Diversity In The Workplace

My interview was with the HR generalist at my internship, a German engineering company called KEB. This division of the company is in Shakopee and employees roughly 100 people. One of the first things I noticed was the lack of diversity and females in this company. Out of the 100 there are exactly 10 women and 12 people who are minorities, some of whom are women. EEO was one of the first topics covered in HR Management and an important concept of this was that a company should reflect the demographics of the community. Which led me to ask myself, how is this company more than 80% white males? My HR generalist cleared up a lot of what I thought about EEO. My takeaway from discussing EEO in class was that companies should have a more diverse …show more content…
There is a disparate impact in which the females in my company are so few and spread out they can go an entire day without talking to anyone because our male peers converse with other male peers. And this company is going to continually be low in diversity because why would anyone want to stay in a place where you talk to no one? As a white female, I can’t even imagine being a female of a different nationality in this workplace. However, EEO isn’t just about race or gender; it includes many other protected characteristics such as disability, military personnel, age, and many more. I don’t have the numbers on these groups of individuals but the company does acknowledge these problems and claims to make reasonable accommodations if it doesn’t produce an undue hardship for people with disabilities. I also cannot ask some of these because that information is …show more content…
For example, my HR generalist goes to training, workshops, and does webinars once a month to stay sharp on these topics. However, I think it would be beneficial to include more diversity training for the rest of the employees. Supposedly, the last training of this kind was a couple of years ago to comply with the standard. Also, during my orientation I received no training in diversity whatsoever. I think by implementing a diversity training seminar during orientation, HR may be able to avoid possible discriminatory acts before they start rather than just be the person doing damage control.
My HR generalist also tries to pay everyone similarly for the same job and makes it clear to everyone they can talk with her or their manager if they believe it is unfair. She uses the SHRM policies and meets the market. While this method is the one most companies use, I think the company should have pay transparency so anyone and everyone can spot discrimination if it