Minority Groups Face Bullying and Discrimination at Work

Employers miss out on business benefits when they neglect diversity

TRUMBULL, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Minority groups continue to face bullying and rude remarks at work despite the emphasis on diversity and inclusion (D&I). In a new report, Questionmark, the online assessment provider, demonstrates how staff assessments can help employers nurture a more inclusive workforce.

Almost 30% of ethnic minority people and 39% of LGBT+ people have heard derogatory comments or jokes about people like them from co-workers, according to a McKinsey survey. Women are more than twice as likely as men to feel excluded from workplace social events.¹

The Questionmark report, “Overcoming bias and building diverse business success” explores how employers that do not build a truly diverse workforce risk missing out on significant business benefits. Companies in the top quartile for ethnic diversity outperform those in the lowest quartile by 36%. Firms in the top quartile for gender diversity outperform the lowest by 25%.²

The report demonstrates how the information from staff assessments can help overcome these barriers. Assessments draw attention to people’s skills and knowledge irrespective of their background, making it easier to avoid bias. Data from assessments indicate which candidates are best for the role and which workers are ripe for promotion.

Lars Pedersen, CEO of Questionmark, said: “Objective decision making leads to greater diversity in teams and delivers better performance. This diversity encourages innovation and helps firms utilize new opportunities.

“With information from staff assessments, employers can ensure they are putting the right people in the right roles. This objective information can challenge bias and lead to the workforce becoming more diverse.”

The Questionmark Anti-discrimination for People Managers test provides a ready-made assessment to measure knowledge of discrimination law and help managers make fair and balanced decisions. It is available for the United States and United Kingdom markets.

For more information download the full report: “Overcoming bias and building diverse business success”.

www.questionmark.com

Ends

Notes to editors

About Questionmark

Questionmark unlocks performance through reliable and secure online assessments.

Questionmark provides a secure enterprise-grade assessment platform and professional services to leading organizations around the world, delivered with care and unequalled expertise. Its full-service online assessment tool and professional services help customers to improve their performance and meet their compliance requirements. Questionmark enables organizations to unlock their potential by delivering assessments which are valid, reliable, fair and defensible.

Questionmark offers secure powerful integration with other LMS, LRS and proctoring services making it easy to bring everything together in one place. Questionmark's cloud-based assessment management platform offers rapid deployment, scalability for high-volume test delivery, 24/7 support, and the peace-of-mind of secure, audited U.S., Australian and European-based data centers.

¹ https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/understanding-organizational-barriers-to-a-more-inclusive-workplace

² https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters