It shouldn't happen but it does.
Racial discrimination and xenophobia can occur in workplaces when people treat their colleagues and/or subordinates differently from others based on their ethnicity. It is thus experienced or witnessed by employees in different forms such as harassment, indirect and direct discrimination or victimization. Avoiding communication or contact, pretending not to understand, ignoring, staring, speaking loudly or patronisingly and showing distrust or suspicion are just some examples of ways in which South African employees sometimes unconsciously display xenophobia against their foreign employees. Meanwhile, other subtle forms of discrimination include the assignment of unskilled tasks that prevent a victim of discrimination from taking on greater responsibility and thus progressing in their career. Prejudice can also reveal itself in derogatory remarks that are disguised as jokes.
When only some people are reprimanded for things that others can get away with, or when the seniority of people of a certain race or nationality is not acknowledged, that is evidence of subtle racism and xenophobia
The way to deal with this is to address it head-on and state clearly that there is no place for subtle racism or xenophobia in the workplace. Employees should not laugh or participate in racial jokes. Rather, companies should encourage diversity and make it a point to educate their staff about different cultures to highlight the importance of understanding where other people come from. For example, in many black cultures, men are required to would walk through a doorway first in order to protect women from danger whereas in white culture, it is considered rude if the man goes ahead of the woman. Lastly, the workplace should be an environment where people can raise issues of subtle discrimination without feeling that there will be consequences for speaking up.
