Working with BME colleagues

As a predominantly white workforce we must recognise what we don’t know, what we don’t experience and see.

We aim to be a fair and inclusive place to work, and it is everyone’s responsibility to take action to address these inequalities.

What we've done

We have:

  • reviewed our progress towards race equality with over 200 key stakeholders and co-created our Fair & Inclusive Action Plan in 2019
  • collaborated with BME colleagues to co-create our We Need to Talk About Race campaign which launched in March 2020 and aims to openly discuss race and racial inequality, challenge racism and value diversity
  • published the council’s definitions of racism and our zero tolerance approach to racism in the workplace
  • created an additional safe space – our virtual Fair & Inclusive team – to raise and report issues of discrimination
  • held joint workshops with our BME Workers’ Forum and HR Advisory Services to improve our approach to HR investigations relating to race, ethnicity and culture
  • delivered mandatory unconscious bias training for all staff

What we will do

We will:

  • hold managers to account through our performance management framework
  • communicate to staff how and where to raise issues and get support
  • communicate our anti-racist values and behaviours to existing and future employees
  • deliver anti-racist training and publish anti-racist resources for all staff
  • continue to collect, use and share data to ensure actions to address inequalities for BME staff are targeted and effective
  • continue to collaborate with our BME staff forum and community groups to improve the experience of our BME staff, and BME staff that apply to work for us