrah’s policy of requiring all female bartenders to wear certain makeup on the job was not discriminatory on its face because there was no evidence that the policy was based on ’sex stereotypes.’ In addition, the court ruled that, in the absence of evidence of the costs in time and money of buying and applying makeup, a mandatory makeup policy for women does not discriminate on the basis of sex by placing an ‘unequal burden’ on female workers. The vision of gender equality underlying the court’s analysis in the case reinforces the cultural devaluation of female workers’ competence and intelligence by allowing employers to enforce gendered appearance norms. The article examines how the court’s ’sex stereotyping’ and ‘unequal burdens’ doctrines have strayed from the statutory language of federal antidiscrimination law, as well as relevant Supreme Court interpretation of that language.” (via Workplace Prof Blog)

The top 5 reasons why most team building events are a waste of time - Chief Happiness Officer
“[C]ompanies today want their employees to cooperate more, to work well in teams, to share knowledge and to work to achieve success together. That is why it makes absolutely no sense to send them on trainings that are mainly competitive in nature. Even when these events let people work together in smaller teams, competing against other teams, the focus still ends up being on competition, not cooperation.”

Consultant Seeks Advice - Passion, People and Principles
David Maister received the following in an email: “Last week I spent a couple of days with group within my client’s organization. The group was all male with one female. I was appalled by the pre-pubescent behavior of the males towards the female. I’m a former Marine, played football in college, I’m not unfamiliar with male environments. Their behavior towards their own female staff made me uncomfortable. My test is that I don’t want to put our employees in an environment in which I would be uncomfortable putting my wife or daughter. But, it’s a really big client. And, my desire to back away from this client is being challenged by others.” His readers respond in the comments.

Has Kettle had its chips? - Guardian Unlimited
“Kettle Foods have been left with a bad taste in their mouth. They recently brought in a subsidiary of US union busters, the Burke Group, to advise them on how to stop the Unite union organising workers at their Norwich factory. They eventually won the battle - and workers voted 206 to 93 - to keep Unite out of negotiating for the workers. But, while this was going on, something totally unexpected happened. Two people - one a Guardian reader - set up separate groups on Facebook - Boycott Kettle Crisps for attacks on workers and Boycott Kettle Chips: the Anti-Trade Union Snack. Now, even after keeping trade unions out, the two groups continue to attract support and nearly 1,000 people in the UK, the US and Australia have pledged to refuse to buy another packet. The company are in danger of losing the war - they are even paying an expensive parliamentary lobbying and public relations company, Hill & Knowlton, to try to oppose the Facebook campaign.” (via Workplace Prof Blog)

Women face workplace weight discrimination - Michigan State University Newsroom
“Women are 16 times more likely than men to report weight discrimination in the workplace… According to the study, weight discrimination is the most common form of workplace bias among very obese white women (more so than discrimination based on age, sex, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or disability)… [Researcher Mark] Roehling said previous research has shown that overweight black women are evaluated less harshly than overweight white women and that blacks are ‘more accepting of large body types.’ ‘A large black woman is likely to think of herself as a black woman before she thinks of herself as a large person,’ Roehling said.”

Equality laws working against young women - icWales
It happens in the UK, too. “As a direct result of the rules governing maternity leave, directors in Wales, and their counterparts in the North East are least likely to hire women of child-bearing age than any of their counterparts in the UK – citing the legal risk of being caught out by constant changes in rules in this area as the main reason for their discrimination.”

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 [email protected]

by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Adina Ba

Author of Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men – And What to Do About It, Evelyn Murphy earned a BA from Duke University in mathematics; a MA in economics from Columbia University; and a PhD in economics from Duke University. She has served as Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs, Secretary of Economic Affairs, and became the first woman in Massachusetts to hold constitutional office when elected Lt. Governor in 1986. Evelyn Murphy is President of The WAGE Project, Inc., a national organization to end wage discrimination against working women, and Resident Scholar in the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University, where she has researched and authored Getting Even. You can find more Race in the Workplace interviews in our archives.

Why you have chosen to dedicate yourself to the project of equality of women in the workplace?

