Giving Notice: Why the Best and the Brightest Leave the Workplace and How You Can Help Them Stay

4.3. Corporate Costs: Ignoring the Problem

Regardless of how employees choose to deal with bias, it continues to eat into company profits. Even for those who try to put up with it at the office, such as Eric, the numbers continue to add up. Although he made no complaints at work, his personal health costs increased and his work productivity and commitment levels decreased.

In addition to the personal costs absorbed by the individual facing bias, my research has shown that a drop in productivity is almost always the result while someone is desperately trying to ignore a bad situation, work around it, or strategize how to avoid the individuals dispensing the inappropriate treatment. As reported in Chapter One, the annual cost to U.S. businesses ...