Introduction: The relationship between employees and employers depends,among other things, on the level of consensus on what is perceived as fair orunfair in the workplace. When these perceptions are similar, a certainharmony results, but when there are appreciable differences, conflict mayfollow. Objective: To gauge the levels of difference in gender-baseddiscrimination perceived by managers and employees. Method: Informationwas gathered from 145 managers and 1 740 employees working for 29organisations, using the Fair Treatment at Work Survey and the Gender-Based Discrimination Questionnaire. This was a cross-sectional quantitativeresearch design. Results: Both managers and employees pointed to genderbaseddiscrimination as the primary source of discrimination in theworkplace, more so than race or ethnicity. When presented with a list of theconsequences of discrimination, managers and employees provided similarranking orders. Confronted with the question of whether males or femalesenjoyed more privileges at the appointment, promotion, training anddevelopment levels, or whether remuneration for both gender groups wasperceived as fair, managers and employees answered similarly. They agreedthat most gender-based discrimination occurs at the appointment andpromotion levels, and that less discrimination is experienced at the training,development and fair remuneration levels. They also concurred thatdiscrimination sometimes occurs in favour of males and on certain occasionsin favour of females. Conclusions: No real differences were found in theways in which both managers and employees viewed the levels ofdiscrimination in the workplace. The fact that gender-based discriminationwas the most frequently listed type of discrimination suggests that moreinterventions should be implemented for its elimination.
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