When I started working in the 60’s with a PhD in Economics, women were earning an average of 59 cents on every dollar men were earning. I was the only college graduate in my family, and it became more popular for women to go to college. I assumed pay inequality only had to do with merit. Eyeballing society, I’d assume we’d catch up over time. I worked my entire adult life and in the mid 90’s, we were up to 77 cents on the dollar. When the economy was booming, the wage gap got bigger. Something was wrong with this picture. Graduates of any sex have the same education. Women work as hard, need just as much money. I’ve watched the wage gap professionally and personally. Intellectually, I couldn’t understand it.

Secondly, when I held different positions in public office in the state of Massachusetts, I started to see what governments can and cannot do. It’s been illegal to discriminate for over forty years, but the government has never funded EEOC in ways that it should. No administration either democrat or republican has had any affect on this issue. Continue Reading »

by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica Mauter

So You Have a Diversity Program — Has It Mattered? - Advertising Age
“I cannot speak on behalf of the [16 advertising agencies asked by the New York Commission on Human Rights to increase diversity], nor can I summarize the impact the Commission’s activities have had on their bottom lines, recruiting and retention strategies or client/agency relationships. But I can discuss, in general, the trends I have seen as they relate to diversity awareness within the advertising industry over the last year. Some provide hope and potential for a bright future, and others have provided nothing but a small band-aid for a large open wound.”

reference requests when you can’t give a good one - Ask a Manager
“[C]onsider honesty. Frankly, as someone who has to check references myself, I’m grateful when I encounter the rare reference willing to be candid about weaknesses. After all, reference checking (and the whole hiring process, for that matter) is all about finding out if the candidate and the job are a good match. If they’re not a good match and it’s not uncovered until it’s too late, the company will be stuck with a poor performer and the employee will be stuck struggling in a job and maybe even losing it down the road.”

D.C. Cir.: EEOC Questionnaire Satisfies Statute of Limitations - Workplace Prof Blog
“[T]he D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the filling out of an EEOC Questionnaire, rather than a formal charge of discrimination, can satisfy the claimant’s obligation to meet the 180/300 day statute of limitation under Title VII.”

You Better Think… - The Black Factor
The first in a three-part series on things to consider when reporting instances of discrimination. [2] [3] “When it comes to dealing with racism in the workplace, those 3 words should be at the forefront of every victim’s mind, except when you are combatting racism, you better think about what you’re trying to accomplish (revealing racist words or actions, convincing members of authority to investigate a serious race-based issue, etc.).”

Do you jiibe? You should! - Chief Happiness Officer
The CHO reviews Jiibe. “[T]he website asks you a series of questions, and you tell it how things are at your current company and how you’d ideally like them to be. At the end you get a description of your ideal corporate culture and a list of the companies that match it best - based not on how those companies define themselves but on how other jiibe users rated their workplaces. I really liked the questions in the survey, which ask about day-to-day situations in a company. This means that they poll what values a company actually has - as opposed to the values they say they have.”

Transgender Employment Discrimination by Katie Koch, Richard Bales - Social Science Research Network
From the abstract: “The proposed approach has four advantages. First, it would create consistency among the federal, state, and local governments concerning the meaning of “sex” and the protection extended to transgender employees. Second, it would extend coverage to the entire transgender community rather than the piecemeal protection currently in effect. Third, it would provide protection to transgender employees immediately. Fourth, courts would easily be able to fit transgender discrimination into an existing legal framework.” (via Workplace Prof Blog)

Realist vs. idealist - Leadership Turn
Miki Saxon on comfort zones and the inclination to hire PLM (”people like me”). “The long-term cost to companies is high. This is especially true when there’s a change in management, since the new person’s PLM rarely matches her predecessor’s. When the choice is between the best applicant and PLM, PLM usually wins out, slowly lowering the quality of talent. PLM homogenizes the staff; reducing diversity of both thinking and thought (methodology and result) and it’s that diversity that supplies strength, creativity and innovation.”

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 [email protected]

by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica Mauter

2007 Outie Awards - Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
“The Out & Equal Workplace Awards (commonly referred to as “The Outies”) honor individuals and organizations that are leaders in advancing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees in America’s workplaces. Through these awards, Out & Equal provides the business and LGBT communities with examples of innovative approaches and proven successes to help create safe and equitable workplaces.” (via DiversityInc)

“Flex work is not the answer” - TIME’s Work in Progress
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen on Deloitte & Touche vice chairman Cathleen Benko and her new book Mass Career Customization: Aligning the Workplace with Today’s Nontraditional Workforce. “Her point isn’t that workers don’t need more flexible schedules. We want them, we need them, we’re already demanding if not taking them. What she means is that employers must stop thinking of flex work as an accommodation but as a matter of course.”

