Legal requirements are not the only reason arts organisations should be ensuring they operate effective race equality policies. Pam Henderson explains.
The Race Relations Act was 30 years old in November last year. This Act made it illegal to treat a person less favourably than others on racial grounds - meaning race, colour, nationality, or ethnic or national origins. One of the key areas where the Act was meant to have a significant impact was in employment. So, how are we doing?
The Guardian (9 November 2006) reported that "the racial gap in employment will take 45 years to close", based on figures from the Office for National Statistics. This is to say that a young Black job seeker will be facing retirement by the time she experiences the same prospects as her white counterpart. The positive gloss on this story was that, not so long ago, the gap was predicted to take 100 years or more, so we should be jolly grateful that it has narrowed to two generations.
Also out last year was research from pollsters MORI for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which showed that Black and minority ethnic (BME) employees experience 50% more bullying or harassment at work than their white colleagues. On balance, the answer to my question 'How are we doing?' would seem to be 'inexcusably badly.'
Business sense
Racial equality in employment is essential. It is not about political correctness; it is more than merely complying with the law. It is about making sure your organisation takes advantage of all the opportunities available in our twenty-first century job market. Data from the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) shows that:
- People from minority ethnic groups will count for half of the growth in the working population over the next decade.
- 40% of BME people aged between 18 and 25 are currently studying for a degree, compared with the overall national average of 23%.
- People from BME groups have a detailed knowledge of communities whose total disposable wealth has been estimated at £32bn per annum.
While it clearly makes business sense to ensure racial equality in employment, there is an additional practical imperative for the publicly funded cultural organisation. Public authorities now have a legal duty to promote race equality in all of their activities, including grants, subsidies and contracts. This means that any cultural organisation seeking public subsidy must be able to demonstrate that they meet race equality requirements.
Help is at hand from the CRE's new statutory code of practice on racial equality in employment, which took legal effect in England, Scotland and Wales on 6 April 2006. This code is a set of recommendations and guidance on how to avoid unlawful racial discrimination and harassment in employment. It outlines employers' legal obligations under the Race Relations Act 1976 and contains general advice on the policies they will need in order to safeguard against discrimination and harassment, as well as more detailed recommendations on the procedures and practice that will help ensure fair and equal treatment for everyone. The code is not legally binding. However, if you fail to act on its recommendations this will be taken into account in any subsequent employment tribunal.
Providing opportunities
All businesses, whatever their size, need to:
- Identify any business practices that don't provide equal opportunities
- Take action to open out recruitment, training and promotion opportunities
- Make sure selection criteria are entirely job-related; and
- Select for employment or promotion solely on the basis of merit.
As a minimum, you should have the following:
- A written racial equality policy
- An action plan, describing the steps you will take to give effect to the policy
- A plan for communicating the policy
- Good recruitment and selection procedures
- A procedure for dealing with complaints of discrimination and harassment - ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) has produced a statutory code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, which, since October 2004, you must have by law
- Fair customer services; and
- A way of monitoring progress on your action plan, and taking steps if you are not seeing results.
If you are part of a larger organisation you should also consider providing training for racial groups that are under-represented in your organisation or in parts of the organisation - this is permitted under the Race Relations Act and is known as 'positive action'. You should also set up a system for monitoring the effectiveness of policies by collecting and analysing information about your workers and job applicants, including information about their ethnic background
Pam Henderson is a Director of the Henderson Aplin Partnership. She works with managers in the cultural sector to help them get high performance from their staff.
e: pam@hapartnership.com;
t: 01223 520293.
To download a free copy of the CRE's new statutory code of practice on racial equality in employment, go to http://www.cre.gov.uk
The CRE has produced the following test to help organisations identify their next steps. Make a note of which questions you can say 'Yes' to.
Do you have a written racial equality policy?
Do you have a racial equality action plan?
Do you have a harassment policy?
Do you have a procedure for dealing with complaints of racial discrimination or harassment?
Do you take account of racial equality opportunities in the following areas:
a) Advertising job vacancies?
b) Recruitment and selection?
c) Customer services?
If you have a written racial equality policy, have you taken action to make sure staff have read it, understood it and know how to get copies?
Have you taken action to make sure all workers understand what is and isn't acceptable behaviour in the workplace?
Is someone responsible for racial equality in your business?
Do your staff know who this is?
Do you check to see if your racial equality policy is achieving its aims?
Do you give your staff training on your racial equality opportunities?
Do you monitor
a) your racial equality policy and action plan?
b) recruitment, training and promotion?
c) racial discrimination and harassment complaints?
Have you taken positive action to tackle under-representation of any groups?
For small businesses, if you answered YES to
12 answers - Brilliant! Keep up the good work.
8-11 answers - You've made a good start.
4 -7 answers - You've got some way to go.
0 -3 answers - You must get started - and soon!
For businesses with more resources the bar is (rightly) set higher
17 YES answers - is excellent
11-16 YES answers - is a good start
5-10 YES answers - means there's a way to go
0- 4 YES answers - you're in trouble, get started!