UK Leadership Teams Have a Problem Discussing Race in The Workplace – The Equal Group aims to change that

@theequalgroup The Black Lives Matter Movement has exposed cracks in many businesses equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) approach and shone a light on the little progress being made on Race relations within the workplace across the UK. The Equal Group have designed and are delivering services to fill the gaps in companies’ EDI approach regarding the Race conversation.

In particular, The Equal Group have recognised that a number of organisations and their leaders (management teams, HR teams, EDI managers and diversity network leads) are not comfortable having conversations centred on race and the experiences of Black and minority staff in their companies.

The Equal Group are providing solutions such as:

• Sessions for staff focused on ensuring a common understanding of race issues in society and in the workplace.
• Open conversations, expertly facilitated, with a focus on highlighting real lived experiences and deepening a wider understanding of how race issues can manifest in the workplace.
• A focus on encouraging people to call out problematic behaviours and actively work on making sustainable changes that positively impact equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
• Facilitating one-on-one sessions to allow both leaders and staff to explore issues that may not be comfortable sharing in a group context. As well as providing coaching for leaders that want to feel more comfortable discussing race in the workplace.

“Having had some very frank conversations with clients and leaders in our network, we quickly realised that there was a certain lack of comfort in leaders and staff feeling equipped to have progressive ‘Race conversations’ within the workplace. We acknowledge that Race can oftentimes be a difficult subject to broach, but these conversations need to be had, now more than ever. As an organisation, we aim to make equality, diversity and inclusion as easy as possible for organisations – this includes facilitating Race conversations in a non-confrontational, safe and positive manner.” – Mac Alonge, CEO of The Equal Group

The Equal Group collaborated with CIPD Birmingham in June 2020 to deliver a high impact discussion on the role of HR in the Black Lives Matter movement. The session was designed to help individuals understand their role in keeping these conversations going and the role of HR in diversity and inclusion.