Racism in the workplace is a "hugely under-reported" problem and it makes good business sense for companies to confront it, the chief executive of the Equality Authority has said.
Speaking as Anti-Racist Workplace Week gets under way, Niall Crowley said organisations that had equality policies in place were shown to have lower stress levels, higher job satisfaction and more commitment among workers. "It is crucial to business success to get it right. A failure to build an integrated workplace is not good for business, and the achievement of one is good for business," he said.
One in four of the case files dealt with by the Equality Authority under the Employment Equality Acts last year involved allegations of discrimination on race grounds, making 2006 the fourth consecutive year that cases under this heading were the most common. The issues reported included harassment, discriminatory dismissal, unequal pay or discrimination in working conditions.
Mr Crowley pointed to research showing how infrequently victims of racism make official complaints. Figures published by the Central Statistics Office in 2005 showed that 12.5 per cent of people aged 18 or older had experienced discrimination in the previous two years, with race being one of the most commonly-reported grounds.
But about 60 per cent of those who had experienced such bias said they had done nothing about it.