Challenges Encountered by Newly-Married Women in the UK Workplaces - Case Study Example

BARRIERS OF THE NEWLY MARRIED FEMALES IN THE UK WORKPLACE: LITERATURE REVIEW & CASE STUDY ANALYSIS Student’s name Course code+name Professor’s name University name City, State Date of submission Introduction Newly married female workers in the UK and other global workplaces have encountered numerous challenges in trying to cope with the work environment. The major issues affecting the employment of newly married women and women employees in general revolve around maintaining a balance between their roles and sexual abuse at the workplace. Managing workplace diversity has also turned out to be a challenge for Human Resource managers in global workplaces following the existence of differences in terms of gender, sexual orientation, age, physical capability, national origin, and religion among others (West et al. 2015; French et al. 2012). Gender segregation is still dominant in the European society despite the gradual improvements in the proportion of women entering the workforce (Dickens 2007). Regardless of the work commitments, it is evident that women still bear the responsibility of a majority of the domestic chores. As a result, women have to engage in part time jobs that offer flexible working arrangements. Some women encounter sexual harassment from the other employees of the organisation thereby finding it difficult to cope with the working environment. There are two sections in the report. The first section discusses the workplace challenges and barriers encountered by women with regard to the UK workplaces. In the second part, the report analyses a sexual harassment and workplace favouritism case study. PART A: CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY NEWLY-MARRIED WOMEN IN THE UK WORKPLACES It is evident that the United Kingdom has witnessed an increase in the economic activity of women. Even though gender segregation remains a predominant feature in the UK workplace environment, women are exhibiting gradual progression in occupying the positions destined for men under the traditional workplace set up. There are several barriers that affect the working of women; particularly the newly married ones in the UK workplace. Childcare and Caring for Others Child caring suffices to be one of the main barriers affecting women in the UK workplace. The challenge also includes having the responsibility of caring for others especially at home. Apparently, the challenge has impacted negatively on the progression and development of women at the workplace. Many women also attribute the responsibility of caring for others to be one of the primary reasons behind their inability to perform tremendously and progress at the workplace (Finch 2008). There are several commitments associated with caring for others. Some of the commitments such as living with children have had an immense impact on the career choices and decisions made by women. As a result, it is apparent that most newly married women have to strike a balance between catering for the needs of their young ones at home as well as playing the role of a woman to their husbands as required by the society. In fact, women exhibit the highest propensity of taking time out of work to deliver and take care of their children. Most of the women consider the responsible as an impediment to their progress and development at the workplace. Women also consider the cost of childcare to be an obstacle to their economic prowess since they have to spend a significant amount of their income meeting the basic needs of their young ones. As mentioned earlier, some women also opine that the responsibility of catering for the needs of others has also dwarfed their development and progress. According to Horgath et al. (2001), 15% of female workers presented a form of caring responsibility in the Work life Balance Baseline Study as compared to 11% of men that testified to be having some form of caring responsibility. The caring responsibility in question entails caring for other people rather than children since the UK society regards childcare to be a core responsibility of women rather than men. Newly married female employees also fail to concentrate at the workplace by worrying about the form of care offered to their children at home. The worry also extends to the suitability of the places that offer child care. In some cases, newly married women consider the available child care to be of low quality or inadequate. As a result, they have to quit their jobs or work under flexible working arrangements to find time to offer the much needed childcare themselves. Even though the UK Government offers child care support to formal networks to alleviate the childcare burden delegated to women, most women have opted for informal family networks (Paull 2014). As a result, they do not receive support from the government.The relatively low salaryreceived by most women in employment is also a workplace progression barrier since women do not have sufficient income to cater for the needs of their children.Considering the high costs of childcare, newly married women will opt to quit from work if their income is insufficient to cater for childcare needs or remain in the workplace and pay for the childcare if the income is sufficient. Flexible hours and time Inflexible working hours are a barrier to the progress of women in the UK workplaces (FFWHT 2009). As a result of the necessity of breaking