Discriminating Kiwis

A recent online survey by recruitment specialists TMP Worldwide, of 750 New Zealanders, found that 41 percent has witnessed incidents of discrimination and 49 percent hadn’t.
Of those who had witnessed discrimination, half had confronted the person concerned, referred the incident or filed personal grievance. The other 50 percent chose not to act.
The activists found dealing with the issue difficult, however, with 60 percent of them believing that their actions might prejudice their future employment opportunities.
And the person most likely to be “guilty” of discrimination was superior – 73 percent. Ageism was the most common cause of perceived discrimination – 14 percent – with sexism close second at 13 percent. number of respondees said they were made to feel bad for being working mothers.
The major form of discrimination appeared to be systematic isolation -the “cold shoulder” treatment. On positive note however, Kiwi businesses seem to have systems in place to deal with discrimination complaints with 52 percent of respondees saying that their organisation had appointed people responsible for receiving discrimination complaints.
And, says TMP’s national director of strategy Dr Kaye McAulay, 64 percent of respondees reported clearly defined process to follow when taking action. When it comes to returning to their workplace after taking action against an employer, only six percent said they would, 34 percent said they would not and the majority, 54.5 percent said it would depend on the nature of the discrimination.