Tackling racism should not be left to individuals
A recent TUC report argued that workplace racism should be treated as a health and safety issue. Occupational psychologist Christeen George, a member of the BPS’s Division of Occupational Psychology, agrees and argues that race equality practices need to be embedded throughout an organisation.
08 November 2022
By Guest
The TUC report, Still Rigged: Racism in the UK Labour Market 2022, surveyed Black and ethnic minority workers in the UK about some of their experiences at work. People were asked whether they had been racially harassed, attacked, or bullied, and whether they had been treated differently by their employer because of their race. This might involve being denied promotion, or access to training, or being unfairly disciplined. The research, believed to be the UK's largest ever study into the experiences of BME workers in the labour market, included online interviews with 1,750 BME workers in a UK-wide poll.
Nearly half of the workers in the sample reported experiencing racism at work in the last five years. These incidents left them feeling less confident at work, embarrassed, or more seriously had a negative impact on their mental health. The research was conducted in 2021 and also included a number of focus groups.
Throughout the TUC report, these workers are referred to as 'BME'. This is not a term that I tend to use as, in my opinion, it is fairly meaningless. As the report itself admits, whilst many of those included under the BME umbrella will most probably experience racism at work, these experiences will vary dependent on ethnic background and other aspects of their individual identity. Basically, all 'BME worker' means is that the worker is not white and maybe we need to be more honest in saying this rather than pretending that it represents a more meaningful category.
Surveys have shown that the vast majority of people do not know what BAME or BME means and the difficulty with lumping everybody under these banners is that any strategies developed to deal with the effects of racism at work will be pretty broad brush and will probably not be of much use to anybody.
Black and Asian people in the UK may have ancestry from many different places – the Asian category on its own is so diverse covering people including from the Indian sub-continent, China, Japan and Malaysia – and yet we are all individuals. Yes, there are structural inequalities in society that may affect all of us in this group in some way, but these ways are not identical. So the methods of dealing with them will be complex and need to be more tailored to individuals rather than to amorphous groups.
The TUC sample consisted of adults aged 18-64. They tended to be young, urban, and highly educated. The majority were under 45 years old and almost half (41 per cent) lived in London.
Some specific instances are reported but there was less focus on individual experiences than I had hoped for when I began reading the report. One example is given where a participant in the research is annoyed by the constant misspelling of their name. As someone whose name is constantly misspelt, I had some sympathy!
Another example was that of a female Asian worker who reported being treated differently by her manager, compared to her fellow white workers, including having her salary unfairly decreased. I was once criticised by my manager to my colleagues for slower delivery than them of some management statistics. My colleagues, both white men, pointed out that they only had one or two groups to provide statistics for, compared to the 10 I had, but my manager didn't consider this fact to be important. I did however make the deadline, probably at some cost to my own wellbeing.
The research literature also highlights the case of a Black professor who was mistaken as a caretaker, fitting in with the stereotype of Black people as being of a lower educational and social status. This is also something I have personally experienced, having been mistaken as a student many times by members of a new class or by those working in the library, or as an administrator by colleagues from other faculties.
More than a quarter of respondents in the TUC research reported being made to feel uncomfortable due to stereotyping or comments on their appearance. A similar number experienced racist jokes or banter and just over 1-in-5 people reported being bullied or harassed.
Although it is possible for individuals to challenge these instances of racist behaviour, this can be mentally draining for those experiencing it, especially if the behaviour is repeated. There are usually organisational guidelines for dealing with bullying and harassment and some of the participants in the study had reported these incidents through the appropriate channel, although the vast majority had not. Where incidents were reported, action was taken to prevent harassment in only 29 per cent of cases and in nearly a quarter, no action was taken.
I agree with the conclusions of the TUC report that workplace racism should be considered as a health and safety issue and as occupational psychologists we need to treat it as such. Racism has led people to take time off sick from their work (15 per cent in the TUC sample), or to leave their jobs due to the effects of racism on their emotional and mental wellbeing. Until the experiences of 'BME' workers are listened to, the structural and institutional barriers that exist for this group of workers will be perpetuated and may even be strengthened. We need to remember that racism in the workplace can determine 'who gets hired, trained, promoted, retained, demoted and dismissed' (TUC Report, 2022, p12) – all areas of occupational psychology expertise.
Thus, as occupational psychologists we should try to ensure that employers understand their duty to embed race equality practices throughout all aspects of their workplaces. Also in ensuring that everyone is treated with dignity and respect in the workplace, racism needs to become an organisational rather than an individual worker issue with managers being prepared to challenge racist behaviour.
However tackling racism in the workplace should not be restricted to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) interventions and initiatives. Rather there is a need to treat people as individuals. Every person at work needs to be considered as unique and not merely a member of a particular group – which is the essence of EDI.
We will have to wait and see, as to whether the actions and support needed to tackle racism at work are forthcoming.