Valuing Diversity at Work

Key Takeaways:

– Understanding how stereotypes and personal biases impair judgement of others
– Recognizing the influence that judgement and discrimination can have on others
– Evaluating how you treat others
– Understanding everyone’s rights in the workplace

Course Description

Stereotypes, personal biases, and discrimination have a profound impact on society. In the workplace, this can lead to decreased productivity, limited decision capabilities, reduced growth, and many more long-reaching negative effects. These sorts of judgements are natural and taught to us at an early age, but like poison or tornadoes, not all natural things are good. You may very well have stereotypes and personal biases of your own, like you believe that all people of one political identity are fascists, or the other are all ridiculous and wimpy; that everyone from a foreign country is spying on you; that redheads have a temper; that one race is smarter than another; that old people are slowing progress; that poor people are the problem with society; that women belong in the kitchen; or that men are all pigs. The list goes on. Stereotypes and biases, if it was not already clear, are oversimplified misconceptions about members of a classification. Acts of sexism, racism, ageism, and any other form of discrimination based on skin colour, nationality, sexual-orientation, religion, or other unreasonable criteria is against the law. Harassment doesn’t have to be as extreme as physical abuse, demotion, or name-calling (although it certainly can be), it can also be less severe, such as jokes, comments, or even compliments. You may not intend to hurt someone, or believe they are overreacting, but harassment is a key topic because it impedes on diversity.

The aim of this course is to teach you about diversity and why it is so important to the workplace. Although times are certainly better now, diversity can still be an issue for many workplaces and industries. As previously suggested, this course will focus largely on stereotypes and personal biases and how to overcome them. It can be hard to change what you’ve known for years, which is why we have offered some guidance on the topic. We want to show you all the long-reaching potential diversity allows and the legality around attacking it. Our hope is to help you foster diversity in the workplace by teaching you strategies to help both you and others overcome stereotypes and biases in life.