Ethnic Tolerance in the Workplace

The North American workplace, much like a North American university, has changed dramatically over the last three decades. If you worked in an office setting thirty or forty years ago, you might remember that if you had looked to the left and right of your desk, there was a great deal of homogeny in the workplace. Everyone was probably the same colour and gender, white and male. And even if they weren't the same religion, they were most likely tight-lipped about their personal beliefs because that wasn't the sort of thing you spoke about in the lunch room. 

Never before in history, has the North American workplace been more diverse. As a Vancouver native, I've spent the last eight years working in office settings where no one ethnic group was more prevalent than another, and being a visible minority myself, absolutely loved coming into work each day to a rainbow of faces. However, because of the significant increase in diversity, most employee handbooks now include entire chapters on cultural and ethnic tolerance. Employers have recognized that creating a safe and tolerant work environment makes for a productive and happy workforce. Once you leave the open-minded world of your college campus, it's important to understand what being tolerant in the workplace looks like, so you don't lose that job you've worked so hard for!

1) Your language usage needs to change dramatically, that is, referring to people with the correct terminology. Referring to someone as a "black" person is not acceptable, and using the term 'African American or African Canada" is considered to be more acceptable. But to really safeguard yourself from getting into hot water, don't refer to someone by using their ethnicity, but use their name and position instead when discussing them in a social setting. 

2) DO NOT make racial or gender jokes of any kind! Leave the Russell Peter or Chris Rock comedy routine to the professionals, and ditch any ethnic humour. If you want to go have drinks after work and shoot the breeze with your multi-ethnic co-workers, and the deem it acceptable to make those kinds of jokes, it's up to you to show good judgement. But in the workplace, you never know who you might offend. 

3) DO NOT forward or manufacture offensive memo's, emails, or notes to be distributed around the office. First of all, the distribution of offensive material not only has the potential to get you fired, but if one of your co-workers finds it exceptionally offensive, they can bring about a lawsuit depending on the severity of the correspondence for workplace harassment.