from work to respond to other activities not related to work, women would find it comfortable to work under environments that would permit them to either leave job early or come to job late so as to have enough time to respond to other activities. However, employment in the formal sector has posed challenges since organisations have set fixed working hours within which an employee should arrive and leave the workplace.On average, 30 hours per week is the threshold of working hours for most women employees in the UK. However, there are other cases where the required working hours surpass the threshold. In such cases and particularly for women, it is challenging to meet both the work requirements as well as the domestic chores at home. Consequently, women have advocated for flexible working arrangements to enable them to progress at the workplace. Sexual harassment and sex discrimination Newly married women also encounter the challenge of sexual harassment and sex discrimination in the UK workplace. Even though the UK law protects all workers against any form of sexual harassment and sex discrimination, other employees still commit the crime and walk away scot free in the UK workplace (Acker 2012). The consequence of such acts includes reduced morale of the vulnerable groups of workers such as women that encounter the barrier.Direct discrimination suffices to be one of the cases of sex discrimination that involves unfair or unfavourable treatment by your employer as compared to the treatment of other workers because of one’s sex (Acas 2013). The mere fact that newly married women are female employees denies them promotion to management positions in a male-dominated organisation. It is evident that such discrimination impacts negatively on the morale of women to progress at the workplace. Women also encounter indirect discrimination in certain workplaces. Such discrimination occurs when the existing organisation policy or rule places female employees at a disadvantage to either apply for the job or exhibit performance of the highest quality (Due Billing 2011). For instance, the boards of all companies understand that the requirement of working fulltime is a direct put off to women. Therefore, using the requirement in the recruitment of personnel implies that the organisation will not hire women since they require flexible working arrangements to enable them to respond to family needs as well as the needs of the organisation. There are several instances where women encounter discrimination at the workplace. Some of the instances include the application for promotion, unfair access to benefits and career development opportunities, decisions regarding the employee chosen for redundancy and the use of inflexible working hours to deny women employees time to take care of their children and others. It is also evident that the law protects all workers against workplace sexual harassment. The law also covers workers that have changed their genders. Newly married women face the challenge of sexual harassment at the workplace through the use of unwelcome sexual comments by other workers, and the unwanted physical contact or unnecessary touching of certain parts on a woman’s body such as the hips or breasts by other employees (Fisher 2007). The other cases of sexual harassment include leering at the woman’s body, and the display of female posters that are offensive. Moreover, women employees also receive offensive emails and other items containing pornographic materials. In some cases, the harassment is a one-off incident (Adviceguide 2014). However, in most cases, the offense involves a series of incidents that compels the woman to seek legal action against the offender. The Challenge of Civil Partnerships The Civil Partnership Act (CPA) 2004 offers legal recognition to same sex partnerships or relationships. However, there is increasing concern that some individuals view the partnership as an alternative to marriages. As a result, newly married women face the risk of losing their partnerships due to the failure of the partnership to develop into marriage when they do not have time to take care of their loved ones. The inflexible working hours offered by most organisations in the formal sector require women to spend a significant proportion of their time at the workplace thereby having little time to build their partnerships to develop them into marriages. Having the worry in mind, newly married women are unable to seek jobs under inflexible working arrangements in order to secure their young marriages and relationships. The result is the gradual progression of women in the workplace environment. Expectations for Progression Low self –esteem, self-efficacy and confidence presented by some women is one of the greatest barriers to their progression at the workplace. Age is one of the greatest determinants of confidence. As a result, women employees aged between 40 and 49 years have the greatest likelihood of presenting low confidence as compared to women under the age of 30 years. However, it is evident that the expectations for progression are a barrier to the progress of women at the workplace since most women exhibit low levels of confidence after returning to work from maternity leaves and other breaks to take care of their loved ones.According to Green et al. (2004), approximately one-third of women in the sample group obtained from the UK workplace revealed that they had no confidence and esteem to apply for a