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The inclusion of LGBTQ + persons (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and having other sexual orientations and gender identities) is a crucial step in improving gender diversity in the workplace; however, till date, it remains a significant challenge for human resource management professionals. The current study critically examines this issue of an inclusive workplace for LGBTQ + people through a systematic review of the existing research that has empirically studied their experiences at the workplace. It also examines the resistance and challenges organizations face in LGBTQ + diversity training and provides future research avenues.

For systematically reviewing the literature, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) model has been used. A total of 101 empirical studies have been reviewed.

The result shows that LGBTQ + people encounter multiple negative workplace experiences, including proximal (hiring discrimination and housing discrimination) and distal workplace discrimination (unsafe work climate, microaggressions and harassment). These aversive experiences lead to work stress while also mandating that people manage their sexual identity and style of dressing. This stress, in turn, impacts their work–family outcomes, job satisfaction and decision-making with regard to their careers.

The paper provides a holistic understanding of the aversive workplace experiences encountered by sexual minorities.

Spirituality in the workplace is a concept that has been emphasized a lot in recent years. However, the relationship of this concept with gender and discrimination has not been adequately addressed. Individual and organizational positive outcomes of spirituality in the workplace cannot be obtained when discrimination is in question. This is because the concepts of spirituality and discrimination in the workplace are completely opposite to each other. In order to prevent discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, age, religion, disability and to establish spirituality in the workplace, organizations should follow awareness and training programs to eliminate prejudices of their management and employees, give importance to differences, develop an understanding of democracy and justice within the organization and development egalitarian and anti-discrimination policies and application. In this direction, while the differences are managed correctly, spirituality will be established in the workplace.

The communications industry faces a recruitment crisis. Despite the pivot to hybrid working and the ever-increasing number of young people opting to study the discipline, over half of recruiters in the public sector and three quarters of those recruiting for agencies struggle to fill vacancies. This chapter examines these trends from a radical feminist perspective, arguing the communications industry is squandering young, female talent by failing both new entrants and mothers returning to work after childbirth. This analysis is based on a series of surveys undertaken between 2020 and 2022 to examine the expectations and lived experience of women, and in particular communications students and mothers, working in or aspiring to work in the sector. Over 73% of the women surveyed had experienced gender-based discrimination and harassment, and 66% had been forced to choose between their careers and having a child. Of the young entrants to the profession surveyed, 88% believed becoming a mother would negatively impact their career, while 32% had experienced discrimination while undertaking their student placement. Analysis of these data indicates the sector faces a crisis of its own making by failing to provide a workplace culture worth working in. The chapter concludes only a direct challenge to male hegemony can redress the gender imbalance, free up talent to meet skills shortages and provide lasting change for women working in communications. It offers a series of recommendations for how professional bodies can address these issues and empower young women to achieve the career outcomes they deserve.

Appearance-based discrimination in workplaces based on an employee's physical appearance is a legal and ethical problem. This study provide important research findings concerning such discrimination in Estonia.

A qualitative case study strategy and narrative inquiry were used. The information which was gathered for the research consists of three cases which concern appearance-based discrimination against young women. Information for two of the cases was gathered together by means of open interviews. Information for the third case is based on articles which were found in Estonian daily newspapers.

Covert and overt discrimination based on an employee's physical appearance can occur in Estonian workplaces, even though discrimination and inequality are not tolerated in public and all forms of discrimination are illegal in Estonia. The appearance norms, which frame perceptions of attractiveness and unattractiveness, may at times be rather narrow and stereotypical in Estonian workplaces. The attempts by employees to resist such discrimination in an early phase of the employees' careers are generally not successful.

Through real-life cases, this study makes empirically visible a problem at the workplace related to employees' physical appearance in Estonia. This study makes suggestions for preventing this kind of discrimination in organisations. Narrative inquiry offers a fruitful approach for how researchers can address a sensitive problem, such as the appearance-based discrimination against the employees discussed in this study.

