Addressing Racial Disparities and Inequalities in the Workplace - New Report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

The findings in the report have been controversial and criticised by many. The purpose of this article is simply to draw your attention to the recommendations from the report which may impact employers if adopted in official guidance or passed into law.

Recommendations From the Report

• Recommendation 1 - Challenging racist and discriminatory actions by funding the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to use their compliance, enforcement and litigation powers to challenge discriminatory policies or practices.

• Recommendation 3 - Improving the transparency and use of artificial intelligence by publishing guidance on applying the Equality Act 2010 to algorithmic decision-making and requiring transparency from public sector bodies when it is used. This applies in particular to those public sector organisations that apply algorithms that have an impact on significant decisions affecting individuals, and calls for greater transparency and equality in decisions that are made via algorithms to reduce bias.

• Recommendation 8 - Advancing fairness in the workplace by developing resources and evidence-based approaches readily available to employers:
  • The Commission calls upon organisations to try to stop funding unconscious bias training by replacing current training methods with those that can be measured or evaluated for their effectiveness. For example using sponsorship to ensure wider exposure of ethnic minority individuals to their peers, managers and other decision makers, or training on skills in both employee's professional and personal lives (eg collaboration, communication skills).
  • The Commission also calls on government to work with academics and practitioners to develop resources and evidence-based approaches of what does work to advance fairness in the workplace.

• Recommendation 9 - Investigating what causes existing ethnic pay disparities. The Commission recommends the publication of a diagnosis and action plan for organisations who voluntarily publish ethnicity pay figures and the 'disaggregation' of reported ethnicity pay data to identify different ethnicities. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has been tasked with producing guidance for employers to draw on.

• Recommendation 16 - Opening up access to apprenticeships by creating a targeted apprenticeships campaign to inform young people who experience marginalisation of the career opportunities available to them. The Commission recommends that the Government conducts a highly-targeted apprenticeships campaign, aimed at persuading young people to undertake apprenticeships in growth sectors. This will be particularly aimed at benefitting those who face discrimination, or who lack information about the range of careers that are available.

• Recommendation 17 - Creating a new enterprise programme for low income background/ underrepresented entrepreneurs. It was recommended that HSBC UK should collaborate with certain UK universities to run a competitive enterprise programme to target aspiring entrepreneurs from under-represented and low income backgrounds. The programme would aim to support its members by developing their proposals through the provision of advice, mentorship and access to networks, and provide financial backing towards the winning entrant’s enterprise. This programme should act as a model for other banks and financial institutions in the future.

If you have any questions about how the above recommendations could affect your business, or if you are an employer and are concerned about whether or not your equity and diversity policies are still in line with this guidance, please contact Michael Halsey on 07554 432 829 in our Employment Law team, who can assist you with your query, and with updating your policy. Alternatively, please complete the form below.