There are many different types of discrimination in
human resource management and the work place. I live and work with one every
day, and that is age discrimination. Although I deal with this type of
discrimination at work because I am only 24 years old and I don’t know anything
since I’m inexperienced, I decided to choose a different type of discrimination
I wasn’t familiar with. I chose a type of discrimination that I could learn
about and maybe even reduce or diminish in the future. The type of
discrimination I am talking about is name discrimination.
Not many people realize how often name discrimination happens because it’s usually occurring during the selection and interviewing portion of the hiring process. Quite a few applicants for numerous opportunities get passed by because of their name and the origin people thinks it comes from or what their name represents, like a bad neighborhood or a “bad” family. One example that I have of name discrimination didn’t happen in the work place but it easily could happen in the work place.
I have a friend who grew up in kind of a “troubled” family. All the teachers in our school were instantly reminded of who here family was when they saw her last name. Some of the teachers didn’t know about her last name and the burden it carried with her but others did know that had either taught back when her dad, his siblings, or even her older siblings were in school. By the time we got into high school I feel she wasn’t pushed as hard as others to do better. And it’s not that she did horrible because she did do pretty well for coming from a “troubled” family but if her last name had been different she might have accomplished more or would have wanted more out of her life after high school.
Another example of name discrimination outside or inside of the workplace would be if a prior sibling or family member came before you and put “good standing” to the name. This is a form of name discrimination because the siblings or family members that come into high school after their do-good siblings are held to that standard. Not all siblings and family members are the same and have different interest. This type of standard can put a lot of stress on those that are held to prior expectations of their relatives.
Name discrimination can come in different forms whether it’s in a good way or a bad way. There have been a few studies on name discrimination done by members and professors of universities. Studies have shown that “Job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback.” Name discrimination among the other types of discrimination can come from very close-minded employers and people.
There was one main/large study done on name discrimination that showed ” A job applicant with a name that sounds like it might belong to an African-American - say, Lakisha Washington or Jamal Jones - can find it harder to get a job. Despite laws against discrimination, affirmative action, a degree of employer enlightenment, and the desire by some businesses to enhance profits by hiring those most qualified regardless of race, African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed and they earn nearly 25 percent less when they are employed.” The field experiment was done by faculty of the National Bureau of Economic Research whose names are Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan. In their experiment, they responded to help wanted ads in Boston and Chicago by sending out resumes and applications with “white” names and “black” names. Research fellows responded to over 1,300 employment ads in a variety of job categories. The total resume count that was sent out was over 5,000 with the different types of names on them.
The results of this field experiment indicated large radical differences in callback rates. The results were, applicants with white names had to send about 10 resumes in to get a call back and those applicants with African American names had to send about 15 resumes in to get a call back. Not only were there different “types” of names on the resumes but there were also different types of job qualities for each applicant. Some applicant’s resumes were given qualities and experience along with an African American name to compare to a white name and lower qualities on a resume.
Many employers think that someone with an African American name is less qualified than an applicant with a white name is. There are indications that a white name yields as many more callbacks as an additional eight years of experience. One can say that name discrimination can be directly related to racism because employers are automatically assuming someone is African American and under qualified if they see a name that “resemble” an African American.
The study also indicated that applicants with names that sounded like they came from a wealthier neighborhood or a white dominated neighborhood also received more callbacks than someone with an African American name from a rundown low income neighborhood received. Although the study showed how names can be discriminated against it does have some advantages. The advantage of this study was that it only dealt with resumes and callbacks and not the actual interview or hiring process. This type of study shows that discrimination and racism doesn’t just happen with face to face interactions but can also happen before someone even gets a callback.
The main way to get rid of name discrimination in the workplace is to just stop sifting through applicants and deciding prior to meeting them and fully going through their resume and credentials whether or not they are qualified or not just based on their name. Lots of smart, dedicated, and talented people come from “bad” neighborhoods or from the wrong side of the tracks. Each person is different and some applicants want better than what they had growing up.
It is hard to get of rid of discrimination in the workplace because of how different people are from each other and how differently they were raised. Parents do raise their children differently compared to other parents but that doesn’t make any one of them better than someone else who was raised differently than others. I’ve done the research and sifted through article after article trying to find an idea to reduce name discrimination but haven’t found a good one yet. I feel the only way we can reduce the name discrimination in the workplace is to just stop being prejudice towards others. Looking at someone’s name on an application or resume and automatically assuming they are not qualified for the job is disgusting. The person that the employer turns down because an applicant’s name is “LaQuisha” and they think that applicant doesn’t even know how to read and write is unacceptable and I for one do not want to live a world with that kind of antics.
