Corporate layoff strategies are increasing workplace gender and racial inequality

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/afot-cls032714.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 27-Mar-2014

Contact: George Hunka
American Friends of Tel Aviv University

Corporate layoff strategies are increasing workplace gender and racial inequality

Tel Aviv University research finds that current practices 'downsize diversity'

Research from Prof. Alexandra Kalev of Tel Aviv University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology reveals that current workplace downsizing policies are reducing managerial diversity and increasing racial and gender inequalities. According to the study, layoff practices focusing on positions and tenure, rather than worker performance, minimized the share of white women in management positions by 25 percent and of black men by 20 percent. Prof. Kalev found that a striking two-thirds of the companies surveyed used tenure or position as their core criteria for downsizing.

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