Replication is essential to science for the purpose of (1) updating previously accepted knowledge and (2) testing the boundary conditions of this knowledge. Although Bader et al.’s (2018) impactful paper on gender harassment experienced by expatriates was only published five years ago, there have been two relevant exogenous shocks to the environment since they collected their data, making this study an excellent target for replication.

Three-hundred ninety-one expatriates who were currently working in 79 different countries completed an electronic survey that included scales for gender harassment, ethnicity harassment, general stress, frustration and job satisfaction. Data were analyzed using partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in Stata17.

Consistent with prior research, gender had a significant relationship with workplace gender harassment (ß = 0.228, p < 0.001) such that males experienced lower levels of harassment than other expatriates. The relationship between race/ethnicity and experiences of ethnicity harassment was dependent upon model specification. Workplace harassment had a negative relationship with job satisfaction (gender harassment, ß = −0.114, p = 0.030; ethnicity harassment; ß = −0.146, p = 0.002) and a positive relationship with frustration (gender harassment, ß = 0.231, p < 0.001; ethnicity harassment, ß = 0.213, p < 0.001).

Using a larger, more diverse sample than that used in prior research, the authors were able to test the generalizability of accepted knowledge. While the authors replicated many findings identified in prior research, they failed to replicate the effects pertaining to the relationship between macro-level variables and experiences of harassment. Given that macro-level variables play a key role in status construction theory (SCT), this research raises important questions for future work.

The following study aimed to better understand rural dwelling LGBTQ+ adults’ experiences of the challenges and opportunities facing their working lives in England.

A qualitative, focus group design was utilized, using online recruitment and an online, one-off focus group. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Three themes were identified: stressors facing LGBTQ+ people in the workplace; opportunities in employment; and ideas to improve the workplace for LGBTQ+ people. Participants spoke to the ways in which both rural living and the pandemic had impacted their working lives, including elevated fears of being discriminated against; experiencing microaggressions in the workplace which they felt were partly elevated by a lack of visibility and affirmative policies; and a sense that specific workplaces inhabited by LGBTQ+ people had been decimated by the pandemic. Conversely, participants spoke of opportunities for affirmation of their gender and/or sexual orientation identities, feeling a sense of pride and connection with their communities through work.

This is the first study to the authors’ knowledge that specifically explores rural dwelling LGBTQ+ adults’ experiences of the workplace post-pandemic. It builds on previous empirical research by highlighting qualitative experiences of challenges and opportunity, which can inform organizations and policymakers’ efforts to promote inclusivity.

The context of a long-standing research tradition, discrimination has emerged as a critical factor contributing to inequalities within the labor market. While existing studies have primarily focused on overt discrimination during the recruitment and selection process, influenced by biases, attitudes, or stereotypes, there remains a significant knowledge gap regarding discrimination within the workplace and its underlying structural dimensions. This article aims to address this gap by examining the impact of organizational culture, structure and policies on workplace discrimination, with a particular emphasis on women and ethnic minorities.

Utilizing a case study strategy centered around a Belgian branch of a multinational professional service agency, data was gathered through ten semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with employees representing various organizational levels.

The findings reveal that organizational culture, structure and policies may pose inherent risks in perpetuating discrimination throughout individuals' professional trajectories. Furthermore, it becomes apparent that, albeit often unconscious, these elements exhibit biases against women and ethnic minorities.

Given the unintentional nature of structural discrimination, it is crucial to foster increased awareness and understanding of these dynamics.

The originality of this research article lies in its focus on addressing a critical knowledge gap in the existing research tradition on discrimination in the labor market. While previous studies have primarily concentrated on overt discrimination during recruitment and selection, this article delves into the often overlooked area of discrimination within the workplace itself. It explores the intricate interplay of organizational culture, structure and policies in perpetuating discrimination, particularly against women and ethnic minorities. By utilizing a case study approach within a multinational professional service agency in Belgium, the research uncovers hidden biases and unconscious elements contributing to structural discrimination. This emphasis on understanding unintentional discrimination adds a novel dimension to the discourse on workplace inequalities.

