Q:  Large corporations were I’ve worked have been addressing the issue of discrimination for more than 40 years.  They seek out minority candidates for open positions and conduct diversity training regularly. Team members of different races usually work well together – but not always. 

In spite of all the training and raising of awareness, honest discussion is very difficult for managers when some employees insist that something either happened because of race (“She only got that promotion because she’s Black”) or didn’t happen because of race (“I didn’t get that promotion because I’m not white”.)

How would you recommend handling these disagreements without damaging the working relationship?

A:  This is such a great and touchy question I thought long and hard on whether to even try to answer it.  So here it goes.

First, some acknowledgements.  If you gentle reader, have spent any time in management, you’ve heard a version of these two statements.  If you are an employee who is a minority or have worked with minorities, you’ve probably have either said one of those statements out loud, or thought it yourself.

In other words, your question resonates because most of us have experienced it from one perspective or another.

I’m sure that whoever makes those statements may actually believe them.  Why they might believe that something either happened or didn’t happened as a result of race, is way beyond what we can cover here. Justified or not, it’s a belief that the system is unfair.

So, what can you do as a manager?

Give them facts supporting the fairness of a decision.  If you hear an employee making one of these statements, don’t ignore it.  Invite them to review with you (within confidentiality constraints) the application and selection process that were followed, the other applicants that were considered, specific skill sets were the final candidate excelled, etc.  If you’re in a large company chances are you can be transparent about hiring decisions because usually there’s a system you followed.  (Small private companies are a difference ballgame.)

You won’t always end with a happy camper, but it always helps when people feel heard and validated. And who knows, you might learn something new from hearing their perspective.

©Copyright Eva Del Rio

Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com