Workplace Discrimination in TESCO

Workplace discrimination is a prejudicial behaviour among employees of an organisation. It is the unfavourable and biased treatment which occurs due to presence of various characteristics or factors. Tesco has been taken as company to assess gender based discriminatory practice at workplace. This report explains the effects and strategies for workplace discrimination.

Unit 11 – Research Project
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Executive Summary
Workplace discrimination is a prejudicial behaviour among employees of an
organisation. It is the unfavourable and biased treatment which occurs due to presence of various
characteristics or factors. Tesco has been taken as company to assess gender based
discriminatory practice at workplace. This report explains the effects and strategies for
workplace discrimination. Primary research in the from of questionnaire has been taken. It can be
interpreted from the result of primary research made above in the form of questionnaire that
employees are increasingly becoming aware of the concept of workplace discrimination and the
negative impact it has on company. It was assessed above that gender based discriminatory
practices are being observed in the Tesco company in the form of gender pay gaps i.e. women
worker are paid less for the same amount of work they do alike their male counterparts, they are
denied promotions and are treated less competent than their co-workers.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
TITLE: “ Workplace Discrimination in TESCO”...........................................................................4
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................5
Concept of workplace discrimination within Tesco...................................................................5
Challenges associated with the practise of gender discrimination in Tesco...............................6
Relevant strategies for reducing the negative consequences of gender discrimination in
company......................................................................................................................................7
Methodology and data collection.....................................................................................................8
Research approach......................................................................................................................9
Data analysis and interpretation.......................................................................................................9
Research Outcome.........................................................................................................................16
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................17
Reflection and recommendation....................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................20
Appendix 1:....................................................................................................................................21
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TITLE: “ Workplace Discrimination in TESCO”
Introduction
Workplace discrimination is a prejudicial behaviour among employees of an
organisation. It is the unfavourable and biased treatment which occurs due to presence of various
characteristics or factors. This include gender, caste, colour, religion, sexuality, maternity and
sexuality etc. Consequently, this leads to discrimination among employees with inclusion of
different treatment or less favourable treatment. Among this gender discrimination is one of the
major issue faced by employees in every other organisation. Gender discrimination is an act in
which employees are treated differently leading to prejudice on the basis of their gender. It leads
to prejudice in pay structure of an employee and on various opportunities given to them. This
may come in the form of compensation structure, biased in providing opportunities and treating
them unfavourably on the basis of their gender. It is an illegal practice which has been faced by
employees in a company (Bruce and et.al., 2015). For this laws are formulated which has to be
abide by every organisation in every country. This is one of the significant issue which has to be
addressed by law to ensure safety and security of employees. Employee discrimination is one of
the major issue which has various consequences on the success of a company majorly occurs on
the basis of gender. There are various examples which has been faced by women in an
organisation which directly affects their growth and survival. Furthermore, workplace
discrimination is one of the huge problem though its illegal or has various punishment under the
law. Mostly, companies are biased with their employees and practise gender discrimination
deliberately and vice versa. Thus, gender discrimination is a big problem in workplace which
affects the success as well as growth of employees. For example, it has been seen as women are
not welcome as men are in a company. They faces problems in hiring, promoting and being paid
less with providing lower position. They also faces problems in evaluation process and treated
differently by conforming to traditional beliefs of masculinity and femininity. Gender
discrimination has been a big issue in a workplace which has drastic consequences in employees
growth opportunities and success. Tesco is a market leader in the retail industry which is
operating in various countries across Asia and Europe. It has various shops in the form of
supermarket chains, hypermarket and convenience store dealing in groceries. It is headquartered
in London which is third largest retailer in the world. The main objective of this report is to
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address and evaluate aim of the topic. It includes various objectives of the study which is to be
assessed and interpreted in most effective manner. This report explains the effects and strategies
for workplace discrimination.
Aim:
“ To analyse the issues associated with gender based discrimination at workplace and
formation of relevant strategies to reduce its impact on organisational functioning”
Research Objectives:
 To analyse the concept of workplace discrimination.
 To evaluate challenges associated with practises of gender based discrimination.
 To formulate relevant strategies to reduce the negative consequences of gender based
discrimination on employee and organisational productivity.
Research Questions:
 What is the concept of workplace discrimination within Tesco ?
 What are the challenges associated with gender based discrimination in the company?
 What are the relevant strategies for reducing negative consequences of gender
discrimination on employee and organisational productivity?
Literature Review
A literature review is a part of research methodology in which facts and figures are
included for a specific topic (Drydakis, 2015). It is consist of various survey methods with the
study of secondary sources and methods on a specific domain. It is done to address existing
knowledge on a particular topic. Thus, literature review is the critical summary of all the existing
published works on a specific topic. It integrates with the summary of all the methods and
concept of the research topic. In the following literature review, there is explanation of
workplace discrimination on the reviews and opinions of different authors and writers. LR is a
secondary method which uses secondary information and work of others.
Concept of workplace discrimination within Tesco
Workplace discrimination is an act of biased behaviour among the employees of a
company. It leads to various allegations affecting the reputation and image of an organisation. It
is the unfavourable treatment among the employees with different genders. Tesco being one of
the largest retail company employing large number of staff. It has been alleged by the employees
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of company that Tesco is paying lesser to its female staff than their male counterparts. Tesco has
large number of female employees working within the stores are paid less than the workers
working in the warehouses and distribution centres. This leads to a major issue of unequal pay
for comparable roles and job performed by the workers for achieving various objectives.
Unequal pay is one of the major issue faced by the company affecting the performance of
