Women say they heard inappropriate sex talk twice as often in 2007, while racial and ethnic slurs also continue to infect the workplace.
By Garry Kranz Comments 0 | Recommend 0
Did You Hear the Latest Joke? So much for the effectiveness of sensitivity and
diversity training. Rather than dying down, sexually offensive remarks in the
workplace occurred almost twice as often in 2007 than in 2006, according to a
telephone survey of women employees by Boston-based Novations Group. Novations
says 38 percent of women heard colleagues utter sexually demeaning comments, up
from 22 percent in 2006. About 45 percent of men say they heard colleagues make
such remarks. More men than women (44 percent vs. 24 percent) overheard
co-workers using racial slurs and ethnic slurs (40 percent vs. 25 percent)—a
trend that has held true to past form. Workers with more education and higher
income were less likely to be objects of ridicule. Predictably, workers between
18 and 34 are more than twice as likely to hear age-related pejoratives as those
55 and older.
Workforce Management contributing editor Garry Kranz is based in Richmond, Virginia. E-mail editors@workforce.com to comment.
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