Week 12, and continuing the racial discrimination theme, focusing more so on how workplaces can stop discrimination and how I dealt with my challenges.
Starting off, thanks to all of those who have sent personal messages of support, your words have certainly galvanised my thoughts that there are good people out there โ so thank you. โค๏ธ
Please do share your thoughts in the comments so we can empower others. โ๐ฝ
The workplace can be a challenging environment, especially when you are new to a company, it may be your first role and ultimately you are wanting to impress to pass your probation. Using my experience, I would now counter this though with the fact that your employer is lucky to have you, so the impressing should be two way.
Back to onboarding, multiple times I have seen there are intranet pages, HR policies, HR sessions and documents like encyclopaedias which push the โno to racismโ message.
So, what has my experience been like?
In all my roles I have suffered some form of racism, therefore my view on these policies is that they are generally just words, and we need to do more to โliveโ those policies. These policies should be reviewed to ensure that everyone is aligned to the end goal which is to remove any form of racism.
Another aspect that is key is that the policies must be handled with empathy and understanding. In the past when I have complained, my manager and HR have told me that โI am being too emotionalโโฆ how is this dealing with the issue? ๐ก
Rewind โฆ โฎ
Going back to my opening, I have seen good people who have stood up when they have seen racial discrimination also, and I want to re-emphasise that with more people who care like them we can make steps towards a better workplace.
Starting off with how I dealt with my challenges, I would firstly say that the worst thing that a person can do is ignore it. I did this when I was younger and it does not stop the comments, neither help your mental health.
What has worked for me is ๐ educating ๐ others, not in an aggressive way, but more so in a questioning form.
Using my travel to Eastern Europe, I personally started to educate people on why I have a beard and wear a turban. Would it have made a difference instantly? Most likely not, but if it meant that someone else did not encounter what I did, then that is a win! ๐
How can workplaces stop racism? ๐
- Educate and train all staff โ now I do not mean share a policy and tick a box to say it has been done. I mean, get members who have been racially discriminated to share how it made them feel and ask them what should be done?
- Understand the problem and gather constant data on if there is a problem โ do anonymous staff surveys, track ethnicity of staff who get disciplined, review ethnic make-up across teams and levels of seniority โ ethnicity pay gap, alongside the gender pay gap.
- Be accountable โ have a zero-discrimination policy, have clear communication, properly investigate claims in a fair and unbiased manner. Embed anti racism into your values, training, and actions.
- Listen to groups that may be discriminated against and create ways for staff to be heard.
- Appoint race champions who can speak up for underrepresented groups and flag issues that need addressing.
- Encourage and empower everyone to speak out against racial discrimination. Having a whistle-blower policy that promotes a culture of transparency and accountability can help.
Stereotyping ๐ณ๐พโโ๏ธ๐ณ๐พโโ๏ธ
For me, a lot of racism stems from stereotyping, I touched on this in the Christmas scenario last week.
The last example I will leave you with is when people thought me and my co-leader were the same person, yes it became a standing joke. It was funny at first, though looking back I was laughing with them to fit in, rather inside it made me feel victimised. Would I have dealt with it differently now, most likely yes!
Also, adding we both may have a beard and turban, but he was half a meter taller than me (*maybe an over exaggeration ๐ฆ), did not have my muscular physique ๐๐ฝโโ๏ธ and I wear glasses. Not to mention, I clearly told this person and they continued to do it again and againโฆ ๐คฆ๐ฝโโ๏ธ
Summary
As my ending statement, I want to say that we should all celebrate our differences and should accept that a diverse environment is key to success both in the workplace and our personal lives.
If we have grown up as children in a mixed environment and we all got on (in my case), why can we not do the same as we become adults.
Leaving you with a statement from Michelle Obama, which I thought nicely summarised my thoughts:
Race and racism is a reality that so many of us grow up learning to just deal with. But if we ever hope to move past it, it canโt just be on people of colour to deal with it. Itโs up to all of us โฆ to do the honest, uncomfortable work of rooting it out.