promotion. Having low confidence and low self-esteem, it is apparent that women are unable to compete favourably with their male counterparts to clinch the management positions at the workplace. PART B: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS The Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act is relevant to the case since the case presents sexual harassment and unfair treatment at the workplace. The comments of a sexual nature directed towards Jess about her breasts provide direct evidence of sexual harassment. Jess describes the comments to be patronising and inappropriate since they make constant references to her breasts.In the other case at the Christmas party, the other employees also made sexually explicit remarks about Jess’s body and the top that she was wearing on the occasion. The decision of the Marketing Director not to shortlist Jess among the interviewees of the Digital Marketing Manager position in favour of his nephew also presents a case of sex discrimination. The Act covers all employees against any forms of workplace harassment or bullying (Hepple 2010). Section 26 of the Act defines harassment to be unwanted conduct associated with a relevant protected characteristic that has the effect or purpose of violating the dignity of the individual or creates an offensive, humiliating, hostile, or intimidating environment for the individual. The Act defines bullying to be the malicious, insulting, offensive and intimidating behaviour that entails the abuse or misuse of power through means that denigrate, humiliate, undermine or injure the recipient. The harassment or bullying may occur by an individual against another individual where the offender holds power such as a position of authority. In such a case, the offender may be a supervisor or a manager. Harassment may also involve a group of individuals acting to undermine or humiliate either an individual or another group of individuals of a disadvantaged group. Regardless of the form that the abuse or harassment takes, the recipient considers the humiliation to be unwanted and unwelcome. It is evident that the Marketing Director displays intentional motive of preventing or blocking Jess from attaining the Director of Digital Marketing position thereby violating the provisions of the Act. Potential Risks to the Organisation for the Breach of the Equality Act According to Section 40 of the Equality Act 2010 that covers harassment by employers, sexual offenses committed by employees and other staffs of the organisation are a liability to the employer (Numhauser-Henning&Laulom 2012). As a result, the firm should bear responsibility and liability for the civil wrongs perpetrated by the employees and agents of the organisation as detailed in Section 109 of the Act. Vicarious liability transferred to the organisation entails all the wrongs committed by the staffs and agents of the organisation that have an association with their employment to the organisation. The wrongs also include other forms of sexual harassment during work-related social functions committed by subordinates, peers and the managers. From the provisions detailed in the Section, the sexual harassment committed against Jess by the other employees during the Christmas party held by the organisation also fall under the confines of the provisions of the section. As a result, the firm will bear the vicarious liability in the event that Jess files the sexual harassment case as advised by the union. The Bundy v Jackson, 641 F.2d 934 (D.C. Cir. 1981)case provides an example of sexual harassment at the workplace. In the case, Sarah Bundy complained about the sexual advances made to her by her supervisors at the workplace. She used the chain of command to pursue the case to the director. However, the organisation did not deal with the case. Instead of investigating the sexual harassment case, the supervisors retaliated by delaying her promotion. The response compelled Bundy to seek injunctive relief from the delay in promotion and sexual harassment.The United States District Court for the Columbia District provided injunctive relief for the sexual harassment (Bouressa 2013). From the case, it is evident that sex discrimination that involves sexual harassment leading to unreasonable interference of the work performance of an individual to create an offensive, hostile and intimidating environment deserves the granting of injunctive relief to the plaintiff following the confirmation of the allegations. Therefore, the Operations Director should take an immediate action towards investigating the case to stop the harassment and appease Jess or risk seeing the organisation bear the vicarious liability of the offenders. Being an organisation that deals with selling vehicle parts to the motor industry via the online platform, the Operations Manager should understand that the reputation of the company is detrimental to its success as an online retailer. Therefore, Jess’s decision to seek injunctive relief for the sexual harassment and the denial of promotion resulting to work interference may portray a negative image for the company by having an adverse impact on its reputation. Recommended Actions for the Organisation Article 26 of the Act details the transposition measures outlined by the Government Equalities Office. According to the Article, all organisations and responsible organisations should provide vocational training to all employees and agents to avert crimes related to