Introduction
Although the world is full of opportunities and structured workplaces, socioeconomic inequality in the workplace has taken another turn. Workplaces seem cool, but with a deeper look, it can be realized that the level of suffering brought about by socioeconomic inequalities in the workplace has been increasing recently. Socioeconomic inequalities in the workplace can be seen as a mere problem, but the level of professionalism in workplaces is heavily affected by this problem. Information from various statistics websites such as Statista reveals the hurtful truth about this issue. Despite many organizations’ steps to bring equality, socioeconomic inequalities have been increasing in workplaces. Other researchers have also provided information concerning socioeconomic inequalities by addressing the connections between workplace factors and work inequalities (Scott, 2021). Therefore, this study will dig deep to find out the links between socioeconomic inequalities that appear within the workplace, looking at the main causes and how these socioeconomic factors affect employees and the organization’s performance.
Thesis statement: Using secondary research and other empirical data, the paper will uncover the factors that can promote socioeconomic equitability in the workplace to promote an elusive work environment.
Research shows that there are three leading root causes of socioeconomic inequality in the workplace and these are prejudice, bullying, and bias. However, (Scott,2021) argues that these three factors lead to socioeconomic inequalities in the workplace. Bias, prejudice, and bullying cause discrimination and harassment in the workplace, which in turn leads to socioeconomic inequality. Workplace socioeconomic inequality can be seen in managers, especially when they tend to have too much power, making them act unfairly. Bias and verbal prejudice typically lead to discrimination. Bullying leads to harassment at work. Prejudice that is based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and other factors, on the other hand, leads to unequal opportunities and treatment in areas such as hiring, payment, and promotions (Scott, 2021). The marginalized groups are the most affected by discriminatory activities in workplaces, which leads to socioeconomic inequality by minimizing the opportunities that the marginalized groups in the workplace are exposed to.
The other factor researchers pose that brings socioeconomic inequalities to workplaces is income differences. Low wages, shortage of job security, and inadequate benefits have severely brought socioeconomic inequality at workplaces. Several employees have disadvantages and earn minimal income and minimal access to basic needs, promoting poverty among employees. (Boreham et al., 2015), argues that employees who are paid minimal and insufficient wages face socioeconomic inequality at the workplace, which also affects their well-being. The high-earner employees with the income that can buy luxury products such as cars despise the low earns, promoting socioeconomic inequalities in the workplace. Income disparities at the workplace lead to minimal access to training, which limits low-income earners’ chances of applying for higher positions at the workplace. Higher-income earner employees may have the ability to access resources such as mentorship programs, networking trials, and other development opportunities (Pitcher et al., 2022). This factor can minimize the chances of low-income earners from poor backgrounds the chances to improve their careers because of limited access to resources.
Other factors, such as workplace policies and practices applied in organizations, bring socioeconomic inequalities in the workplace. Organizations implement inequitable policies, such as unequal pay, which affect employees from poor socioeconomic backgrounds. Employees are not affected by unequal pay policies restraining them from accessing higher education and training that will easily enable them to access promotions and higher positions in workplaces. Other work policies, such as limited parental leave and insufficient work-life balance support, can affect workplace employees (Pitcher et al., 2022). The organization’s policies primarily affect workers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds because the lower-income-earner employees do not have sufficient parental leave, especially maternity leave. The lower socioeconomic employees also need more work-balance support. After all, they need the organization’s support because it provides minimal opportunities that deny them a chance to access higher job positions at that workplace. Organizations have set these policies as inequality as the high earners are given higher priority than the low earners at workplaces.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The paper will use secondary research and other empirical data to uncover the factors that can promote socioeconomic equitability in the workplace to promote an elusive work environment. The research has provided information concerning socioeconomic inequalities by addressing the connections between workplace factors and work inequalities. Therefore, the study dug deep to find the links between socioeconomic inequalities that appear within the workplace, looking at the main causes and how these socioeconomic factors affect employees and the organization’s performance.
The leading causes highlighted by the sources used in this research are numerous, varying from education, policies, bias, and prejudice. However, factors such as unequal payment that have been found to be brought about by work policies and practices in the organization have been found to have a significant effect on employees’ socioeconomic inequality in the workplace. Factors such as income inequality have connected many factors that lead to unequal socioeconomic status at workplaces, such as education and training that deny employees a chance to access promotions and higher payment positions at workplaces.
Policies of Equal Opportunities
Various authors’ research has pointed out work policies and practices implemented in the organization, such as unequal pay policies. Therefore, to eliminate these workplace policies that bring socioeconomic inequalities, organizations need to apply strategies and policies that bring equal opportunity payment, such as automatic equal payment and AI. Equal opportunities policies and practices should be implemented in the workplace to support factors such as equal hiring, promotion, and compensation. The policies these organizations implement should be equal to all employees regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds, race, and color. However, The policies implemented should be transparent to all employees and well communicated by managers. The power of the managers that the managers used to implement the policies should also be regulated to prevent bias. The policies set by the organization should be applied consistently to all employees despite their backgrounds.
Education and Training Sessions in the Workplace
Next, organizations highly affected by unequal education that leads to unequal socioeconomic conditions in the workplace can eliminate inequality by initiating training and education in the workplace. These organizations can eliminate this problem by providing education and training sessions to create workplace awareness regarding bias, prejudice, and unequal privilege. These practices, training, and education should be mainly aimed at managers who misuse power and lead to socioeconomic inequality because of bias in recruitment, pay, and offering opportunities to employees. On the other hand, workers and employees in these organizations should be offered training sessions and education to help them understand and learn are a few factors that they should not practice at workplaces that can easily lead to socioeconomic inequalities such as discrimination. The training and education programs should be designed to promote equality despite workers’ different social, economic, racial, and color backgrounds.
Diversity and Inclusion Practices at Workplace
Finally, organizations that experience socioeconomic inequality in workplaces can initiate diversity and inclusion practices at the workplace. The organizations can look for experts in diversity and inclusion practices to design programs promoting active recruitment practices that ensure the company hires diverse employees from marginalized socioeconomic backgrounds. To ensure that these practices are successful, these organizations should form stronger partnerships with organizations in local areas, make efforts to reach targets and create mentorship programs to empower marginalized workers.
References
Scott, K. (2021, October 3). Just Work. Medium. https://kimmalonescott.medium.com/just-work-e85166f7cd9
Boreham, P., Povey, J., & Tomaszewski, W. (2015). Work and social well-being: the impact of employment conditions on quality of life. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(6), 593–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2015.1027250
Pitcher, B. D., Miles, A. F., Mancarella, P. J., & Behrend, T. S. (2022). Socioeconomic and job status differences in the experience of perceived unacceptable electronic performance monitoring. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 3(3). https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000090
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