What is it about?
Using the U.S. National Study of the Changing Workforce survey, we show that claims of racial and gender discrimination emerge less frequently in workplaces with established worker voice mechanisms. This result accords with the hypothesis that participation enhances perceptions of workplace fairness. We show that while having a supervisor of the same race or gender is associated with reduced discrimination claims, the role of voice tends to be larger when the race or gender of the supervisor is different from that of the worker. This suggests that voice may be particularly important in heterogeneous workplaces.
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Why is it important?
This paper shows the importance of having voice mechanisms (such as effective collective voice mechanisms like trade unions or institutionalised voice such as effective human resource management policies) since they support a more participatory workplace. This can help resolve problems of discrimination before they manifest thereby making the employment relationship stronger.
Perspectives
Although coming at this from an economics point of view, it is an important finding for human resources professionals and any who are concerned about reducing discimination in the workplace in order to form a better employment relationship.
Professor Keith A Bender
University of Aberdeen
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Claims of employment discrimination and worker voice, Industrial Relations Journal, March 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/irj.12172.
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