workers. Thus, workplace discrimination on the basis of gender leads to various problems among
the workers. It leads to a persistent gap between the women and men in accordance to accessing
of opportunities and decision-making process (Kingston, McGinnity and O’Connell, 2015).
Challenges associated with the practise of gender discrimination in Tesco
Company has been facing various challenges due to the practice of gender discrimination
in pay structure. Practice of gender discrimination is a lawful offence under the eyes of law
leading to various consequences. Company faces various challenges which affects the workers
performances and satisfaction level. Following are the challenges faced by the company from
gender discrimination:
 Women facing unequal pay structure- Tesco is facing major problems in the pay gap
between men and women workers in various comparable job structures. Women are
treated less favourably in compensation leading to lower satisfaction from workplace.
Under pay is a major issue faced by the company which affects the overall performance
of women in overall contribution.
 Lack of women participation in decision-making- Women are treated less favourably
in comparison to men. This leads to less participation by the women workers in the
company. They are considered less competent than men which affects their participation
in decision-making process and other major issues.
 Women facing problems in the growth opportunities- Tesco is facing a big challenge
in the growth opportunities available for women. It is evident from the allegation from
tesco action that it has been treating women partially when it comes to pay structure.
They are biased with women in providing higher level position and trainings which leads
to various career growth opportunities.
 Ineffective performance- This is one of the major problem faced by the company due to
their gender based discrimination towards women. It hampers the overall growth
opportunities and workers performance in the company. Thus, it affects the growth and
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success of company due to presence of unbiased behaviour towards women. Tesco faces
a big challenge in the growth and success opportunities available due to building of
negative image in the market.
 Lower profitability- Company faces a big challenge in overcoming various allegation
towards women empowerment and equal opportunities. It has faced various issues in the
performance of employees which hampers the productivity level and sales of company.
Legal issues reduces the goodwill leading to bad image in public. This leads to major
consequences which affect the profitability of the company.
Relevant strategies for reducing the negative consequences of gender discrimination in company
There are various alternatives which can help in combating the negative consequences of
gender discrimination in Tesco. Company can formulate modified and new policies which can
help in reducing the negative consequences of gender based discrimination. It is done with
inclusion of various issues faced by employees such as lower pay scale, less opportunities foe
career development and equal participation in decision-making process etc. (Pulido and et.al.,
2018) This leads to betterment of women in various areas which helps in empowering them.
Following are the strategies which helps in reducing the problem of gender discrimination-
 Tesco must develop new strategies which is focused on the redress al of various issues
faced by women workers. It is suggested to implement new policies which can improve
the work satisfaction of women from company.
 It is suggested to implement new policies for the welfare of women which includes equal
job security and safety from harassments. Women workers faces various types of
harassments such as verbal and non verbal harassments, sexual harassment and harsh
evaluation on the basis of gender discrimination.
 Tesco is facing various allegation in underpay structures towards women. This affects the
performance of female workers due to less motivation and lower morale due to injustice
and biased behaviour.
 Company needs to develop various women based strategies and policies which helps in
structuring of needs with fulfilment of various areas. It is regarded as one of the major
problem which helps in fulfilment of various issues faced by women in the company. It
includes more training and development opportunities to female workers, equal pay
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structure to all the employees with comparable jobs, equal treatment in the growth
opportunities available to both of them etc.
Methodology and data collection
Research methodology is refer to as a technique or procedure to identify all perspective,
evaluate them and select suitable information for specific research. In a research, methodology
provide information to their readers that the study is quite reliable and appropriate according to
topic (Rafferty, 2020). Basically it is a systematic medium to solve a research problem by
collecting information through various techniques, explain whole data and prepare conclusion of
research report, it is a framework of research which is conduct by researcher to resolve problems
of project. There are some approaches are available of research such as quantitative and
qualitative. Some time mixture of these approaches can be used by researcher. Primary and
secondary research are following :
Primary research- Primary research is conduct by researcher directly rather than depend
on that data which is collected by other researcher previously. Primary research is carried out
when depth analysis is required to find our some certain problems. Researchers own that data
because it is collected by them first time. It needs high investment and technology requirement
to collect data first time from various source. There are various way to collect data such as
interviews which can either telephonic or face to face interview, online survivals, focus group,
observation and questionnaire etc.
Secondary research- Secondary research involves using that information which is
already exist or formally researched by another researcher to solve some specific problems. It
can be summarised and collected by researchers from various sources such as data which is
available on internet, libraries, newspaper and from educational institutions etc. It is tested data
which is used, filtered and analysed before. This data may be relative with researcher or not,
researcher have to do some modifications according their requirement. Opposite to primary data,
it is quickly available at low cost and generates more understanding.
These two data collection methods are used as appropriate data for research on a
particular topic. Data collection is vital part for conducting research and finding appropriate
alternatives which helps in resolving problems.
Questionnaire – It is a primary research tool which consists of open and close ended
questions that are to be answered by participants of the research survey. Responses from these
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participants forms the basis for research conclusion and interpretation. 50 respondents were
chosen to fill out these questionnaire on the basis of which research outcome have been
determined and interpreted.
Research approach
It is the process which is used for illustrating various methods used for data collection,
analysis and interpretation is called as research approach. There are different types of research
approaches which are used in finding relevant information by the researcher (Yi and et.al., 2015).
These are inductive and deductive which helps in collecting insights for a particular research
topic. In inductive approach new things are introduced such as ideas, models and theories which
helps in authentic information requires for completing research. Whereas, deductive is opposite
of inductive which is used for finding secondary data which includes existing models and tools
for completing research.
Data analysis and interpretation
Data analysis
QUESTIONNAIRE
Ques. 1) Are you aware of the concept of workplace discrimination? Frequency
 Yes 40
 No 10
Ques. 2) What are the most common source of discrimination at
workplace?
Frequency
 On the basis of gender 28
 On the basis of age 7
 On the basis of disabilities 10
Ques. 3) Have you experienced gender based discrimination at Tesco? Frequency
 Yes 32
 No 18
Ques. 4) What are the common gender based discriminatory practises at Frequency
9