Respecting Ramadan at Work: Who’s Walking the Talk? - DiversityInc
“Microsoft, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ford Motor Co. are among leading employers providing flexible hours during the month of Ramadan to accommodate their fasting employees, along with floating holidays and diversity calendars that flag major cultural and religious celebrations.”

Is valley tougher for African-Americans? - San Jose Mercury News
“Some black engineers, executives and managers at Silicon Valley tech companies say that while their numbers have never been large, the dwindling population can add to a feeling of isolation, both in and outside the office… ‘You are happy to see another African-American when you see them because it’s so rare,’ said Pamela Jackson, director of product marketing for Symantec, the Cupertino software maker that is headed by one of the most prominent black chief executives in the valley, John Thompson. ‘But you become very accustomed to being the only one in a meeting. It doesn’t mean you ever like it, or anything like that.’” (via George Kelly)

Beware the Ultra-Nice Boss: A passive boss can wreak just as much havoc in the workplace as a bullying one. - Portfolio.com Careers
“Bruce Tulgan, a consultant, trainer, and author of It’s Okay to Be the Boss, calls undermanagement ‘an epidemic’ and finds many managers intimidated by a culture of political correctness, red tape, and potential lawsuits. He sees nonconfrontational leaders who want to be everyone’s friend as responsible for more workplace mistakes than those supervised by a harsh taskmaster.”

Is the American workplace hostile to singles? - TIME’s Work in Progress
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen addresses HR Magazine’s October cover story, “Are You Too Family-Friendly?” As a single person, I was a bit put off my previous employer’s extremely family friendly policies. It’s great for an employer to appreciate that you have other things in life you need to take care of, but I often felt like folks with kids were afforded more benefits than I was. For example, on a business trip that was unexpectedly extended the married-with-kids folks I was traveling with all got to return home for the weekend, but my boss made me stay even though I had commitments at home I really needed to attend to. And then there’s this: “A 2006 study by The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California-Los Angeles Law School found that 20% of same-sex domestic partners were uninsured, compared to 10% of married, heterosexual partners. But get this: a third of heterosexual, unmarried partners lacked health insurance.” See also: Deb Owen at 8 Hours & a Lunch.

Just Saying No to Newsletters - Liz Ryan at BusinessWeek
“Here’s how to keep your e-mail address off someone’s fan club list—without alienating business contacts.”

Bit*ches in the Workplace - The Black Factor
“I’ve never been called a ‘bitch’ by a man or woman at work. But, I don’t imagine a scenario where I would tolerate either a man or a woman making that comment. Those are fighting words. If a conversation degenerates to name-calling…it works both ways.”

Weiss on Transgender Workplace Diversity - Workplace Prof Blog
Jillian Weiss has just published the book Transgender Workplace Diversity: Policy Tools, Training Issues and Communication Strategies for HR and Legal Professionals. “It is targeted to the needs of employers who are facing transgender issues and want an accessible resource for creating transgender-friendly policies, training management and co-workers, and providing effective communications with clients and customers working with transgender employees. It provides organizational leaders with a roadmap and detailed explanations. It is also useful for transgender employees who want to get their employers on the right track with authoritative information targeted to the modern workplace.” Jillian Weiss also blogs on Transgender Workplace Diversity.

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 [email protected]

by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica Mauter

E-Mail Is Easy to Write (and to Misread) - New York Times
“New findings have uncovered a design flaw at the interface where the brain encounters a computer screen: there are no online channels for the multiple signals the brain uses to calibrate emotions.”

No More Discrimination Lawsuits? Supreme Court May Make It Easier to Retaliate - DiversityInc
“[Cracker Barrel owner] CBOCS West v. Humphries considers whether employment laws that prevent race discrimination also prevent retaliation against those who complain of it. Should the Supreme Court side with CBOCS West, it would become easier for companies to retaliate against workers who file discrimination lawsuits. This would discourage many from disclosing illegal discriminatory practices.”

