Recent events have once again highlighted racism and grave injustices towards people of colour, accentuating the need for both continued and renewed introspection and action to fight against racism. Sadly, these issues still exist in our world.
“Racism is a global issue. Racism is a British issue. It is not one that is merely confined to the United States – it is everywhere, and it is systemic,” wrote Edward Enninful, the editor-in-chief of British Vogue, who is black. Systemic racism is trending, but we only have to listen to stories of black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) people to understand that systemic racism is far from a fad.
As businesses think hard about whether they are doing enough to educate their staff on diversity, we have seen an increase over the last few weeks in demand for diversity training. We have added a new course to our existing diversity and inclusion training suite. Complementing our current story-based diversity course, Diversity and Inclusion at Work: MyStory, our new course will shed light on instances of discrimination, racism and bias against BAME people all too frequently experienced by people in the workplace through hard-hitting stories.
Why is BAME-focussed training necessary?
Taking the course will not solve racism or injustice. One module taken on one day is barely a drop in the ocean for the millenia of racial injustice compounded by issues of class, sex, faith, eonomic status, age, sexual orientation, disability, immigration status, gender identity, and the myriad of identities which make up a society. Systematic and institutional racism is deeply rooted, and affects all aspects of society from justice to employment, health to housing, politics to education.
The course is designed to bring to life the real impact of equality, diversity and racism through storytelling. It raises awareness of the prevalence and impact of diversity discrimination. The training covers the UK Equality Act 2010, and anti-racism training best practice.
Main course features
The course features three main sections: Experience, Explore, Racial bias. These sections were designed to raise awareness and make the course a personal experience for the user. MyStory also includes a Seek Help function, allowing administrators and managers to provide users with the guidance and resources to report inappropriate behaviour. Further, users can easily switch between the sections and complete the course at their own pace.
Experience
In Experience, the user is presented with a series of short, sharp and hard hitting personal accounts of racism. While some of these are fictional accounts, they are drawn from the very real, all too common workplace experiences that at least half of all employees will go through in their working lives. After reading each story, users are asked one simple question. The correct answer may shock you. This anchors the stories to their real-world context. The stories are all narrated by professional voice actors, giving a powerful impact to the story.
Explore
Here, users can scroll through and explore the resources, articles and videos relating to a range of racist discrimination and bias. By bringing some of this tailored, curated content directly to the user, it helps them feel part of the tide of global change.
Racial bias
The Racial bias section includes high-profile instances where shocking biases against individuals or groups have taken place. By reading these stories and becoming aware of these disparities, we can challenge the biases that exist in our society.
Customisations – Replace any story in the course
MyStory will be fully customisable. Some administrators will want to include stories of racism they feel will relate more to their staff. This can be done easily by either writing your own stories or working with our course content team to add the ideal stories for your staff. We have a bank of over 30 stories ready to be added to the course instead of some of the current stories.
