What is racial equity in the workplace?
Racial equity in the workplace means there are no differences in how employees are treated based on race. Striving for racial equity is an effort to fix the racial inequities that exist so everyone has a better experience at work. To achieve racial equity, the systems, structures and methods that businesses use often have to change. Before a company can promote racial equity, it has to acknowledge that racism exists. It’s also important to understand that racism isn’t always loud, malicious acts but could be more subtle and based on ingrained ideas and preconceived notions that you don’t realize you have.
Why your company needs racial equity
Racism and racial biases are still a major problem in our country. High-profile cases like George Floyd and lower-profile news stories of people harassing strangers based on race bring attention to the issue. Taking steps to eliminate racial discrimination in the workplace can have a ripple effect in the community.
It’s also important for your current and future employees. Promoting racial equity creates a more inclusive, welcoming environment that embraces diversity. Everyone feels like they can contribute authentically, which helps you get the best out of all your employees. It can also help you keep your employees from different backgrounds so you maintain the rich diversity that makes yours a stronger company. As you improve racial equity, your company will gain a reputation as a supportive workplace, and you might find you get more diversity in your applications.
Racial equity can also help you better serve your customers from different backgrounds. When you’re aware of race equity, you can improve your products and services for people in those groups. You show them that they matter and give them a place where they can feel comfortable.
Ways to promote racial equity
Racial equity in the workplace isn’t a quick fix or something that happens after following a specific set of steps. It’s an ongoing effort that won’t be perfect, but making it a priority and continuing to work on it can make a big difference. Here are some ways to promote racial equity.
Learn about racism
It’s difficult to fight racial discrimination in the workplace if you don’t know the intricacies of how it works. Understanding the lived experience of people in marginalized groups makes it easier to spot the little things in the workplace that lead them to feel discriminated against. Study issues with race in the workplace through your own research or courses designed for business owners. Bring in an expert to educate your management staff on topics like unconscious bias. Once your management team has an understanding of racism in the workplace, find ways to educate employees, especially those who don’t experience racism.
Create a racial equity team
Having a dedicated team that works toward racial equity makes the initiative an ongoing one that gets the attention it deserves. Have a variety of employees on the team, including those who often experience discrimination, as well as employees from all ranks, from entry level to upper management. However, don’t force people of color to join the team. This can make them feel like you’re expecting them to solve the issue, or they might feel like they’re only selected because of their race, especially if you don’t ask for their feedback on other matters. Establish goals for the group to address and schedule regular meetings.
Decide what you want to change
Race equity efforts vary by workplace since the racial makeup, racial issues within the community, company culture and beliefs of the people working there are different. Your company might have different concerns regarding race in the workplace than a similar company in a different location or with a different mix of diverse individuals working there. Identify the concerns your employees from various backgrounds face and create a list of things you want to address within the company culture. Remember that you don’t have to fix everything at once, but identifying what you want to work on gives you direction to start taking action.
Have discussions about it
Be transparent about your race equity efforts to show your employees that you recognize the problem and want to make changes. Get all employees involved in the conversation—not just people of color or the employees involved with your racial equity team. You need input from your employees to help understand their experiences and identify the changes that need to be made.
Start at the top
Real change happens when your company’s leadership takes a strong stand against racism. You need your managers to be on board with promoting racial equity for your efforts to work. The leadership team sets the tone and has a major impact on the corporate culture. Having managers who enforce a zero-tolerance policy for racism can make a difference in how people are treated in the office. Managers also need to help create an inclusive environment where all employees feel like they belong.
Review your policies
Your company policies could be discriminatory without you realizing it. A common example is a policy regarding dress codes and grooming standards. Some strict policies may ban things like clothing, hairstyles and facial hair that are culturally or religiously significant to some of your employees. For example, the wording of your policy might create a ban on things like head coverings, facial hair, long hair on men and visible tattoos. While the intent might be to create a professional appearance for employees, it forces some employees to choose between complying with the policy and keeping their culturally significant features.
Review all of your company policies thoroughly to look for similar things that create discrimination or bias against a group of people. Get feedback from your employees on policies to help identify guidelines that have a racial or cultural bias. Reword or eliminate those policies to establish a more sensitive culture.
Improve recruitment and hiring
Recruitment and hiring is often a place where racial discrimination happens, whether hiring managers realize it or not. You might have an unconscious bias based on applicants’ names, or you might tend to be drawn toward people with similar backgrounds. Using programs to remove names and key information that could cause a bias can help.
Work to increase the diversity in your applicant pool. Promoting racial equity in the workplace can help with this. You might also recruit at colleges that traditionally serve underserved communities or work with organizations that focus on historically excluded groups. If you use recruitment agencies, work with ones that provide a diverse candidate pool.
Support underrepresented employees
Employees are more likely to stay with a company if they feel like they fit in and can be themselves. If your employees from other races and ethnicities feel like they have to change their personalities and behaviors to belong, they likely won’t stay long. They might not feel like they have supports in place that allow them to be successful or feel at home in the workplace.
One way to make employees feel more supported and like they belong is to have diversity throughout your ranks. If your leadership has diversity in it, your employees from different backgrounds have someone they can relate to in a high-ranking position. Those leaders can also serve as mentors, which helps people of color feel supported as they advance with your company.
Create an inclusive environment
Racial equity isn’t achieved by pretending race doesn’t exist. Sending the message that your company doesn’t see color often sends the message that you don’t care about the differences that make employees unique. Most people don’t want their race and culture to be ignored—they want to be accepted as they are.
You can help achieve this by creating an inclusive environment where your employees are free to be themselves. Employees should feel safe and comfortable enough to speak their minds and act how they do outside of work without being made fun of, punished or left out. Celebrating diversity and learning about the cultural and racial differences between colleagues can also help build relationships. When you talk about the differences openly, people feel more comfortable about the topic instead of avoiding it. This can help everyone come together, regardless of their backgrounds, because they have a better understanding of one another.