How to Find a Name Inside a Target Company - Practical Job Search Advice
Besides the obvious “company website” and “Google” answers, Liz Ryan suggests searching through Yahoo Groups, online newspaper archives, Google blog search, LinkedIn, and your alma mater’s alumni website.

The Pmarca Guide to Career Planning, part 1: Opportunity - blog.pmarca.com
Very thorough, high level, strategic look at career planning. Starting with “Career planning = career limiting.” Followed by Part 2: Skills and education and Part 3: Where to go and why.

Mega-Cases, Diversity, and the Elusive Goal of Workplace Reform by Nancy Levit - Social Science Research Network
From the abstract: ” Employment discrimination class action suits are part of a new wave of structural reform litigation. Like their predecessors - the school desegregation cases in the 1950s, the housing and voting inequalities cases in the 1960s, prison conditions suits in the 1970s, and environmental lawsuits since then - these are systemic challenges to major institutions affecting large segments of the public. This article explores the effectiveness of various employment discrimination remedies in reforming workplace cultures, promoting corporate accountability, and implementing real diversity. ” (via Workplace Prof Blog)

Isiah, Clarence: two revisionist ex-bosses - TIME’s Work in Progress
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen looks at Isiah Thomas and Clarence Thomas. “I guess bosses haven’t changed much in 16 years. But they better watch out. Juries apparently have.”

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 [email protected]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Watercooler is the section of the blog in which we share with you real-life horror stories from the frontlines of race in the workplace. This week, we have a story from Erica:

A manager in my company has a reputation for being a very jovial guy.

While he’s certainly very professional and well-spoken when the situation calls for it, he’s always otherwise joking around. Always.

He’s never been less than friendly to me. For the most part he’s very respectful. And he did have a hand in getting me into the position I’m in today. However a couple things he’s said have given me pause.

My company is not very big, nor is it very diverse. Not amongst the professional ranks, anyway. So it stands out quite clearly to me when this guy sees me in the hallway or stops by my cube and acts like he’s throwing me a gang sign.

The first time he did it, I was so surprised I just kind of blinked at him. The next few times, I either told him that he can’t do that, or just to stop. I did not go so far as to tell him that I found it offensive, nor did I ask him if he realized that he only did that to
me and the other black engineer.

He stopped doing that after a while. But then a month ago when I cut my long hair very short, he took to calling me Tracy Chapman or Macy Gray. I don’t resemble either of them. At all. My hair’s not even close.

I don’t think he realizes what he’s doing. I know him well enough that I could probably have a “courageous conversation” about it. But I do not like having to be the one to be the teacher all the time, I do not merely want to encourage him to hide, and I don’t want him to feel like he has to tiptoe around me. I’m not really sure how to handle it.

But seriously. Macy Gray? Try Halle Berry.

Please email [email protected] if you’d like to send in a story, put “watercooler” in the subject line, and let us know what name we should use for you. Pseudonyms and first names are totally fine. You can read more Watercooler stories here.

by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica Mauter

How to Land Your First Job - DiversityInc
“You really don’t want to be the barrier breaker, especially for an entry-level job.” Emphasis on finding mentors and considering how your minority status might fit in with a company’s culture and policies.

Black firefighter settles bias suit - MSNBC.com
“Pierce sued the city [of Los Angeles] in 2005 after fellow firefighters mixed dog food into his spaghetti dinner. He said he suffered retaliation for reporting the incident as well as verbal slurs, insults and derogatory remarks, including taunting by firefighters ‘barking like dogs (and) asking him how dog food tasted.’ Pierce’s claim was one of several lawsuits alleging a pattern of harassment and discrimination against women or minorities working for the department.”

Putting Money on the Table - New York Times
“For the first time, women in their 20s who work full time in several American cities — New York, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis — are earning higher wages than men in the same age range.” “[T]he gap is largely driven by a gulf in education: 53 percent of women employed full time in their 20s were college graduates, compared with 38 percent of men. Women are also more likely to have graduate degrees.” Seems to me the problem is partly preconceived notions about gender roles and partly an obvious difference in maturity level between men and women in their 20s.