sexual discrimination at the workplace. The training should involve providing an in-depth explanation of the Equality Act 2010 and seeking best practice guidance and advice through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)(Numhauser-Henning &Laulom 2012).Most importantly, as an endeavour to prevent bearing the liability of the accused offenders, the Operations Manager should investigate Jess’s complaint with utmost urgency followed by subjecting all employees to intensive training on equality with particular reference to discrimination. In the event that the organisation does not have an Equality Policy, the Operations Manager should introduce such a policy with immediate effect. Besides the policy, the Operations Manager should also introduce a harassment policy under the Equality Policy to educate employees about the provisions of the Equality Act 2010. The policy-making process should also involve the staffs of the company to heighten the significance of aligning the conduct of the employees with the provisions of the Act. The Operations Manager should also ensure that all employees are aware of the policy and its existence. The action should also entail informing the staffs about their responsibilities towards ensuring the success of the policy document. Moreover, the Operations Manager should also ensure that all the visitors, suppliers, clients and customers that gain contact with the organisation understand the policy and act in accordance with its provisions to prevent future recurrence of sexual harassment (Workplace BC 2006). As evidenced by the behaviour of employees to make humiliating sexual-oriented statements to female workers, intensive training about the provisions of the harassment policy will play a pivotal role towards preventing the recurrence of such cases in the future. The behaviour of the employees to make inappropriate comments that presented sexual harassment reveals that the work culture in the organisation does not include workplace ethics with regard to equality and harassment. The Operations Manager should also remind the Marketing Director that the display of inequality and denial or blocking of Jess from attaining the advertised position is a breach of the provisions of the Equality Act 2010. As a result, the organisation will have to compensate Jess for injury to her feelings due to sexual harassment as well as any losses emanating from the sexual discrimination. Recommendations to avoid the Recurrence of the Issue Preventing the recurrence of sexual harassment and other harassment-related issues necessitates implementing the EHRC recommendations in the organisation. For instance, the Operations Manager should ascertain that all employees, agents, clients, suppliers and customers understand all the protected characteristics besides declaring non-tolerance to unethical acts of the staffs and agents associated with harassment at the workplace(Numhauser-Henning &Laulom 2012). In the event of occurrence of such an issue, the organisation should be on the fore front in investigating and punishing the offender to prevent tainting the image of the company in the event that the offended files the case in the court. In essence, the policy document should declare that the organisation will regard all forms of harassment as a disciplinary offense. The organisation should also detail the steps of placing a complaint when harassed by an individual or other individuals. To guarantee the trust of the victims of harassment, the organisation should also clarify that it will deal with the harassment complaints soon after their filing besides protecting the complainant from victimisation and treating the complaint with the confidentiality and seriousness that it deserves. The policy should also detail the available support to the complainant to encourage the filing of complaints (Workplace BC 2013). Moreover, the organisation should also detail the existing avenues of detecting and stopping harassment. The training programme should also address the implementation, review and monitoring of the equality and harassment policy. Finally, reviewing the policy is necessary as it ensures the effective handling of harassment cases. Conclusion As discussed in the first section, newly married couples encounter several barriers to their progress and development at the workplace. With specific reference to the UK workplace, some of the barriers to workplace progression testified by women in the UK include sexual harassment and sex discrimination, childcare and caring for others, low self-esteem and confidence among women employees, inflexible work arrangements and challenges associated with civil partnerships. In the second section, the report identifies that Jess is a victim of sexual harassment and unfair or unequal treatment. The issues emanate from the fact that the employees made humiliating sexual remarks about Jess both at the workplace and at the Christmas party. The decision of the Marketing Manager to exclude Jess from the list of interviewees to deny her the chance of attaining the position of the Manager of Digital Marketing also provides evidence to unfair or unequal treatment at the workplace. Both harassment and discrimination cases are violations of the provisions of the Equality Act 2010. 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Worksafe BC 2013, ‘Toward a Respectful Workplace’, A handbook on preventing and addressing workplace bullying and harassment. Read More