Is political correctness screwing up the workplace?
In 1964 congress passed the Civil Rights Act. Three years later came the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), followed by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This litany of legislation proves that politicians can actually get things done when they put their minds to it, all recent evidence to the contrary.
As an engineering manager for Texas Instruments in the mid-80s, I was careful about discrimination. Then I got a memo explaining that sexual harassment would not be tolerated. I was terrified until I realized the memo went out to all employees. Whew, that was a relief. I wish the memo proves that executives care about their employees, but I think it was more about avoiding litigation. And my relief was all about keeping my job.
Regardless of how or why any of this stuff happens, it's exactly the kind of thing that distinguishes our nation. We've made great strides toward putting an end to job discrimination and sexual harassment. But lately, something seems to have gone terribly wrong.
For the last ten years or so, I think we've lost our way. And I mean really lost, like without GPS navigation or Google Maps lost. Like ten guys and nobody wants to ask for directions lost. Like Britney Spears lost. Like the fourth season of Lost with no writers lost.
These days, treating fellow employees like anything but mindless drones with the anatomy of Ken and Barbie Dolls can be considered a hostile work environment. Telling someone he or she looks nice in an outfit or telling an anecdote or joke that someone may find offensive can get you sued or fired.
Even talking to someone who may have ratted you out to human resources - the constitutional right to face your accuser - is considered retaliatory behavior. That's taboo too.
Yes, I know this stuff has its roots in the right place, just like all the legislation. I know it sounded like a good idea at the time. And I certainly don't mean to imply that we should be telling grossly offensive jokes and propositioning employees. I just think the pendulum has swung too far and it's still swinging.
For one thing, this stuff is very subjective. If 20 people think something's cool but one person finds it offensive, what do you do? Fire the offender for inadvertently brushing up against someone's thin skin? And who gets to make that determination? The corporate executives afraid of being sued, of course.
And why is it unacceptable to offend one or two people, but acceptable to dictate to hundreds or thousands how they should behave for 40 or 50 hours a week? Sure, it's uncomfortable for the one or two, but it's also stressful for everyone else to behave unnaturally and worry about everything they say and how they say it.
It's a slippery slope, and it gets more and more slippery all the time. What started as creating equality and ending harassment in the workplace has turned into political correctness gone wild.
The result is that everyone's afraid to say or do anything for fear of offending someone and losing his or her job. Where does it all end? Are we doomed to dumbing down our entire society to the least common denominator lest we offend a few thin-skinned whiners?
You're all out there in the workplace every day. Is it getting too PC out there, is it business as usual, or is this more of a good thing, like workplace equality? Am I in the minority or preaching to the choir?
Steve Tobak is managing partner of Invisor Consulting LLC. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
"Stop crying, fattie, everyone else thought it was funny when I oinked at you"
Also, check your law books, the portion of the 6th amendment you reference deals with crime, not workplace harassment reports or lawsuits.
I didn't realize CNet had turned into the O'Reilly Factor. geez.
Well den fattie need ta lose some weight. Then they be no laughing.
This sounds like a conversation among a bunch of white males. If I'm making that assumption incorrectly, I appologize, but the whole thing reads very much like the "well If I cant's calls 'em *******, then what am I suppose to calls em?" line of thinking.
If 20 people think something is funny and one person doesn't, then those 20 people should have a right to not be dictated how to be behave? Seriously that's your opinion? What about the man 8 years ago or so who was forced to sit and have his coworkers take pictuers of him with a noose around his neck dressed as clansmen? They all thought that was funny, so certainly it should be. Or the writer for the show Friends who was forced to listen to the writers make lude comments about the female actresses on the show and herself as well. That's comedy, right? They're professional writers?
"Political Correctness" has become a scapegoat concept for peopel who are tired of feeling like they're wrong all the time. Well... changing a mindset means you are probably going to BE wrong a MAJORITY of the time.
I speak Japanese and like most nerds, know a lot about the country. One time a friend was talking about asian peopel and started, as many people tend to do, using China and Japan as being synonomous. I pointed out that she was actually referring to China, and not Japan. "Same thing" she replied. I retorted that they are two entirely seperate countries. They're not even connected. "she rolled her eyes and mumbled something about political correctness to which I replied that there was nothing political about it it. It's GEOGRAPHICAL correctness.
At the place I work, all asian workers are referred to, rather than by name, as by whatever gibberish the staff feels it funny to call them at the time. As I'm writing this a lady named Chin Jing was just referred to as chingaling. Shes also been reffered to as chingching. Tsingdow. ching chong chow "or whatever". Etc. Is this "political incorrectness" or just generally being a disgusting human being toward others who are different than you?
Sha33
But when it comes down to crunch time, what should a person pay me if they offend me. Yes, money is what it boils down to. I either end up getting a monetary apology or cost the other person their job, which costs them money. If someone hurt my feelings, should I get a $100 reward so I can go to chili's with my wife and daughter? That's going to make me feel better, right? Or maybe I should be able to move right into that person's house.
When it goes all-out, things end up in a fight, or in court.