The new rules of relationships for women: Don’t outearn men, and do all the housework - Boston.com/The Job Blog
In response to the NYTimes article on twentysomething women outearning their male counterparts: “So, what’s the message here? Men don’t like women who outearn them; yet, are happier when married because they get to offload housework. Not sure what to think of that except it’s going to be a rocky road for gender relations until everyone starts to adjust to changing gender roles.”

Negotiating Compensation Options Other Than Base Salary - Career Hub
“Job seekers can more effectively negotiate their total compensation package by knowing what special incentives the employer offers. Two incentives that are becoming more common are sign on bonuses and project milestone awards.”

Five Ways To Make Yourself A Workplace Superstar - Penelope Trunk at InformationWeek
“2. Cut corners at work to make time for the gym: Most people who don’t get regular exercise say that job interferes with their exercise time. This is absurd reasoning, because people who don’t exercise do worse at work than people who do.”

October 1-7 is National Work From Home Week

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 [email protected]

by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica Mauter

Leadership sans power - Leadership Turn
“The easiest way to nudge is by doing—just take the initiative and do something. That’s often enough to get everyone moving. Offering help to teammates who are stuck, in a manner that doesn’t undercut or offend them, is another way to lead (if you insist on using that term).”

What to do if your boss is Isiah Thomas - TIME’s Work in Progress
“focus on the problem; acknowledge it; ignore the behavior you dislike; and report what’s untenable. ‘Personally, I think she should have quit,’ [negotiating expert Michael Donaldson] says. ‘No one should have to put up with that. But if she really wanted to keep that job, she would have to have undertaken as a major project the changing of his behavior.’”

Job Search Rule #21: Use Good Telephone Skills - The Career Encouragement Blog
Some things that seem obvious, but that a surprising number of people probably don’t do. Such as not letting your kids answer your phone and listening to your voicemails before returning a call.

Let’s Get Rid of FUN at work! - Slacker Manager
Doing away with “coercive joviality.” i.e., if you have to tell someone to have fun, they’re not going to.

Too many office trinkets? Professional image may suffer - University of Michigan News Service
“If more than one in five items that adorn a worker’s office or cubicle are personal in nature, others may view that worker as unprofessional.” (via On the Job)

O.T. Isn’t as Simple as Telling Time - New York Times
“Because the woman, Carla Bird, is an assistant at Oprah Winfrey’s production company, Harpo Studios, and because some seemingly jealous co-workers spread the word to the news media, her $32,000 payout was the talk of those who pay attention to workload for a living. The work/life experts were predictably appalled that Ms. Bird had logged so many hours. And the labor lawyers? They were impressed — that she had actually collected her overtime pay.”

Immigration Absurdity - The Creative Class Exchange
“The economic benefits to diversity are two-fold. First, a greater variety of products and experiences for consumers, such as ethnic restaurants, fusion food, R&B music, or new holistic therapies that blend Eastern and Western influences. Second, and perhaps most importantly, diversity stimulates innovation.”

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 [email protected]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Edition 16 of the Carnival of HR is up at Evil HR Lady! Many thanks to Evil HR Lady for including my post If diversity training doesn’t work, why do companies do it?

Here are some of my favorite posts from the carnival.

Credibility and HR from Execupundit.com
“Among the credibility-destroying actions are:
* Acting like a paralegal for management. The wise HR department will be an honest broker who will admit when management has made a mistake and will lobby to correct poor practices. HR people who become toadies quickly earn contempt…”

Avoiding Whistleblower and Retaliation Lawsuits from Connecticut Employment Law Blog
“How do you avoid retaliation lawsuits? The true answer is by a bit by luck. Despite all measures that some employers take, the inevitable fact is that some employees will file suit regardless.”

Assessing Credibility from HR Thoughts
“When working through employee conduct issues, do you frequently find that you have all the information you need, a solid evidence file, and maybe even a flat out “Law and Order” confession? More realistically, how many times do you end up with a “he said, she said” type of a situation?”

Alternative to pay increase from Employer Ease
“Instead of just receiving a monetary reward, would your employees like a trip to Tuscany where they learn how to make a great meal from the master chef?”

Happy reading!

