Tackling racial discrimination in the workplace

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Tackling racial discrimination in the workplace

• Nicola Power Verity Lewis

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Research into working lives experiences of black
British nurses by the Working Lives Research
Institute key findings

• Stereotypical assumptions has categorised BME
  nurses as not having the potential to achieve
  supervisor or manager status. Consequently, black
  nurses have found it more difficult to achieve
  promotion and many have been actively discouraged
  from seeking it.
• Participants strongly believed that procedures
  for promotion were more rigorously applied to
  black nurses than to white nurses and that there
  is a lack of transparency in how promotion takes
  place.
• Examples were provided of appraisals not being
  carried out for black nurses or of white staff
  being more likely to be appraised regularly.
• The working lives of the majority of the nurses
  that participated in this study had, to one
  degree or another, been structured by racism
  most significantly racist stereotyping by
  colleagues and the public and institutionalised
  racism meaning that work cultures, particularly
  relations with colleagues and managers, operated
  to exclude them.

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Workshop held on 16th May

• To present the WLRI research
• To build ownership internally and externally
• Develop support for carrying forward co-ordinated
  activities UK wide.
• Demonstrate to the research participants and the
  wider BME membership that the RCN is interested
  in their experiences, is prepared to take action
  on their behalf and support ways of increasing
  BME activism in the RCN.
• So members could help develop the priorities for
  action.
• And ensure that the work that is taken forward is
  relevant and is membership driven.

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10 priorities for action

1. The RCN must put its own house in order in
   representing diversity in its staff internally
2. Conduct equality impact assessments internally
   and externally with health care employers
3. Host an international event at Congress
4. Improve the profile of BME activism in
   organisations
5. Guide BME members on how they can become more
   active in the RCN
6. Formalise the role of diversity champions as
   equality representatives
7. The RCN must make a strong, zero tolerance
   statement about racial discrimination in the
   workplace
8. Review the RCN image, in order to appeal to a
   cross-section of the community
9. Profile a 21st century icon
10. Better collaborative working with other
    organisations, such as Unison, NMC

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The actions points fall mainly into three
different categories

• Internally focused actions which relate mainly to
  HRs domain
• Actions relating to the RCN brand which relate to
  the marketing and communications and member
  recruitment functions
• Actions relating to membership structures and
  access to the decision making processes which
  relate to the work of governance support and
  legal.

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Projects objectives and outcomes

• to assist the RCN to better support, represent
  and communicate effectively with its members
• so that the RCN is perceived as the
  union/professional organisation of choice for all
  nurses and healthcare assistants irrespective of
  ethnicity
• that existing BME members are encouraged,
  supported and motivated to engage in activism in
  the RCN in greater numbers
• that Asian members are encouraged and supported
  to become representatives, as this group is
  particularly underrepresented in activism. (see
  slide)
• this project will create a ground swell of BME
  members becoming active in geographic areas which
  currently have none or very few BME activists,
  which can then be sustained and further developed.

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Profile of activists and members by ethnicity
Confidential information not for circulation
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Projects objectives and outcomes continued

• BME members will be empowered in their working
  lives and that they will have a sense of being
  better supported by the RCN.
• the outputs from this project will support and
  encourage all RCN activists and members to be
  more confident in addressing racial
  discrimination in the workplace.
• it will result in an increase in the RCNs
  membership in proportion to the increasing
  diversity of the nursing workforce. In particular
  that more HCAs will become members and activists.
  
• having more BME activists will help the RCN to
  better support BME members, empower themselves as
  well as change the prevailing culture.
• this project will help to influence the managers
  of the future to address racial discrimination
  and actively promote diversity and equality in
  the workplace.

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Monitoring Evaluation

• a review of membership and activist data in 2010
  to see if the profile has improved
• a new membership survey in 2009 will allow
  comparison with previous years
• further qualitative research with BME members to
  find out if the work has had a positive impact
• qualitative work with activists to assess their
  confidence and perceived knowledge and skills in
  addressing racism in the workplace

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Support/Action from MRDC

• Attend on 23rd October if possible
• Advice and support for staff involved in working
  on any of the action points
• Awareness raising and support for the project
  across the organisation and membership