Tesco?
 Compensation less than a man doing same job 22
 Treated as if less competent than other gender 9
 Been denied a promotion 12
 Other gender based misconduct like sexual harassment or assault 7
Ques. 5) Do you think gender based discrimination have negative impact
on company?
Frequency
 Agree 38
 Disagree 12
Ques. 6) What are the negative impacts of gender based discrimination on
company?
Frequency
 Lost Productivity and damaged morale 11
 Increased workplace conflict 8
 High employee turnover 11
 Increased legal issues 20
Ques. 7) Best practises to improve the situation Frequency
 Strict equal pay policies 18
 Strict and effective policies against harassment and workplace offences 11
 Creating an open minded atmosphere in the company 6
 Reshape HR practices at both lower and higher level of management 15
Ques. 8) Provide recommendations for eliminating gender based
discriminations in the company, if any ?
Data interpretation
Theme 1: Concept of workplace discrimination
Ques. 1) Are you aware of the concept of workplace discrimination? Frequency
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 Yes 40
 No 10
Interpretation: From the above results, it can be assessed that workplace discrimination is a
reality in the workplaces. Discrimination refers to any practise in the organisation that is based
on prejudices (Allen, 2019). 40 respondents chose that they are aware of the concept behind the
term workplace discrimination. These people might be either those who have faced
discrimination at their workplace or have observed their colleagues and acquaintances
experience it. Out of the 50 respondents, rest 10 respondents were those who were not aware of
discriminations at workplaces.
Theme 2: Sources of workplace discrimination
Ques. 2) What are the most common source of discrimination at workplace? Frequency
 On the basis of gender 28
 On the basis of age 7
 On the basis of disabilities 10
 On the basis of favouritism 5
11
Yes No
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
40
10
Ques. 1

