While race relations have improved in UK offices, there is still a long long way to go before we can begin entertaining the idea of completely stamping out racist behaviour in the workplace.
So how can you combat racism in the workplace?
Through government backed research, we know that black and ethnic minority people are at a disadvantage in the workplace. The employment rate for ethnic minority workers is only just above 60% compared to white workers which is at far stronger 75%.
Discrimination and unconscious biased racism negatively impacts on staff morale, productivity and employee health. There are however ways that we can help to stamp out racial discrimination in the workplace…
1 – Recruitment
A popular program choice is to increase the range of job boards that recruitment vacancies are posted to for a more diverse and qualified applicant pool.
2 – Training
This is where Skills4 really come into play with our ‘Unconscious Bias’ Training Workshops. If your business has a recognised issue with racism in the workplace or its hiring policy then our training program can work through the options and various programs that you can work to improve the situation.
3 – Company Policy
Developing a written policy to help reduce racism in the workplace and enforcing a strict tolerance on offenders. A companies policies ensure that the businesses values and philosophies can be balanced with good social responsibility.
4 – Awareness
Racism in the workplace can result simply because of a lack of exposure and knowledge of diverse population groups. Your staff may have been making racist comments without even knowing it which can obviously cause great offence to co-workers. Creating a workplace strategy to help promote workplace diversity is a powerful and effective way of improving racism attitudes in the workplace.
5 – Behaviour
Lead by example. The leaders of the company can demonstrate disapproval for discriminatory treatment whilst upper management employees can set a behavioural tone for employees to follow.
More Information
These are just five of the steps that can be taken in tackling racism at work. If you would like to know more about how Skills4 can help your company better structure itself and reduce its unconscious bias then please contact us today.
To find out more about our range of coaching and training sessions, please click here.