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Watercooler is the section of the blog in which we share with you real-life horror stories from the frontlines of race in the workplace. This week, we have a story from Selina:

My story takes place where I currently work. There is a white woman here who constantly feels the need to make racist jokes or comments to me.

When we were first hired the training class went out for drinks to celebrate the end of training. She was telling dirty joke after dirty joke. Everyone was having a good time until she said,”what are the three biggest lies in the world?” She mentioned one I cannot remember and the checks in the mail and black is beautiful.

There was only one person with melanin there besides myself. She was the only one laughing. She later apologized but it felt forced. This woman really thought that was funny!

Later on I was promoted and she was not. Her excuse was racism and of course she decided to mention it to me. The boss of the supervisors is an African American female and so is her boss. This of course is not typical. I had to mention to her that the other person who was promoted is blonde and blue eyed just like her!

Please email [email protected] if you’d like to send in a story, put “watercooler” in the subject line, and let us know what name we should use for you. Pseudonyms and first names are totally fine. You can read more Watercooler stories here.

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 [email protected]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Watercooler is the section of the blog in which we share with you real-life horror stories from the frontlines of race in the workplace. This week, we have a story from Incredulous White Woman:

Sitting at a break table with co-workers, and we are eating mixed nuts.

Now, I am from the East Coast, so I am constantly surprised by new phrases that seem to be unique to the Midwest, but this one was over the top.

I listened as my co-worker said, “My sister likes all types of nuts, too. She likes everything except the [African-American] toes“-only she didn’t say “African-American”, as you can imagine . . .

I was like, “Hello!!! You can’t say that!”, to which she replied, “There aren’t any black people around, so it’s okay.” I was like, “Hello, I’m offended . . . ”

A few minutes later, my East Coast self said something in jest about Iowa, to which this winning co-worker’s best friend replied, “I’m offended.”

She’s from Minnesota, not Iowa, but I have learned my lesson and will keep my mouth shut going forward.

Please email [email protected] if you’d like to send in a story, put “watercooler” in the subject line, and let us know what name we should use for you. Pseudonyms and first names are totally fine. You can read more Watercooler stories here.

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

I was on “Radio in Black and White” this past Monday morning, on Grand Rapids’ Talk Radio AM 1230 WTKG. To listen, click the play button at the end of this post.

Among the things I talked about on the show:

• Diversity training doesn’t work. But organizations do it anyway because they care more about mitigating legal risk than eradicating discrimination.
• Much of diversity training is actually about teaching people to hide their racism, not educating them to overcome their racism.
• Many organizations focus on “celebrating” diversity through events like ethnic food potlucks. But this kind of cultural tourism encourages people to turn a blind eye to racism by promoting the myth that we live in a happy-go-lucky, color-blind world.
• Why we need to eradicate oppression olympics: when communities of color fight over who has it worse, instead of recognizing that it’s all part of the same system.

Hope you enjoy it!

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Diversity training is practically useless when it comes to helping companies diversify their management ranks, according to a recent study by Harvard University sociologist Frank Dobbin.

After poring through 30 years of data from more than 700 corporations, Dobbin concluded that the most successful programs were those that established direct accountability for diversity. Networking and mentoring programs also had a modest positive effect. But diversity training was by far the least effective initiative at increasing the number of white women, black women, and black men in management.

Frankly, I’m not surprised by Dobbin’s findings.

From what I’ve seen, diversity training rarely succeeds at reducing stereotyping and bias within organizations.

Why? Because many diversity trainers actually teach people to hide their racism.

Yes, you read that correctly. Many diversity trainers don’t push people to challenge their own racist beliefs. Instead, the seminars teach people to be more aware of the non-verbal cues (the fancy word is “microinequities”) they send out that may tip others off to their racism. The philosophy is: hide your racism in order to create a more harmonious workplace.

Diversity training also fails because so many companies make it mandatory. Think about how that makes the average employee feel:

John walks into the diversity training session room already feeling resentful. The company may have made this mandatory, but his boss still expects him to make up for the lost hours of productivity by working late.

He thinks to himself that this is a total waste of time. He’s not a racist, he doesn’t even notice color! So obviously the diversity training isn’t meant for him. He tunes out the diversity trainer and turns on his Blackberry so he can catch up on email.

