racism at work

In 2018, Pearn Kandola published groundbreaking research examining the experience of minorities in the workplace. This research revealed a shocking 60% of minorities had experienced racism in the workplace.

Whilst many had witnessed discriminatory acts, a significant proportion had taken no action. The main reason for this was that they feared the consequences of speaking up.

Since the original research, there has been a huge amount of attention being paid to racism in the workplace and the experience of minorities. But has this changed anything?

Join us for this podcast, where Professor Binna Kandola OBE:

• Presents the findings of our latest research into racism at work
• Reveals what has changed and what has not
• Provides practical recommendations for your organisation to take.

Find out more and download the Racism At Work Report (2021) on our website.

In this episode, Professor Binna Kandola OBE looks at the emotions raised when discussing race, the reactions to such discussions, and how we can go about perhaps having more meaningful dialogue in the future.

Find our more about how we work with organisations to foster inclusive cultures, recruitment and development here.

This season we will be examining race from a historical, statistical, behavioural, and psychological perspective. We hope that this will provide a wide-ranging exploration of how race and identity function at work, which in turn will help organisations to foster empathy, initiate meaningful conversations and understand race-based dialogue within the workplace.

The first episode of the series features audio from a talk delivered by Professor Binna Kandola OBE in October 2020 on ‘Why do we have to keep talking about the slave trade?’. In this episode Professor Kandola will be examining the topic of racial trauma; including how it is defined, the different ways that it manifests and the lasting impact that it has on people.

Find our more about how we work with organisations to foster inclusive cultures, recruitment and development here. 

You may have heard of ‘power posing’. You may have even tried the superwoman/man pose yourself before a big event. Join us for a deeper exploration of what we mean by ‘personal power’, where we explore how feeling powerful energises our thoughts and behaviour. Who has the power in most workplaces? Should these benefits be limited to those with structural or social power in the workplace? In this episode, Jonathan Taylor shares the implications from the latest academic research, how this can support Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) colleagues experiencing discrimination and exclusion, and how we can use this as part of a more holistic approach to Diversity and Inclusion.

Find our more about how we work with organisations to foster inclusive cultures, recruitment and development here.

We know that discrimination affects wellbeing and we know poor wellbeing can affect performance, but we often miss the link between these two. This coincides with a worrying increase in recent research that has found some real performance difference between various demographic groups at work. Are the two really disconnected? In this episode, Elizabeth Yardley explores the differential social experience of individuals from under-represented groups at work and how this social experience and its impact on wellbeing might be affecting performance without us realising.

Find our more about how we work with organisations to foster inclusive cultures, recruitment and development here.

To what extent do you feel a sense of ‘belonging’ at work? And where do these feelings come from? Our social experience at work has the potential to provide a psychological boost – energising our efforts, our self-belief and ability to perform at our best. But for many underrepresented colleagues, it can also feel isolating, eroding self-esteem and constraining potential. In this session, Jonathan Taylor explores the importance of social connection, belonging and shared identity at work, looking at how we can create a social environment that supports the health and performance of everyone, not just the few.

Find our more about how we work with organisations to foster inclusive cultures, recruitment and development here.

In this insightful first episode of the series, taken from a webinar we presented in August 2020, Professor Binna Kandola OBE addresses the impact on minorities’ wellbeing both of being on the receiving end of racist behaviour but also of having no voice to share and express their experiences. He looks at the impact this has on minorities’ self-confidence and self-esteem as well as considering issues such as imposter syndrome. He also offers practical actions that we can all take to counter these. ** there are some sensitive subjects discussed in this episode so please be cautious as they may be upsetting for some listeners.

Find our more about how we work with organisations to foster inclusive cultures, recruitment and development here.

Research that we conducted in 2020 into anti-Chinese racism found that since the outbreak of Covid-19, in the UK and US, there have been significant increases in people experiencing racism because of their ethnicity, with a huge increase of people witnessing it as well.

The interviewees we talked to were disappointed that they received such little support from others who had witnessed these incidents.

In this episode, Binna looks at the consequences of this discrimination, which is still happening,  but also looks at what organisations can do to help.

Find our more about how we work with organisations to foster inclusive cultures, recruitment and development here.

This third episode in the Racism at Work series is the audio from a webinar presented by Louise Weston in June 2020.

Micro-incivilities are ‘the kind of daily, commonplace behaviours or aspects of an environment which signal unwittingly to members of out-groups that they do not belong and are not welcome’.

Race based micro-incivilities are commonly experienced in workplaces across the UK so in this episode, Louise discusses how organisations and individuals can address these.

Find out more about our Micro-incivilities services. 

This second episode in our Racism at Work series is the audio from a webinar presented by Dr Nic Hammarling in June 2020.

We would all like to think that if we saw a colleague experiencing racism at work we would step in and stop it, right? Well, our research shows that in the vast majority of circumstances people do nothing, even when they know the behaviour is unacceptable.

In this episode, Nic explores what stops us from confronting and challenging racism, both in others and in ourselves. She also reviews the psychology of effective challenge, including some practical tools and guides on how to challenge racism and other forms of unacceptable behaviour so that by the end of the episode you will have identified several tactics that you can use to effectively challenge in the heat of the moment.

Find out more about our Active Bystander programmes.

You may think racism is a thing of the past but as Senior Partner Professor Binna Kandola OBE explains, ‘Racism has been likened to a virus that mutates, taking on different forms as it adapts to a changing environment. Its mutation is made harder to observe by it being deeply embedded, not only in our traditions and institutions, but also in our unconscious lives.’

This episode is the audio from a webinar presented by Binna in June 2020. Binna looks at the current thinking about why minorities were more likely to contract the virus and to die from it. He discusses the effect outbreaks have on xenophobia and racism more generally and critically, he looks at the potential impact these issues and concerns are having on minorities and also – what organisations can do about it.

Find our more about how we work with organisations to foster inclusive cultures, recruitment and development here.

To countdown to our Season 6 premiere on March 6, 2019, we're revisiting some of our favorite stories from earlier seasons. This week we're rewinding on "You're Not Worth It, But My Light Bill Is" from Season 4! After an inappropriate situation at work, Brea her asserts her right to be the Angry Black Woman.

This story is produced by Produced by Jarrod Sport. Music and scoring by Charlie Corpening and Deion Henderson.

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