This article focuses on research carried out on gender discrimination and biasness in the workplace in order to understand how gender discrimination can have far reaching consequences on the careers of working women. It looks at five aspects of this issue, namely workplace harassment, hiring, maternity leave, women in leadership roles, and the experience of marginalised women. Although a global issue, this article looks at gender discrimination from Indian Context.

This article is descriptive in nature, that studied the arguments of other researchers and elaborated understanding from those articles considering gender discrimination and gender bias at the workplace.

It was found that despite an intense and growing call for gender equality at the workplace, to provide its female workforce with adequate freedom to work and protection from conservative opinions and biases that keep women out of the workforce. Several women have taken over top positions in companies; regardless, a lot more work remains to be done. Bringing in legislative changes is of utmost importance, as it will ensure that women have legal routes to protect their rights. There also needs to be more research undertaken in the field of gender discrimination to understand how structural changes can be established in companies.

The current study is unique, every industry faces this challenge, which is considered one of the critical challenges. Practitioners, experts, strategists, also fall into the game of gender discrimination and biasness.

Māori are the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand and have a history of experiencing discrimination, which occurs similarly for Pacific peoples. While both ethnic groups have lower pay and higher unemployment issues, their workplace experiences around perceived discrimination are seldom explored. Consequently, this study tests the influence of perceived discrimination on work outcomes (job satisfaction and work engagement) and well-being outcomes (job stress, job anxiety and job depression). Further, potential buffering effects of perceived organizational support (POS) and gender are conducted to test the symbolic interaction perspective (gender differences towards the potential buffering effects of POS).

The study uses data from Māori employees (n = 437) and Pacific employees (n = 148) for a total sample of 585 employees across a wide range of occupations and industries. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the data was used, and two-way and three-way moderations were conducted.

Overall, perceived discrimination was detrimentally related to all outcomes. Further, significant three-way interactions were found towards all well-being outcomes. This supported the symbolic interaction perspective, whereby high POS buffered perceived discrimination best for females, but low POS was key for males.

This research is important because the authors provide much-needed empirical evidence around ethnic discrimination in Aotearoa/New Zealand workplaces and extend the outcomes explored in the discrimination literature. Implications for organizations include establishing the rate of discrimination and developing human resource management (HRM) practices to address this.

Beyond the unique findings towards Māori and Pacific employees, the strong support for the symbolic interaction perspective provides useful insights into understanding that support benefits differ by gender.

Appearance is part of a person's non-verbal communication, and looks are often associated with the perceived ‘attractiveness’ of individuals for hiring practices in the workplace. As such, physical attractiveness can be a ‘prized possession’ when it comes to leaving a positive impression on managers who are interviewing candidates. In the twenty-first century environment, our society seems to be more obsessed with physical appearance than ever before because society has conditioned us to associate beauty with other favourable characteristics. Of course, such appearance norms, regarding attractiveness, ‘good looks’ and beauty are linked to years of socialisation in culture, cultural norms and materialistic personality standards.

In a business context, managers and employers often make hiring decisions based on the appearance and attractiveness of the job applicants since outward appearance seems to play a significant role in which candidates eventually might get the job. Physically attractive job applicants and candidates tend to benefit from the unearned privilege, which often comes at a cost to others who are equally qualified. Preferring employees who are deemed to be attractive, and consequently discriminating against those who are perceived as unattractive, can present legal and ethical challenges for employers and managers. In this chapter, we provide a discussion and reflection of appearance-based hiring practices in the United States with relevant legal, ethical and practical implications for employers, human resources professionals and managers. We focus on ‘lookism’ or appearance discrimination, which is discrimination in favour of people who are physically attractive. As such, we examine federal, state and local laws regarding appearance discrimination in the American workplace. We also offer sustainable policy recommendations for employers, HR professionals and managers on how they can be fair to all candidates in order to hire, promote and retain the most qualified professionals in their departments and organisations.