No, I don't think it's right for people to be saying "oink,oink" or "chingaling" but the fattie can get off of their ass and do something about the spare tire they carry. They definitely should if they are going to get upset when others comment about it. The asain people are made fun of because they are less common in our culture and that's just our ignorance. But have you ever been to japan? I have. Try being white and walking into a restaurant. If you have then you would know the first thing you hear is "NO AMERICA! NO AMERICA!" So maybe I should hire a lawyer to walk around with me and spout american law if I want to go to chinatown and get some authentic chinese food.
As with everything else, there needs to be a common sense factor. We just don't have that in our system. So the ignorant hick and the whiny prick are both just as wrong as the other one.
I feel bad for those who get made fun of constantly, nobody deserves that. But they also have the opportunity to get back at or to set things right with everybody around them.
Yes Equal Opportunity belongs in the workplace. Black people, asians, women, arabians, mexicans, indians, and all other diverse cultures deserve the same chances and rights. But that also means equal responsibility. As of now, EO is just a shield to hide behind when you can't deal with your own problems. When a person screams 'PC,PC!' and forces everybody to be completely shut up, that's no different than harrasment, and it makes 100% of the office upset instead of 1%. I guess that's equal. If I can't be happy, then everybody else should be unhappy. That's what PCness brings to the table.
-"cut and run"
-"bleeding-heart liberal"
Left = whiny pricks => they only know how to whine, so that's all they do.
-"Politicalally Correct"
-abuse of wellfare
The Truth: Illegal Alien
Individuals must fight political correctness by pointing out the truth at every turn. Business leaders and politicians are promoters and instigators of political correctness to promote their agendas. Business leaders because they don't want to be sued (make more money) and politicians because they don't want to offend anyone (be more popular). I'm not sorry if your offended buy my point of view. That ultimately is the point. Get over it and go about your life.
But no, instead the author of the article create hypothetical scenarios. Sounds like just about every Republican Presidential candidate.
The original post basically whined "How are decent people supposed to know how to behave in this new PC world?" There's a simple answer: professionally. Chances are really good he wouldn't tell one of his male co-workers "Wow, you look really good today" if he came into work wearing a short that revealed his pumped biceps and pants so tight you could tell if he was circumcised or not. The only appropriate comment about one's appearance at work is a directive from a superior along the lines of "I'm sorry, you're not really dressed appropriately for this environment. Here is what we expect from those in our employ." Why? Because one's appearance, as long as it's appropriate for the job, is nobody else's business at work. Stick to the job.
As for telling a joke someone may find offensive? Please. It shouldn't be that hard to limit your workplace humor to unoffensive topics. The subtle message of most (fill in the blank: racial, ethnic, religious, gender, orientation) jokes is "See how inane/stupid/worthless "those" people are?"
And with regard to why is it "acceptable to dictate to hundreds or thousands how they should behave for 40 or 50 hours a week?" question, it's because your company expects you to act professionally at work. You may think it's "stressful for everyone else to behave unnaturally", but people do that all day at work. Natural, for me, means sitting around in my boxer shorts and eating with my fingers. I'm capable of a higher standard, and in public, that's what I do; and it's what your company expects of you. Grow up. If you're stressed out by having to behave like a polite adult, you need a work-at-home job.
Unlike you, I'm not afraid at all "of offending someone and losing [my] job." I know how to behave.
On the other hand: The other side likes to perpetuate bad statistics and invalid interpretations of them. For example, regarding equal pay for women, the "25% less" statistic refers to the following: If you add up ALL the pay received by ALL working-outside-the-house women in this country, and divide it by the number of those women, that number is 25% less than the same number for men. No study has EVER found that women, on average, make 25% less than men even when qualifications, skills, work history, etc. are factored in.
But that myth has been perpetuated by more than a generation of aggrieved women, some of whom know better, some of who don't. The reasons for the gap, as virtually every study shows are: Women on average have less experience in the workplace (that gap is narrowing); women are more prone to take breaks from their careers to have or raise a family, resulting in them "falling behind" on the corporate ladder; the oldest generation of workers (where pay is the highest) entered the workplace well before it was common for women to do so, and so their high salaries skew the numbers further. (And yes, the reason they didn't enter the workplace in numbers then was due in significant part to discrimination, but some also chose not to work because they didn't have to and didn't want to.)
Truth is, when you account for relevant work experience, training, education, and so forth, women make within a couple of percent of what men do. Yes, that means there's probably some discrimination out there. But not to the tune of a 25% pay difference.
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by lampietheclown
January 21, 2008 1:15 AM PST
- QUOTE: "The only appropriate comment about one's appearance at work is a directive from a superior..."
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(25 Comments)I hope that's sarcasm, and not a typical corporate opinion, or we're all doomed. To expect your superiors to act as protector of your feelings, and guardian of your emotional well being, implies A) that you are incapable of doing it yourself, or B) that you are so lazy that through implied threat of litigation, you found a way to blame everyone else for your lack of self esteem.
There is a right to free speech. There is no right to protection from being offended.
This is the same mind set that complains about offensive language on TV, instead of exercising their right to change the channel, or GASP! turn it off.
There is real harassment, intimidation, and verbal assault in the world, not to mention actual assault. This kindergarden version is an insult to people who are dealing with the real thing, and if they thought like Cowboyinbria, you would all be sued.
When Jimmy the Greek got fired for stating a common truth, I didn't think things could get worse. I was wrong.
Lampie The Clown