Employee Discrimination In The Workplace

Introduction

Although most are scared of change and fear the unknown of what the change can be, the truth is that change is good. It is important to constantly be evolving with the times as we embark on the start of the Twenty First century. Organizational change may seem risky and overwhelming but through change, comes new ideas, efficiency, and the strive for perfection. As the world becomes more globalized and we see the importance of time, and money, organizational change provokes financial conservation. This allows companies, big and small, private and public, to analyze their income and expenses on their financial statements. “Working from the ground up” change can lead to some of the most influential changes, such as a grassroots movement.

As future leaders and managers, we need to understand that the pools of applicants nowadays are changing to all different gender orientations and gender identities. In the article I chose, It’s Time to End Discrimination in the Workplace, talks about how President Barack Obama issued an executive order on LGBT workplace discrimination in 2014. The article mentions that it is the first time a sitting president had extended rights to transgender individuals through executive action. The order talks about offering protection for federal workers against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and goes a step further by prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT employees. One important theme in this article is employee discrimination. These communities of people are getting discriminated against because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. One shocking statistic that the article points out is that 21 percent of LGBT employees still report some form of workplace discrimination. Currently, thirty states do not offer employment discrimination protections for LGBT individuals. Only three states offer protections for sexual orientation but not gender identity. This particularly makes me eerie because the LGBT community does not have any protecting law against their gender identity. In my opinion, there is discrimination against each subgroup of the LGBT community. For example, a 2011 survey found that an alarming 90 percent of transgender people had been harassed on the job. The transgender community is also unemployed at double the overall national rate. This statistic was the most shocking of them because the mindset of individuals today is not ready to accept this going on today. As I mentioned above, the older generation is the hardest to accept change, and need a lot of patience and acceptance. I think the younger generation has a better way