Any form of discrimination on the part of the employer can affect an organisation’s credibility. Industry experts now warn that IT multinational firm Cisco Systems Inc. could suffer a similar hit in the case of alleged caste-based discrimination at its San Jose headquarters.
US regulators in California on Tuesday filed a case against Cisco accusing it of discrimination against an Indian-American dalit employee, who was allegedly harassed by his two senior upper-caste managers and later denied a raise and opportunities for advancement.
When contacted for comment, Cisco responded with their official statement by spokesman Robyn Blum, affirming the company’s commitment to an inclusive workplace and saying that they would vigorously defend itself in the lawsuit. “Cisco is committed to an inclusive workplace for all. We have robust processes to report and investigate concerns raised by employees, which were followed in this case dating back to 2016, and have determined we were fully in compliance with all laws as well as our own policies. Cisco will vigorously defend itself against the allegations made in this complaint.”
However, such discrimination by two of its senior mangers, if found to be true, could affect Cisco’s credibility as an inclusive workplace.
“This is more important than ever before because we live in a hyper-connected world. News of disgrace spreads like wildfire. These days companies with high attrition rates are called out in social media and thus find it hard to attract talent. Given this background, discrimination is a serious issue and needs to be eliminated by affirmative action,” says Aditya Narayan Mishra, director and CEO of CIEL HR Services.
Though such incidents are not new, they are usually rare as MNCs have strict HR policies and regulations against matters of discrimination, racism or sexual harassment. There is good reason for this: When such cases enter the public domain, they can significantly affect the brand’s image.
“It can definitely affect the brand image of the company in the eyes of its employees, customers and vendors. They might face problems in recruitment of good talent. The IT industry relies mainly on B2B business and it can really tarnish the image and credibility of the organization,” said Manoj Kandoth the CEO of the Bengaluru-based HR firm Urjja.
The complainant and his managers were based at Cisco’s San Jose headquarters in California in the US, which is reportedly primarily comprised of a South Asian workforce. Experts worry that top talent sensitive to such incidents, and it may severely impact the reputation of Cisco as a workplace.
“To see something like this happen is abhorrent and unacceptable in India, let alone in the US. We work with some of the best companies in the world and all clients, by far, have an equal-opportunity workplace with zero tolerance for discrimination,” remarked Vikram Ahuja the Co-Founder of Talent500.
On the other hand brand experts such as Harish Bijoor feels that claims of caste discrimination at Cisco seems a bit stretched out. “No, cases such as these, unless proven on merit will be seen to be frivolous in the technology industry which largely breathes on merit. It is not even air but just merit,” said Bijoor.
The case could end up changing corporate policies in the US in order to prevent caste-based discrimination.
“The unintended consequence of globalisation also is that discriminative social practices have migrated to foreign lands. The caste discrimination case against Cisco, not only bears the risk of establishing a precedent, but it also connects the legal rubric of one country with the discriminative social practices of another. Eventually, US firms are likely to establish corporate policies that obviate the prevalence of such practices, says Alok Shende of Ascentius Consulting.