Discrimination at work 'common'

By Imogen Foulkes
BBC correspondent, Geneva

The first ever global report into discrimination in the workplace says it remains extremely common although it may be less blatant than it used to be.

The report, being published on Monday by the United Nations' International Labour Organisation (ILO), says that although discrimination may vary from country to country, it exists everywhere and it effects productivity and efficiency as well as the morale and general happiness of the workers.

The ILO's report Time for Equality at Work, is an ambitious task.

Discrimination at work is a huge topic.

In one country it means children from ethnic minorities being forced to work, in another it means poor job opportunities for those infected with the HIV virus.

Affirmative action is not going to solve the problem of discrimination

Manuela Tomei
author of report

Elsewhere it is about well-qualified women being passed over for the top jobs.

What unifies these extremes, says the report's author, Manuela Tomei, is that discrimination is present the world over.

"Discrimination is a universal problem," she says. "Every single country in the world is not immune from discrimination. Of course the incidents of the problem vary from country to country, but every single country has to fight against discrimination."

Policy measures

How to combat discrimination, however, is the subject of much disagreement.

Affirmative action or positive discrimination used to be a popular way of promoting workers from minority groups, especially in the United States.

Now though it is out of favour in many countries, but the ILO says it remains a useful weapon.

Every single country in the world is not immune from discrimination

Manuela Tomei
author of report

"Affirmative action is not going to solve the problem of discrimination. It is not going to eliminate it, but affirmative action or positive action is necessary, but insufficient. It has, of course, to be complemented with other social policy measures," says Manuela Tomei.

The ILO hopes to convince employers to crackdown on discrimination by presenting some figures.

For the report the organisation studied large and medium-sized businesses in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Those which operated active equal opportunity policies were more productive than those which did not, so, the ILO says, discrimination not only lowers the morale of workers, it costs the company money too.