An employer should be very concerned about discrimination. After all, this is not just a personal issue. In legal perspective, anyone who is caught discriminating individuals in whatever form can be held criminally liable. It is also not good for your business or even your own reputation as a person.

Getting rid of discrimination in the office is a tough job to take, especially in the employee-to-employee level. You can read the following tips to make this daunting task easier for you:

1. Provide clear-cut policies on discrimination.
Define “discrimination,” enumerate cases, and determine the best course of action should an employee discriminates someone. The retribution could be suspension, termination, or demotion. To make sure you don’t go overboard with the penalties, you can discuss your options with a lawyer or a labor expert.

2. Educate employees about the negative effects of discrimination.
Not all cases of discrimination are deliberate. It is possible both parties, the victim and the discriminator, are not fully aware of certain types of discrimination. You can lessen the possibilities of this incidence by coming up with seminars about the subject. You can also discuss to your employees the legal impediments of discriminating someone in the office.

3. Maintain an open-door policy.
Open-door policies can gap communication and hierarchal problems within an organization. As the boss, you should never prevent any person from approaching you whenever he or she has concerns. An open-door policy works very well if you have few employees. If you have plenty, however, consider having assemblies or allocate a certain time for you to hear out work-related grievances. This way, you can lessen the incidents of office discrimination.

4. Develop team-building activities.
Avoid awkwardness and allow individuals to get to know each other a lot better through team-building activities. These activities don’t have to be extravagant. In fact, they do not have to last the entire day. The most important thing here is your staff will end up more bonded with one another. More bonding time, less discrimination.

5. Resolve office conflicts immediately.
One of the leading causes of discrimination is the conflict among employees. Disagreements, arguments, and quarrels are pretty common especially if you have more than a hundred workers. When these things happen, resolve it at once. Don’t let the tension escalate. Be very attentive on any signs of conflict within your organization. You can reinforce the “open-door policy” mentioned above to encourage parties to speak out.

6. Investigate cases right away.
Those who feel discriminated will be in a worse situation if you don’t immediately act on their complaints. It does not matter if the grievances are small or serious. You need to investigate them before the employee gets disappointed and report you to the state.

When you probe, ensure that you can establish fairness and accuracy. Get as many facts as you can. Document every step you’ve made. Come up with a report, and do not forget to file the case. As the boss or the HR Manager, it’s your responsibility to do all these.