Racial equity in the workplace: how UK CEOs are championing anti-racism at work in 2022

There’s one unavoidable truth that business leaders need to face up to: the professional world is rigged for certain people to get ahead and for certain people to be left behind. Racial bias and racial inequity is a very real issue in most organisations in 2022. In fact, 79% of UK business leaders said achieving racial equity is a priority of their business in Jan 2022 research conducted by FLAIR.

But how do you get started? And how do you turn intent into action to maximise the return on your DE&I budget?

In this post, we take a look at four important programs that UK-based CEOs are supporting to advance racial equity in the workplace. Each represents big opportunities for you to overcome racial bias in your organisation and drive material change.

How to advance anti-racism in the workplace — 4 real-world examples

Example 1: Diverse leadership with Change the Race Ratio

Change the Race Ratio is a movement of senior leaders from across the business community, brought together by the determination to improve racial equity among senior leadership teams.

Founded by organisations including Deloitte, EY, and Unilever, this committee recognises the importance of having a diverse group of leaders to increase innovation, profitability and investment, as well as being an important influencer for moving the needle on racial equality in wider society.

And the movement is growing fast; achieving a milestone of 100 signatories in January 2022. By signing up, organisations are making serious commitments to improving the racial and ethnic diversity of their board and senior leadership.

How and why does it work? One word: accountability. Change the Race Ratio asks for concrete commitments. Signatories are expected to achieve diversity targets by a specified date, and also commit to transparency requirements and making cultural change as well.

Setting clear, specific and time-bound objectives means that signing up to Change the Race Ratio pays way more than lip service to anti-racist progress. It comes with a level of measurability that is key to driving change.

By focusing on FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies, Change the Race Ratio is acting as inspiration for smaller organisations, too.

You can sign up and commit to change via the website.

Example 2: Root Cause Analysis with FLAIR

Interventions are only ever as good as the data that drives them; if we don’t understand the root cause of a problem, we can’t address it appropriately.

That’s why over 75 organisations such as Premier League, Network Rail and British Red Cross have selected FLAIR’s racial equity technology to help them overcome racial bias in the workplace. By capturing the true employee experience at all levels of an organisation, FLAIR’s data insights evaluate racial bias across an organisation’s culture, tracking performance, benchmarking success, and helping organisations to take meaningful action towards racial equity.

FLAIR’s software collects data on an annual basis, with an algorithm in place to measure progress against four key pillars: racial awareness, racial diversity, racist behaviour and racial inclusion barriers. Without these metrics in place, it is difficult for an organisation to select the right solutions, know if the interventions they have implemented are working or to credibly report on progress.

“FLAIR’s solution goes beyond the usual equality and diversity surveys and takes the whole organisation on a journey towards a better, positive anti-racist workplace where everyone can be their true self.”
– Jane Caldwell, Chief Executive at Age UK East London

Working with influential organisations in sectors such as healthcare and education allows FLAIR to highlight some of the ingrained, systemic racial inequality in the workplace and within society. Responses to their work have been overwhelmingly positive, with clear pathways and expert recommendations provided by FLAIR on how to advance racial equity.

By providing a meaningful way for organisations to measure racial bias and understand the effectiveness of programmes, FLAIR’s analysis is a powerful driver for change across an organisation.

To find out how you measure racial bias at your organisation, get started today.

Example 3: Create more opportunities with 10,000 Black Interns

10,000 Black Interns aims to place 2000 young Black people into paid internships every year for the next 5 years.

To date, they have been joined by over 700+ companies across 24 sectors to offer 10,000 internships. NHS, Linklaters and PwC are among organisations pledging to cumulatively hire 10,000 black interns as part of the campaign.

Internships are often an essential route into a great job. However many placements are unpaid, which can disproportionately exclude underrepresented candidates. 10,000 Black Interns requires that all interns are paid at least the regional living wage and facilitates networking opportunities, training and work experience.

These opportunities will improve the career prospects of thousands of young people across the country—effectively looking to solve a root cause issue of racial inequity in the workplace before the representation gaps can appear. 10,000 Black Interns also provides training and support to enable these young people to create an outstanding CV, understand the application process and perform well in interviews.

Working with young people early in their careers allows 10,000 Black Interns to have a powerful anti-racism impact. By trying to level the playing field at the start of working life, each intern will have improved prospects. 10,000 Black Interns is helping to develop the leaders of the future—something we should all be grateful for and support.

Sign up to offer an internship here.

Example 4: Honest conversations during Race Equality Week

Race Equality Week (7th-13th February) is a national annual event organised by Race Equality Matters. Its aim is to inspire racial equity in the workplace and to create the impetus needed to drive positive change.

Business leaders and diversity teams receive support ahead of the event, with Race Equality Matters offering up ways to have honest and open conversations around race equity. But we, nor they can allow the energy to stop there.

It might be just one week in the calendar, but Race Equality Week is designed to be a catalyst for change 365 days a year—creating a point in time where people and organisations across the country get together to focus on racial equality helps to create a sense of urgency.

Companies will be encouraged to ask themselves what they are doing to make a change—or their staff and customers will ask the question of them. In either case, the anti-racist power of Race Equality Week lies in the momentum it creates.

Organisations getting involved with Race Equality Week include HS2, Islington Council and Network Rail.

Race Equality Week is from 7th-13th February 2022. Register for access to the event materials today.

Now is the time to act

Real change is within reach and these programs represent achievable pathways to advancing racial equity at your organisation. Creating real change in workplace racial equity means going beyond the typical pledges and promises—but with the right data, initiatives and tenacity, organisations can create work environments where all of their employees can thrive.

The momentum behind anti-racism is only going to grow. As the pressure for change continues to build, organisations that have made substantial progress are going to reap the rewards. Will you be one of them?

Get in touch with FLAIR to make sure that you’re on that list. Our people analytics software gives you the data and support you need to turn intention into action and advance racial equity.