true, but really we judge people everyday with or without noticing. Mostly I believe we do this for our safety. For example, lets say you are walking down the street and up ahead their are two people. One is a man dressed in a suit talking on the phone. The other is a man dressed in ragged clothes with his hands in his pockets. Which person are you walking with? Most people tend to pick the man dressed in the suit, but why? Just because he is dressed nicer? People are estimated to make over 200 decisions a day. We do things without knowing because that is how are brains functions. So when does this become an issue on being judgmental? The answer to that is simply in the workplace.
Having diversity in the work place is very important. For a business to be successful, they have to know how every customers thinks, as no customer is the same. Having a diverse staff gives you that extra bonus of more likely being able to relate to a customer, and turning them into a regular. Think about it... Do you ever just go to a store because you get along with the workers over another place?
I worked at a movie theater ever since the week after I turned 16. I grew up in a melting pot of cultures, so I was I hired onto a team filled with diversity. First hand, I can say for the business this was a huge bonus as we all work really well together. Customers were always treated with respect. One of the biggest things I learned there was how to act differently depending
on a person age. Young people are usually shy and want nothing but to watch the movie with their friends. Adults are usually in a hurry, getting their just in time for the movie, they didn't want to talk much. Then their is my favorite, senior citizens. They would often times show up an hour before we opened and loved to talk about anything. Changing how I acted towards each customer, gave them all different experiences. The diversity in the workplace gave customers and even better experience as many customers would come in being from a place like Puerto Rico. We would strategically have Puerto Ricans working on the floor. This would give the customer a feeling of comfort as they would have something in common.
It is not lie when you hear women are mistreated in the workforce. We all of heard of the Equal Pay protest and have chants that effectively spreads their message. Women are becoming more prominent in the workforce. Between 1984 and 2009, the number of working women has increased from 44 million to 72 million, Tracey Wilen-Daugenti says. That number is a huge increase, but if women want to really gain reputation, they must continue to increase the number of them in the workforce. The must keep attacking DC with their agenda, until something is change. In recent protest about pro-life and pro-choice, we are able to see what women are able to accomplish.
However, BusinessInsider thinks that men are responsible for this big split in wages. Being a male this is likely biased, but I do not think men are responsible for it. Males have just as much competition for jobs are women do. If you want a good paying job you are going to have to work for it. You have to put yourself out there and show to employers what makes you unique and why that could help their company. Business wants leaders who are going to work hard, not people looking to make a decent paycheck.
It's sad that equal pay is still an issue today, however it is even worse for women of color. Black women only make a little less than 70% to the dollar and Latina women make just above 50%. Going to the subject of diversity it is a great marketing strategic. The more diverse a business there are more different walks of life will feel comfortable (more likely in stores).
ReplyDeleteI have a friend from high school who always wondered why diversity was really important. Maybe I'll show him your blog. I also was exposed to a variety of different cultures when I got my job, so I understand what you're saying here. Although you discuss different treatment of old people, I typically saw different of race. I find it interesting that you say you don't think it's men's fault despite BusinessInsider saying so. Why do you think there is a gap?
ReplyDeleteHi Jerry! I thought your blog was very thought- provoking. I am also from a place with a lot of diversity, so I understand how important diversity in the workplace is. As a Latina woman, it was necessary for me to find the special places that had people working there who could relate to me. For example, I have to go to a Dominican Hair Salon because it caters to women with curly hair like mine, instead of other hair salons that have no experience in that field. In your portion about the movie theater, I found it very interesting that you strategically placed Puerto Rican workers on the floor when Puerto Rican people came to watch a movie. Do you think that other people who are not Puerto Rican should be accustomed to relating to the people in your community despite their ethnicity?
ReplyDeleteTowards the end of your blog you mentioned that "Business Insider" believed men were the problem in terms of women not getting paid the same amount. In terms of the wage gap, men and women are not competing separately for jobs, but together. If you think men are not the problem, then what do you think is the cause? I think that would be a great topic for you to explore, and I'd be really interested to read your point of view.
I really enjoyed reading this post, Jerry. I loved reading about your personal story with your job at a movie theater. I can relate to you since I also worked at a place with a lot of diversity and even some Spanish speaking employees. Your comments about changing the way you act towards certain customers is really spot on - senior citizens always seem to be laid back!
ReplyDeleteYour points on diversity with your experience working in a movie theatre is interesting. Growing up, my school was always very diverse, but when I moved my high school was not. I was surprised when my experiences between the two places could be so different just based upon the make up of the people. I agree with you in the end that men and women alike have to work hard to get a job, but I don't think that really has to do with the pay gap. I feel like the responsibility for that falls on employers themselves and sadly society as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea of having more diversity among the staff to better cater to the diverse consumer base is a great idea. It makes sense that if the staff is better able to relate to their customers they will be able to better serve them and they will create returning customers. I have never really thought about this concept but it is definitely something that I think all businesses should consider if they want to boost sales and have loyal customers.
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