I write to you today following another horrific shooting in the US of a black man Jacob Blake, this follows the death of George Floyd in May and the growing momentum of the Black Lives Matter Movement. We have also seen in the UK the disproportionate impact on employment and health outcomes (direct and indirect) that Covid has had on minority ethnic communities and recently more clearly the UK’s experience of deeply embedded racially based injustices in a wide range of areas including health, criminal and justice, education and economic.
I understand that some of you feel that I haven’t addressed the Black Lives Matter early enough in my communications to you. I would like to assure you that this is not a reflection on whether this has been a priority for myself and the Senior Management Team (SMT). Rather, I and we have used this time to reflect on matters of racial inequality, engage with others, and critically assess our current approach to addressing this.
Since the events earlier this year I, and I know many others, have been on a personal journey of exploration to better understand the issue of racial prejudice and inequalities. For me this has involved participating in BLM events, creating an ongoing dedicated SMT time for discussion and reflection (including Me and White Supremacy, a book by Layla Saad), stimulating conversation and action amongst GM business representative organisations, exploring the issue with family and friends and working more closely with our EDI group.
I have always believed that I and we are not racist, and we have undertaken specific actions to improve inclusivity and diversity within our employment and service outcomes. However, as our evidence shows we are not where we should be and what may be seen as a good intensions approach is not enough. We clearly need to take a range of more guided and specific actions to increase and improve the position of minority ethnic colleagues in GC. As others have said, not being racist is of itself no longer enough, if it ever was, to achieve the change that is required.
I have reached out to the EDI team to identify ways in which we can become a more diverse workforce and be recognised as an organisation that fights against racial inequality and discrimination. At present, the proportion of our workforce that identify as Black, Asian or other minority ethnic does not reflect the communities in which we work and we need to do more to address this and remove barriers. Importantly, whilst the percentage of our employees from minority ethnic groups is in some cases not too different from the communities in which we work, we are way behind in terms of representation of minority ethnic communities amongst GC management (with less than 10 of over 200 management/leader positions being held by colleagues from minority ethnic communities). Moreover, this is not just about numbers, it is clear in conversations with colleagues that we have not reached a position where all believe that GC is totally supportive of their development and the eradication of all forms of prejudice and discrimination.
These conversations have led to the creation of a plan by the EDI group which has the full endorsement and support of myself and SMT and that has been developed into a GC Pledge detailing the ten changes we are making. Carla Nuttall, Group Marketing and Communications Director, has also volunteered to be our SMT sponsor to help drive these actions forward, and Vanda Murray at Board level.
To take this Pledge forward there are several areas where we need your help:
Our survey
A targeted action plan is being developed to underpin the Pledge and we want to understand your thoughts and suggestions on how inclusive you feel we are and what more we need to do. Please take the time to complete this short survey before Friday 18th September. The survey is anonymous, and I want to encourage you to be open and honest in your answers so we can be specific in identifying the changes we need to make.
Share experiences
As part of our Pledge we want to raise awareness and encourage more conversations about diversity within our organisation. If you have any experiences or individual stories, please do share these with me or our EDI group.
Mentoring
We are currently looking at implementing a ‘reverse mentoring’ approach where volunteers from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds have one-to-one sessions with senior colleagues to enable them to have a deeper insight on matters of racial inequality and the real experiences and challenges many of our colleagues face. If you are interested in taking part in this mentoring, please email our EDI group.
Focus Groups
We also want to hold a focus group to discuss our Pledge and give you the opportunity to share any ideas you may have as well as discussing what we have planned for Black History Month in October and how you can get involved. If you would like to join the focus group or Black History Month planning please get in touch with our EDI group.
I also want to take this opportunity to remind anyone who is struggling with the recent events that support is available. Managers will be checking in with their team regularly and if you don’t feel comfortable raising any issues with your manager, the EDI team is here to support and champion the equalities of every person in our Group. If you have an issue or simply want to talk, please email the EDI team. We also have our Employee Assistance Programme, available to you and your immediate family 24/7 to give free and confidential advice on a range of issues. You can contact the helpline by telephone on 0800 030 5182 or visit the online support tools via the health portal (username: Growth, password: Company).
You are also very welcome to contact me directly on these issues as I hope you will accept that although I am on a path to more fully understanding the challenges that some of our colleagues have faced throughout their whole their lives, I am determined to achieve better for myself, GC and the wider community.