Interpretation: Above result are based on the distribution of various sources of discriminatory
practises that are observed in the organisation. It can be interpreted that gender based
discrimination is the most frequent in the organisation as 28 out of 50 respondents choose it as
most common source of discrimination followed by disabilities based. This also shows that all
the above-mentioned types of discrimination are in practice in organisation.
Theme 3: Experience of gender based workplace discrimination at Tesco
Ques. 3) Have you experienced gender based discrimination at Tesco? Frequency
 Yes 32
 No 18
12
28
7
10
5
Gender based
Age based
Disabilities based
Favouritism based

Interpretation: This question was to determine the percentage of people who have experienced
gender based discrimination at their workplace in Tesco. From the above result, it can be
analysed that around 32 respondents out of 50 chose the option that they have experienced
gender based discrimination at Tesco which could be in either form of pay gaps, sexual
harassment, being denied promotion, etc. (Dharmawardhane and Navaratne, 2019)
Theme 4: Varied discriminatory practices practised at the Tesco
Ques. 4) What are the common gender based discriminatory practises at
Tesco?
Frequency
 Compensation less than a man doing same job 22
 Treated as if less competent than other gender 9
 Been denied a promotion 12
 Other gender based misconduct like sexual harassment or assault 7
13
Yes No
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35 32
18
Ques. 3

Interpretation: This question was aimed at assessing varied discriminatory practices that have
either been experienced or observed by the respondents. 22 out of 50 respondents chose that they
have experienced pay gaps based on gender, followed by denial of promotion. This shows that
there are cases at Tesco where women are paid less for the amount of hard work put by them at
par with their male co-worker. They also face bias against being promoted at senior positions in
the company.
Theme 5: Impact of gender based discrimination at workplace
Ques. 5) Do you think gender based discrimination have negative impact
on company?
Frequency
 Agree 38
 Disagree 12
14
22
9
12
7
Pay gap
Treated less competent
Denied promotion
Sexual harassment or
assault

Interpretation: This question was to analyse whether respondents were aware that gender based
discrimination lays negative impact on the company. It can be impact on reputation of the
company, profitability of the company or on the work-culture of the company (Plickert and
Sterling, 2017). Results showed that 38 out of 50 respondents were aware of the negative
impacts that these discrimination bring to the company.
Theme 6: Possible impacts of gender based discrimination at workplace
Ques. 6) What are the negative impacts of gender based discrimination on
company?
Frequency
 Lost Productivity and damaged morale 11
 Increased workplace conflict 8
 High employee turnover 11
 Increased legal issues 20
15
Agree Disagree
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
38
12
Ques. 5

Interpretation: This question was to assess the nature of impact that gender based
discrimination bring to the company. 20 respondents chose that it increases legal hassles for the
company as aggrieved employees turn to court to get compensation which results in financial
liabilities for the company. 11 respondents chose that it results in damaged morale of the
employees which further results in reduced productivity of the company. 11 respondents chose
that it results in high employee turnover which again brings financial and work culture
implications for the company.
Theme 7: Possible remedies to improve the remove gender based discrimination at workplace
Ques. 7) Best practises to improve the situation Frequency
 Strict equal pay policies 18
 Strict and effective policies against harassment and workplace offences 11
 Creating an open minded atmosphere in the company 6
 Reshape HR practices at both lower and higher level of management 15
16
11
8
11
20 Lost productivity and
damaged morale
Increased workplace
conflict
High Employee turnover
Increased legal issues