Not many people realize how often name discrimination happens because it’s usually occurring during the selection and interviewing portion of the hiring process. Quite a few applicants for numerous opportunities get passed by because of their name and the origin people thinks it comes from or what their name represents, like a bad neighborhood or a “bad” family. One example that I have of name discrimination didn’t happen in the work place but it easily could happen in the work place.
I have a friend who grew up in kind of a “troubled” family. All the teachers in our school were instantly reminded of who here family was when they saw her last name. Some of the teachers didn’t know about her last name and the burden it carried with her but others did know that had either taught back when her dad, his siblings, or even her older siblings were in school. By the time we got into high school I feel she wasn’t pushed as hard as others to do better. And it’s not that she did horrible because she did do pretty well for coming from a “troubled” family but if her last name had been different she might have accomplished more or would have wanted more out of her life after high school.
Another example of name discrimination outside or inside of the workplace would be if a prior sibling or family member came before you and put “good standing” to the name. This is a form of name discrimination because the siblings or family members that come into high school after their do-good siblings are held to that standard. Not all siblings and family members are the same and have different interest. This type of standard can put a lot of stress on those that are held to prior expectations of their relatives.
Name discrimination can come in different forms whether it’s in a good way or a bad way. There have been a few studies on name discrimination done by members and professors of universities. Studies have shown that “Job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback.” Name discrimination among the other types of discrimination can come from very close-minded employers and people.
There was one main/large study done on name discrimination that showed ” A job applicant with a name that sounds like it might belong to an African-American - say, Lakisha Washington or Jamal Jones - can find it harder to get a job. Despite laws against discrimination, affirmative action, a degree of employer enlightenment, and the desire by some businesses to enhance profits by hiring those most qualified regardless of race, African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed and they earn nearly 25 percent less when they are employed.” The field experiment was done by faculty of the National Bureau of Economic Research whose names are Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan. In their experiment, they responded to help wanted ads in Boston and Chicago by sending out resumes and applications with “white” names and “black” names. Research fellows responded to over 1,300 employment ads in a variety of job categories. The total resume count that was sent out was over 5,000 with the different types of names on them.
The results of this field experiment indicated large radical differences in callback rates. The results were, applicants with white names had to send about 10 resumes in to get a call back and those applicants with African American names had to send about 15 resumes in to get a call back. Not only were there different “types” of names on the resumes but there were also different types of job qualities for each applicant. Some applicant’s resumes were given qualities and experience along with an African American name to compare to a white name and lower qualities on a resume.
Many employers think that someone with an African American name is less qualified than an applicant with a white name is. There are indications that a white name yields as many more callbacks as an additional eight years of experience. One can say that name discrimination can be directly related to racism because employers are automatically assuming someone is African American and under qualified if they see a name that “resemble” an African American.
The study also indicated that applicants with names that sounded like they came from a wealthier neighborhood or a white dominated neighborhood also received more callbacks than someone with an African American name from a rundown low income neighborhood received. Although the study showed how names can be discriminated against it does have some advantages. The advantage of this study was that it only dealt with resumes and callbacks and not the actual interview or hiring process. This type of study shows that discrimination and racism doesn’t just happen with face to face interactions but can also happen before someone even gets a callback.
The main way to get rid of name discrimination in the workplace is to just stop sifting through applicants and deciding prior to meeting them and fully going through their resume and credentials whether or not they are qualified or not just based on their name. Lots of smart, dedicated, and talented people come from “bad” neighborhoods or from the wrong side of the tracks. Each person is different and some applicants want better than what they had growing up.
It is hard to get of rid of discrimination in the workplace because of how different people are from each other and how differently they were raised. Parents do raise their children differently compared to other parents but that doesn’t make any one of them better than someone else who was raised differently than others. I’ve done the research and sifted through article after article trying to find an idea to reduce name discrimination but haven’t found a good one yet. I feel the only way we can reduce the name discrimination in the workplace is to just stop being prejudice towards others. Looking at someone’s name on an application or resume and automatically assuming they are not qualified for the job is disgusting. The person that the employer turns down because an applicant’s name is “LaQuisha” and they think that applicant doesn’t even know how to read and write is unacceptable and I for one do not want to live a world with that kind of antics.