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

6.1. Doing It the Wrong Way

Before you read about the right way to find and eradicate those barriers, you should be apprised of the wrong way to do it: First, tell all of your employees via a meeting, e-mail, or memo that you want to avoid litigation and you want a safe, bias-free workplace. Then require that anyone who experiences anything perceived to be bias in the workplace take concerns to a manager or human resources. Unfortunately, a person subjected to bias who does not follow this protocol, ironically, becomes the one violating the policy!

This is standard operating procedure, and it doesn't work. Sometimes a manager is the source of the problem. Even if that's not the case, complaining to your manager is rarely a good way to move up ...