Interpretation: This question was to determine the possible solutions to eliminate gender based
discrimination in the company. As analysed earlier, company has to face both financial, legal,
ethical and operational implications due to gender based discriminatory practises. Therefore, it is
very important to formulate and adopt strict policies that can lead to improvement in the work-
culture of the company. In the findings of this question, 18 respondents chose that company
should adopt strict equal pay practises and 15 respondents chose that company needs to reshape
its HR practices to be more gender neutral. Respondents were also concerned that it needs to
adopt more strict policies against harassment and create an atmosphere where there is no
discrimination, harassment, prejudice or bias against employee on the basis of gender.
Research Outcome
It can be interpreted from the result of primary research made above in the form of
questionnaire that employees are increasingly becoming aware of the concept of workplace
discrimination and the negative impact it has on company. It was assessed above that gender
based discriminatory practices are being observed in the Tesco company in the form of gender
pay gaps i.e. women worker are paid less for the same amount of work they do alike their male
counterparts, they are denied promotions and are treated less competent than their co-workers
(Griffin, Bayl-Smith and Barbour, 2017). They also have to face various harassment including of
sexual nature which results in many legal litigations against the company. In such cases, courts
are likely to decide against company resulting in financial as well as reputation loss for the
company. It also have other impacts for the company such as high employee turnover, reduced
17
18
11 6
15
Strict equal pay policies
Strict policies against
harassment
Creating an open minded
atmosphere
Reshape HR practices

morale of the existing workforce and productivity of the company, etc. It was also determined
for the research that respondents believe strict adoption and application of policies related to
equal pay and anti-harassment are the best sources to reduce and eliminate negative impact
brought on the company by gender based discriminatory practises.
Conclusion
Report above is aimed at analysing concept of workplace discrimination and the specific
challenges raised by gender based discrimination practiced in a workplace. It can be elucidated
from above that discrimination at workplace is any act which is based on some pre-conceived
notion or prejudices. It can be either age based wherein discrimination is made against elderly
employees or disabilities based where disabled employees are maltreated. It can also be either
gender based or any other discriminatory form such as favouritism based where employees
promote those employees who are their favourites. Such discrimination promotes negative power
politics in the company and spoils office-culture. Gender based discrimination refers to those
discriminatory practices where employees of one gender are singled out and discriminated in
work, pay, promotion, etc. (Kite and Whitley, 2016) In the research, it was observed that in a
company, employee faces various challenges related to gender based discrimination such as they
are not seriously considered for job especially for higher positions, they are not paid same
amount of money for the same amount of work they do alike their other gender co-workers, they
are discriminated against while being promoted for senior positions as well as they have to face
multiple types of harassments including sexual harassment to stay at their position. Research
results inferred that these discriminatory practises have so many negative implications on the
company such as it results in company engaged in so many legal cases and to fight out in court, it
needs to suffer financial as well as reputation loss. It also results in damage of morale of the
employees which force reduction of company productivity which has dual loss for the company
– one of profitability and other of company culture, both of which are capable of having
significant impact on the longevity of the company. Further, it was concluded that it is important
for company to adopt such practices that can curb these discriminatory practices. All the
companies adopt such policies and it is recommended to them to adopt and review their
application strictly.
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Reflection and recommendation
Reflection
This research was aimed at analysing various issues that are associated with gender based
discrimination at workplace and strategies that should be adopted to reduce its impact on
organisational functioning. It had objectives to analyse the concept of workplace discrimination
and the relevant challenges that are associated with practises of gender based discrimination.
Further objective was to determine relevant strategies to reduce the negative impact. Both
primary and secondary data was taken into consideration. Various literatures were taken to
assess, analyse and determine the impacts and conclusions of the research topic. It was taken
care of, that only verified sources are referred. Since, the research was to analyse the issue,
primary data was given primary importance. Questionnaire was designed with all the relevant
questions that were necessary to determine appropriate research result. Respondents were
carefully chosen and had filled out questionnaire with all due sincerity and integrity. Other than
questionnaire, direct interview method can also be chosen however, then sample size had to be
shortened to avoid escalating further time and cost of this research.
Recommendations
It can be deduced from the above study that a gender based discriminatory practices have
negative implications over the operational functioning of the company. Below mentioned are
some recommendations that it can implement to improve its operations:
 It is recommended to Tesco Plc to revise its policies such as pay policy and anti-
harassment policies in accordance with the suitable legislations applicable on it. HR
managers should see that these revised polices are being adopted and implemented
strictly. Also, implementation needs to be periodically reviewed to be assured of its
relative effectiveness.
 Anonymous drop-box facility must be provided so that employees can put out their
grievances of all sorts in it without fearing that they'll be harassed if their identity comes
out. These grievances must be addressed properly and should be directly handled under
the supervision of some senior official. This would save company from many legal
hassles and also its employee turnover would reduce (Ozturk and Tatli, 2016).
 Company should organise training on gender sensitisation and equalisation for its
employees as part of their induction and orientation. Also, it should organise for
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interactions among employees which will reduce friction among them and will improve
organisational culture of the company. Not being at the receiving end of prejudice will
boost morale of the employee and will help company achieve better productivity and
enhanced profitability.
20

