The recent uproar over “religious freedom” legislation in Indiana contains a number of lessons for today’s university students, starting with the wake-up call that equal opportunity and treatment are still not guaranteed for all in the United States. Gay customers can still be legally turned away in many places. Terminally ill patients can only request life-ending drugs in a few U.S. states. Disabled Americans and homeless people have great difficulty in being hired. What happens to “justice for all” when you’re “outside” the majority? Not enough, as I try to demonstrate in my law course, “Outsiders and the Law.” But millennials have the tools to change that.
As a group, millennials have technology skills and perspectives that can help find creative and cost-effective solutions to many problems. All it takes, often, is the proper motivation. Getting business students (as well as millennials already out there in the corporate world) to care about the legal woes of minorities requires tapping into their business-oriented lens. Here is how I try to spark a millennial corporate commitment to social justice issues:
Raise awareness of the remaining gaps.
Most students (unless they are a member of a minority group themselves) think that everything has been “fixed” for all minorities. Specific laws do exist that attempt to protect or to help many minority groups, but a number of U.S. laws have failed to ensure equal and fair treatment: despite the Equal Pay Act the gender wage gap still exists. Raising awareness of missing laws is also vital. Students often assume there are laws that do not exist, such as a federal law prohibiting workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Create a better sense of ‘what’s in this for me.’
Simply put, ignoring social justice issues costs corporate America a lot of money. For example, the Centers for Disease Control conservatively estimates that the annual cost of lost productivity in the U.S. workplace due to domestic violence is $728 million.
Provide accurate financial data.
Companies usually determine the value of an idea by its profitability or cost to the company. However, when the numbers used in these equations are incorrect, so is the projected impact on the bottom line. Example: Most companies believe that accommodating disabled employees is a hassle and is costly. However, the majority of workers with disabilities do not need any accommodations to perform their jobs, and, for those who do, the cost is usually minimal: 57 percent of accommodations cost absolutely nothing to make, while the rest typically cost only $500. Moreover, tax incentives are available to help employers cover the costs of accommodations, as well as modifications required to make their businesses accessible to persons with disabilities.
Compare this zero to $500 cost to the proven benefits of hiring disabled workers: Study after study has shown that employees with disabilities are more productive, dependable and loyal than their coworkers without disabilities, and that staff retention is 72 percent higher among persons with disabilities. That adds up to savings of millions of dollars every year in hiring and training costs. This is the same logic behind former governor Deval Patrick’s new initiative at Bain Consulting to raise funds to invest in socially conscious for-profit businesses.
Motivating students to support social justice becomes a win-win once students are aware of the remaining challenges, see that inertia continues to cost corporate America, and recognize opportunities to turn socially positive actions into increased profitability. Millennials are well-suited to see these connections and connect the dots.
Marianne DelPo Kulow is professor of Law and chair of the Department of Law, Taxation and Financial Planning at Bentley University. In addition to the Outsiders and the Law, she teaches a course on Gender and the Law. Her current research focuses on critiquing workplace legislation and suggesting legislative reforms to better achieve workplace equity.