This week EVCOM have added our signature to the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter. Ethnic minorities face significant disparities in employment and progression in, and this is something we need to change. The Charter is composed of five calls to action for leaders and organisations across all sectors.
The five calls to action are as follows:
- Appoint an Executive Sponsor for race
Executive Sponsors for race provide visible leadership on race and ethnicity in their organisation and can drive actions such as setting targets for ethnic minority representation, briefing recruitment agencies and supporting mentoring and sponsorship.
- Capture ethnicity data and publicise progress
Capturing ethnicity data is important for establishing a baseline and measuring progress. It is a crucial step towards an organisation reporting on ethnicity pay differentials.
- Commit at board level to zero tolerance of harassment and bullying
The Race at Work Survey revealed that 25 per cent of ethnic minority employees reported that they had witnessed or experienced racial harassment or bullying from managers. Commitment from the top is needed to achieve change.
- Make clear that supporting equality in the workplace is the responsibility of all leaders and managers
Actions can include ensuring that performance objectives for leaders and managers cover their responsibilities to support fairness for all staff.
- Take action that supports ethnic minority career progression
Actions can include embedding mentoring, reverse mentoring and sponsorship in their organisations.
We will holding ourselves accountable across these five calls to action, taking practical steps to ensure our workplace and the workplaces of our members tackle barriers that ethnic minority people face in recruitment and progression. We want to work towards an organisation and a membership that is representative of the diversity of British society today. We will be reporting our progress back to the organisation in the coming months, ensuring we are kept accountable for our commitment to anti-racism.
