Our commitment: Progress beyond our community cont.
My Whole Self campaign Our research shows that one in five workers – 6.5 million people – feel they cannot be their whole self at work, with People of Colour reporting this most often ( MHFA England/You Gov, 2020 ). This is an intolerable situation. No one should have to leave parts of their identity behind – whether cultural or ethnic background, gender identity, sexuality, disability or health – when they are at work. The psychological impact of confronting cultural inequity, daily micro-aggressions, or of feeling the need to ‘code-switch’, cannot be underestimated. That’s why in September 2020, as part of our My Whole Self campaign, we teamed up with the Chartered Management Institute and Business in the Community. Together we developed free guidance for employers, Supporting the wellbeing and mental health of People of Colour and Black people in the workplace , to ensure that all employees feel valued and able to be themselves at work. It was clear from the overwhelming response and interest that our research hit a nerve, and that our guidance answered a pressing need. ҄ Our My Whole Self campaign burst in October 2020 generated 49 million opportunities to see across the national and trade media, with titles including Metro News and Personnel Today covering the story ҄ Our guidance on ‘Supporting the wellbeing and mental health of People of Colour and Black people in the workplace’ was shared by the Chartered Management Institute with their community of over 160,000 managers and was downloaded from our website 3,719 times ( poster )
҄ Over 800 people attended our webinars on ‘Supporting the mental health of People of Colour and Black colleagues’ and ‘Becoming an anti-racist organisation’ Videos of these webinar have also been viewed over 3,000 times.
We are calling on everyone to keep spreading the word about the existence of our anti-racist resources, webinars and online training courses. We want to ensure that as many workplaces as possible benefit from them and join us in actively challenging a status quo that has existed for too long, with profound mental health consequences. people can be their whole selves, and not have to hide part of who they are. Employers should go to this guidance first to understand where to begin. Sandra Kerr CBE Race Equality Director, Business in the Community Employers need to understand that saying statements like ‘I don’t see colour’ aren’t helpful, and this guidance explains why. Business leaders should feel uncomfortable. It’s the first step toward recognising there are differences in lived experiences and to understanding what, as leaders, they can do to combat racism from the inside. This guidance is an important tool for employers to understand how to make the workplace a safe space where
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