The hidden cost of discrimination at work in Africa
It is critical for successful businesses to hire top talent – but it is just as important to keep these employees happy after they are hired.
However, workplace discrimination can be a significant obstacle that holds you back from achieving this.
It is therefore vital for businesses to create a workplace where everyone feels they belong – not only for ethical reasons, but also for business performance and employee retention.
This is because discrimination is both a social issue and a business liability – one that quietly costs businesses big money.
These are the findings of ADP’s 2024 Global Workforce View survey, which shows that employees who feel discriminated against are significantly more likely to:
- Actively look for a new job
- Feel unproductive
- Be disengaged from their work
According to the survey, job hunting is significantly more common among workers who feel they’ve experienced discrimination (34%) than those who haven’t (14%).
Workers who feel discrimination are not only looking to move – they are also more likely to be unproductive while at your company.
For example: American and Canadian workers who felt discriminated against were 3.5 times less likely to describe their output as “high.”
Geography and demographics
Similar trends play out globally – including across African markets.
In fact, the survey found that the workers who felt the most discriminated against were in the Middle East and Africa.
A staggering 33% of workers in the MEA said they experienced it, with particularly high levels in Egypt (50%), the UAE (46%), and Saudi Arabia (44%).
However, there are signs that progress is being made.
For example, the percentage of workers in the UAE reporting discrimination dropped 20 percentage points between 2022 (66%) and 2024 (46%) – a grim number but a positive trend.
South Africa reported more positive numbers – but still with room for improvement – with 1 in 10 workers saying they face workplace discrimination.
When it came to demographics, the likelihood of people reporting discrimination wasn’t evenly spread across race, age, gender, or job level.
Here are a few key points that stood out:
- Ethnic or racial minorities in their local markets are more than twice as likely to report discrimination
- Younger workers feel it more acutely than older generations
- Executives are more likely to report it (26%) than entry-level staff (13%)
- Men (20%) report slightly more discrimination than women (17%) in the African region
These findings clearly show that workers are impacted not just by where they are, but by who they are within that space.
The way forward
The message is clear – workers who feel discriminated against are more likely to leave and less likely to perform.
Business success is therefore dependent on creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong.
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