Podcast episode on Racism, Discrimination, and Implicit Bias in the workplace.
C: Caelan Warnecke
P: Patrick Gurd
Caelan: Hello welcome to this week’s episode on “Yo is this racist/bias” in the workplace podcast. I am Caelan Warnecke and I will be one of the two hosts this week. A little bit about me is that I am a third year Information Systems Major at The Ohio State University.
Patrick: Hey everyone, my name is Patrick Gurd and it is great to have you listening to this episode this week. I am a first year student that is following the Pre-Med track. However, as of now I have not declared a major. But I am thinking about maybe doing biology.
Caelan: This week’s episode will focus on discrimination in the work place. And how interview bias is becoming a large issue throughout many companies regardless of the size. And with that, it is limiting the expansion of culture within a company.
Patrick: So in the past few weeks an event took place with Amazon. A black female employee filed a lawsuit against her company alleging discrimination and sexism.
Caelan: You know I think I saw something about that the other day. What information do you have on this situation Patrick?
Patrick: I have a lot, Charlotte Newman, who worked for Amazon’s Web Services in Washington D.C. filed a lawsuit against her company for many different reasons. These reasons include black employees being passed over for promotions even though they had the qualifications. Not being paid the same as her white counterparts. She was also faced with signs of bias towards her race and gender. The list goes on. Newman stated how she worked for two years above her pay grade until she got promoted. Her four years at Amazon does not seem like it was the best time.
Caelan: Wow that’s just crazy to hear because I feel many people pride Amazon on their diversity efforts throughout the company.
Patrick: That’s what I thought too. However, I found out that Amazon tries to be as diverse as possible but when it comes to executive positions, most of the people who have the positions are white. I know that in Amazon’s warehouses they have a diverse community, but when it comes to corporate positions it is much different. This is all very interesting to me, Amazon should not be doing this.
Caelan: I completely agree! Even though Amazon is a large corporation, these actions can not happen. Is there any steps Amazon is doing to rectify this situation?
Patrick: Amazon has started to make some progress. After some complaints and workers talking, Amazon added a black female to their top leadership team. They are -Amazon is a role model for almost every other business and they need to do better I think. Newman had a lot of courage to stand up to Amazon. As they are one of the largest companies in the world. And most respected as well, I feel. However, I hope Amazon makes the right decisions in the end.
Caelan: I agree, I look forward to seeing what steps Amazon makes as this story continues. We are also recognizing that this is a common issue that many companies are facing. Personally, as I begin to approach the corporate world in a field that I will be considered a minority, this is frustrating beyond belief. I feel as though being a woman should not determine the ability to grow and climb the ladder within a company. However, Ms.Newman’s experience is more discriminatory than just her gender, she was also discriminated against based on the color of her skin. This racial discrimination is not just not okay and its not only occurring in leadership/managerial levels in companies, it is happening throughout some companies. One of the recurring themes is that we noticed these individuals are being categorized as a minority within a company – rather than seeing them as who they are. Whether it is based on the color of an employee’s skin, gender, culture, or any mixture of these and others, that are include in this discrimination needs to be stopped.
Patrick: Caelan, I totally agree with you. No one should be held from a position because of one of their demographics.
Caelan: And we’re finding that some of these issues are because of the hiring process is. Companies tending to hire someone who has similar interests and looks similar to them, and this is known as affinity bias. So these are some subconscious biases that are hindering the growth of a company for diversity. When you are not having a diverse person interview or having a diverse mindset, these employees that come in aren’t going to be able to come in and feel as though they are welcome. So companies can connect more with individuals and be more supportive of their employees when having a diverse background of employees in their company. And that creates a welcoming feeling to a new hire and helps that culture continuously grow throughout the organization. So getting a diverse group of employees throughout all departments and levels of the company will then reduce implicit bias and hopefully help on that discrimination. The hiring process though is that initial display of implicit bias that many people see, and however though, it’s not always shown there. So these biases can be more apparent as time goes on which is where racism, discrimination needs to be addressed and stopped within companies right away.
Patrick: Caelan just unpacked a lot right there. I agree that having more diverse groups of employees allows companies to connect with a wider group of people. Diversity brings people from different backgrounds that allows different perspectives. We should be focusing on diversity but also look out for interview bias.
Caelan: Moving forward then, How can we combat these issues? How can we make amends to everything that has been going on Patrick?
Patrick: That is a great question. If only it could be fixed right away.
Caelan: That would be something! But I feel like this like others might take time and can not be done overnight.
Patrick: I agree with that. Great things take time. However, this is something that will probably take lots of time. It is interesting, I found an article about 4-H in Illinois.
Caelan: What exactly is 4-H?
Patrick: 4-H is a program for the youth and it stands for Head, Heart, Hands and Health. Across the country over 100 public universities help teach our youth different life skills. These life skills include teaching them about different career paths so the kids may know what they want to learn later down the road. 4-H is all about positive youth development. They welcome children from all backgrounds and beliefs. What is also great about 4-H is, they focus on equality and how to make our communities a better place. Caelan, what do you find interesting about 4-H in Illinois?
Caelan: This is a great program. And I find this program is going to be so impactful for all these kids that participate in it. And not just now, future as well. Once they start to grow within a company they are going to see how this implicit bias has happened. But with the steps that 4-H is implementing and teaching early on, it’s going to help to educate them – these young individuals especially on culture and diversity that may be in the workplace that they might come across. So bringing awareness to these topics to them at a young age, allows them to look out for these issues within a potential company. In 10-20 years, these kids are going to be out in the workplace looking for a job, starting their career. And have this information on implicat bias and discrimination will help them stand out among their peers. Many companies know that there are issues within their organization, but don’t know where to start. And that these issues will be more apparent to the individual as they have been with the company as time goes on. However though with 4-H, it is going to stay with them forever and they will be able to reflect upon what they learned throughout their life and apply it to the company that they join. I would also believe that by shining a light on these issues will help diversify future organizations as these individuals will begin the workplace.
Patrick: I think the new program Illinois 4-H added in will really help change our communities. Hopefully other 4-H’s in different states will follow what Illinois decided to do. I think it will really help the youth and help change the future. That’s all we had time for today. I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you all for listening! I hope you all have a great day and week.
Caelan: We hope you learned something new today or were enlightened by our episode today. Thank you for joining us!