References
Books and Journal
Allen, E., 2019. Perceived discrimination and health: Paradigms and prospects. Sociology
Compass. 13(8). p.e12720.
Bruce, A.N. and et.al., 2015. Perceptions of gender-based discrimination during surgical training
and practice. Medical education online. 20(1). p.25923.
Dharmawardhane, I.M. and Navaratne, N.N.J., 2019. Gender Discrimination against Female
Managers and Professionals in Sri Lankan Private Sector. Asian Business Review. 9(2).
pp.57-64.
Drydakis, N., 2015. Sexual orientation discrimination in the United Kingdom’s labour market: A
field experiment. Human Relations. 68(11). pp.1769-1796.
Griffin, B., Bayl-Smith, P. and Barbour, J.P., 2017. Age discrimination and older workers.
Kingston, G., McGinnity, F. and O’Connell, P.J., 2015. Discrimination in the labour market:
nationality, ethnicity and the recession. Work, employment and society. 29(2). pp.213-
232.
Kite, M.E. and Whitley Jr, B.E., 2016. Psychology of prejudice and discrimination. Psychology
Press.
Ozturk, M.B. and Tatli, A., 2016. Gender identity inclusion in the workplace: broadening
diversity management research and practice through the case of transgender employees
in the UK. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 27(8). pp.781-
802.
Plickert, G. and Sterling, J., 2017. Gender still matters: Effects of workplace discrimination on
employment schedules of young professionals. Laws. 6(4). p.28.
Pulido, D. and et.al., 2018. The influence of personality traits on gender differences in perceived
workplace discrimination.
Rafferty, A., 2020. Skill underutilization and under-skilling in europe: The role of workplace
discrimination. Work, Employment and Society. 34(2). pp.317-335.
Yi, X. and et.al., 2015. Variation in career and workplace attitudes by generation, gender, and
culture differences in career perceptions in the United States and China. Employee
Relations.
Online
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Appendix 1:
QUESTIONNAIRE
Name:
Age:
Gender:
email:
Ques. 1) Are you aware of the concept of workplace discrimination?
 Yes
 No
Ques. 2) What are the most common source of discrimination at workplace?
 On the basis of gender
 On the basis of age
 On the basis of disabilities
 On the basis of favouritism
Ques. 3) Have you experienced gender based discrimination at Tesco?
 Yes
 No
Ques. 4) What are the common gender based discriminatory practises at Tesco?
 Compensation less than a woman/man doing same job
 Treated as if less competent than other gender
 Been denied a promotion
 Other gender based misconduct like sexual harassment or assault
Ques. 5) Do you think gender based discrimination have negative impact on company?
 Agree
 Disagree
Ques. 6) What are the negative impacts of gender based discrimination on company?
 Lost Productivity and damaged morale
 Increased workplace conflict
 High employee turnover
22

 Increased legal issues
Ques. 7) Best practises to improve the situation?
 Strict equal pay policies
 Strict and effective policies against harassment and workplace offences
 Creating an open minded atmosphere in the company
 Reshape HR practices at both lower and higher level of management
Ques. 8) Provide recommendation for eliminating gender based discriminations in the
company.
23