Bored, he looks around the room and wonders which one of his colleagues is to blame for this. Someone must have screwed up by saying something racist. And thanks to that jerk, the whole company is being forced to sit through this dog and pony show.

Does this sound like a person who is receptive to exploring his conscious and unconscious prejudices?

So if diversity training doesn’t reduce bias or increase managerial diversity, why do companies continue to spend millions of dollars on it every single year?

Because they’re afraid of costly lawsuits.

Companies are twice as likely to invest in diversity training than any other type of diversity initiative because their real motivation is to mitigate risk.

If a company gets sued for racial discrimination, it can point to its diversity training program as a good faith effort to eliminate racial discrimination and hopefully win the lawsuit.

The sad truth is, many companies could care less about increasing racial diversity among their managers.

Sure, they plaster photos of smiling employees of color all over their web sites, make obligatory recruiting stops at Spelman and Morehouse, and use the same diversity buzzwords as everybody else. But paying lip service to diversity is largely a PR exercise for them.

Ultimately for most companies, diversity training isn’t about nurturing diversity in the workplace. It’s about protecting the company.

Learn how New Demographic can help you facilitate relaxed, authentic, and productive conversations about race and racism.

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Could you do me a huge favor?

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Please note: If you already filled out the survey on Racialicious or one of our other sites, please don’t fill this one out, as there’s a significant amount of overlap. Thank you.

There are 16 questions in total and I promise that it will take less than 5 minutes to fill out.

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by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica

Employee Relations Part 1 - Evil HR Lady
Of a three part series. [2] [3] The scenario: A high-performing manager walks into your office and tells you she wants to put a formal warning in a new, high-performing employee’s file. The employee called out for two days with sick children and didn’t keep in contact with the office. The question: How do you handle the manager?

Part I: One Woman’s Story of Racism & Sexism on Wall Street - DiversityInc
“Kimberley Copeland, a talented, bright, young black woman, was dazzled when she received a job offer on the revenue-generating side of one of Wall Street’s most prestigious investment banks. But her excitement soon turned to humiliation and anger as she was subjected to racist and sexist intimidation and harassment.” Parts 2 and 3 are subscription only, but you get lots more for free if you subscribe to the podcast.

Are you an unconscious bigot? - Leadership Turn
“How could someone who had recruited, hired, built, and retained a multi-ethnic group composed of both gay and straight, and including a variety of religions, be a bigot? How could that diverse a team be bigoted? And how in the world would it be noticeable to an outsider (me)?”

Workplace Bullying Survey: 37% of American Workers are Targets - Bob Sutton’s Work Matters
Bob Sutton discusses what he finds striking in a Workplace Bullying Institute survey. Men bully more than women and women are targeted more than men. A lot of targets leave their jobs as a result. A whole lot of bullies are bosses targeting their employees.

Thanks for the Interview, But… - BusinessWeek
“Here’s how to take yourself out of the running for a job that you don’t feel is right for you. It’s not presumptuous—it’s considerate.”

Globalization, Equality and Nondiscrimination: An Interdisciplinary Perspective from the U.S. On Diversity Programming by Susan Bisom-Rapp - Social Science Research Network
From the abstract: “From an American perspective, the activities in Europe, especially its nascent workplace diversity movement, are notable, and provide an opportunity to assess the U.S. experience. This essay thus describes efforts in Europe to combat discrimination at the organizational level, and considers the situation in the U.S., where organizations themselves have to an extent determined the terms of legal compliance with antidiscrimination law through the adoption of programs and policies just starting to appear in Europe. In light of recent U.S. studies on diversity program efficacy, the essay concludes with some cautionary words about the lessons Europeans might draw from the U.S.” (via Workplace Prof Blog)

Keywords of the Rich & Famous - FastCompany.com
“You can be the single most talented integrated-logistics manager but if you don’t have those words in your résumé you will get skipped over.”

auto body shop settles harrassment suit - angry asian man
“According to the suit against Monterey Collision Frame and Auto Body, a technician of Chinese and Italian ancestry was subjected to repeated racial and sexual harassment while he worked at the shop, ‘including mimicking martial arts movements and mockingly calling him ‘Bruce Lee.””

