This is about my spouses company. I’m not even sure how the company thought this would go over well or that it would be ethical in any way. For the last 60 years this company has been in business they have an end of year award for each department at each location. They have about 20 locations. The awards are performance based so who ever did the most work/ completed the most projects/etc would get the award. This has been the basis of this award from the very beginning. Who ever gets the award gets a plaque, a hefty bonus and a gift(the gifts are usually week long for two all expense paid vacation to somewhere tropical).
This award is is to be announced next week. They just handed out a letter to every employee at every location saying “ given the recent events in society, to be more equitable we will be giving the award not based on work completion. This is to recognize all employees as equals”. When in reality it’s already been discussed, they are basing the award on a persons race, they just can’t put that on paper for obvious reasons.
My partner is quiet upset because he has been with the company 2 years and he had completed the most hours by a long shot this year. I’m talking he completed 2800 billable hours and the next closest for his department was 1900. So the person getting the award is a new person who has only been with the company for two months because that persons is a particular race.
I just don’t understand who thought it was a good idea to award people based on race which nobody can control instead of a persons work performance. I don’t even know what to tell my spouse on how to handle this cause I’m so taken aback at how unethical it is.