Workplace Discrimination Starts at the Top

According to a Survey by Executive Jobs Website, TheLadders.com, 81% of Execs Say They Have Witnessed Discrimination within Their Companies

The notion of an equal employment opportunity is not consistent with the real world of American business, according to a survey of executives by TheLadders.com, the worldís leading $100k jobs website. A majority of the executives surveyed by TheLadders.com ñ 81% ñ said they have witnessed discrimination within their companies. Moreover, 54% said that discrimination in the workplace is no less prevalent now than it was 10 years ago.

Race was the most commonly cited basis of discrimination among 42% of respondents. It was followed closely by discrimination on the basis of gender (38%) and age (31%). Just 9% of respondents cited sexual orientation as a common basis for workplace prejudice.

When asked about their personal encounters with discrimination, 56 % of execs said they were discriminated against in the interview process and 56% felt they had been the victim of workplace discrimination at some point in their careers. When corporate policies were brought into question, less than 43 % said their companies offer educational classes on discrimination. Thirty-five percent of execs characterized these classes as ìunfortunately necessaryî and 33% said they were useful.

As for the source of the discrimination, it is often emanating from the corner office. Seventy seven percent of execs said that workplace discrimination comes from the top-down. That may help explain why 58% of those surveyed said that they have not taken any actions against discrimination in the workplace.

ìWorkplace discrimination manifests itself in many subtle and some not-so-subtle ways; itís critical that employers are sensitive to these issues before they become big problems,î said Marc Cenedella, CEO and president of TheLadders.com. ìThe best companies to work for are those that regularly reexamine their practices to make sure that they are promoting diversity and fostering a productive culture.î

TheLadders.com’s discrimination survey was conducted in February 2007. The results of this survey are statistically accurate to within 5.39 percentage points.