Offering up her experiences - JS Online
“[Zenja Glass’] latest self-published book discloses ‘unfair hiring practices’ she has observed during her 16 years in corporate staffing. Race and ethnicity are Reason 3 in ‘25 Reasons Why They Won’t Hire You!’” (Get the book. It’s $12.50.)

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 [email protected]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

The Black Factor has a great post about the kind of workplace racial discrimination we don’t hear about that often: same-race discrimination.

It seemed appropriate to illustrate the post with good ole Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks.

I’ve already had a couple of posts on this site that confirm that same race discrimination does exist and is just as illegal as discrimination involving people of different races. Comments made by the Supreme Court have shown the position that the race of decision-makers in the workplace may be relevant, but is not controlling. In other words, the Supreme Court has shown an understanding that no one can presume that a person would not discriminate against members of his own race.

The Supreme Court has noted, “[b]ecause of the many facets of human motivation, it would be unwise to presume as a matter of law that human beings of one definable group will not discriminate against other members of their group.”

I know many of us think we have to tolerate what seems to be race-based abuse from Black supervisors, managers, etc. Who’s going to believe the person is motivated by race, right? But, based on the comments by the Supreme Court and based on Federal statutes, you can make a complaint that a Black person is guilty of workplace discrimination. And, then it’s up to you to prove your case. Just like any other discrimination claim you want to focus on documentating the facts/collecting evidence, keeping a list of witnesses, who can corroborte events at work, and you should report any issues to HR or someone in authority at the company.

If you suspect that a Black manager, supervisor or other member of authority is discriminating against you, you should pursue the issue in the same way you would if the person were White, Hispanic, etc. You don’t have to tolerate discrimination because the perpetrator looks like you!

If you’re experiencing racial discrimination of any kind, be sure to check out this step-by-step guide on what to do if you believe your supervisor is discriminating against you because of your race.

Have any of you experienced discrimination on the job from someone of the same race as yourself?

by Race in the Workplace special correspondent Erica

The History of Labor Day - U.S. Department of Labor
“Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

The cost of hidden bias at work - FT.com
“Compared with heterosexual white men, who account for the majority of US managers, non-white people were three times more likely to claim they had left after being unfairly treated, while homosexuals were twice as likely.” (via ampha)

The value of diversity - Leadership Turn
“Q. What if my occupation happens to attract a particular type, such as men, women, straight…? A. If everyone around you is the same, you’ve got some serious problems. Every industry today is under intense pressure to innovate and change, and they should seek diversity anywhere possible. Seek out organisations that try to hire people different from yourself.”

Diversity Programs Work … And They’re Necessary - Advertising Age
“At every turn during the last thirty years, diversity programs provided me with an opportunity to succeed but I could not have succeeded if I was not prepared. People have often said to me, ‘You are so lucky!’ If ‘lucky’ means I was prepared to take advantage of opportunities that came my way then I accept that I am lucky.” (via wendi muse)

Former clerk gets $44,000 racial bias settlement with Los Gatos clinic - San Jose Mercury News
“After investigating the complaints of 29-year-old Tomeika L. Broussard of Hayward, the EEOC found that her supervisor for several months in 2004 ‘constantly’ subjected the African-American file clerk to racial code words including ‘reggin,’ (the N-word spelled backwards) and ‘N.P.’ (N-word please). Another co-worker made comments about African-Americans being ‘nappy heads’ and ‘ghetto.’” (via stereohyped)

Be Gutsy at Work - Yahoo! Hotjobs
“I believe women tend to downplay their successes more so than men for fear of appearing conceited. And while it’s true that bragging excessively is obnoxious and frowned upon — regardless of gender — that doesn’t mean you should stop short of taking credit for your work and seeking credit at every stage of your career. That doesn’t make you a braggart; it positions you as a proud, accomplished professional.”

Approach Young Talent Like a Brand-Building Challenge - Advertising Age
“While the industry internship programs are vitally important, they are not and cannot be considered the only point of entry into the industry when at most 10% of the candidates in our extensive database entering the industry come through the highly competitive American Advertising Federation and American Association of Advertising Agencies multicultural internship programs. With low retention levels… in the industry — particularly for multicultural talent — the need to build a strong entry-level pool of talent and nurture that talent from the beginning becomes even more vital.”

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 [email protected]