to the point ISSUE 143


www.thehrdirector.com


TO THE POINT ONLY SKIN DEEP


That there are real, tangible business


benefits and performance improvements from gender balanced workforces is at last widely accepted, and so it’s inevitable there is increased pressure for more ethnically diverse businesses too.


Article by Heather Melville, Director Strategic Partnerships - RBS


i


recently attended the event launching the


research from Harvey Nash’s Engage network which showed that seven out of ten (71 percent) ethnic minority leaders have experienced discrimination in their career, based on the colour of their skin. This further supports the research from the charity Business in the Community, which found that ethnic minorities’ experiences of work are still not equal to their white peers in terms of career progression, and that 30 percent of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) employees have witnessed or experienced racial harassment in the workplace (Race at Work 2015: Business in the Community). Although the findings might be shocking to some, I was not surprised by how open people


52 thehrdirector SEPTEMBER 2016


were in expressing their views and experiences. It is clear there has been a need for a voice and a vehicle for these stories and issues.


Being bold about our approach to improving ethnicity is how we are challenging overt and covert examples of discrimination at RBS. Working in a branch around twenty five years ago I remember dealing with a customer who wrongly assumed I was a white woman on account of my name, and persisted that he would only deal with the “white Heather”. My branch manager did the right thing and challenged the customer to close their account if they weren’t comfortable being served by a black woman. This kind of customer behaviour is not unknown in 2016. However, I’m happy to say we’re encouraging a culture of inclusiveness that allows us all to challenge behaviours that are not in line with our values and we continue to take a firm stand with customers and colleagues who do not align with this view. As part of our drive to make change happen, our unconscious bias programme has seen over 30,000 colleagues from across the bank, trained to understand the impact of their own personal bias and how these may be mitigated. This is really having a positive impact on how we interact with customers and colleagues.


In our organisation, we know how important it is to understand our changing demographics to build a workforce that is representative and best placed to serve our customers well. Additionally, challenging those biases is crucial to our determination to support all of our colleagues to bring the best of themselves to work. This will help us achieve our ambition to become the number one bank for customer service, trust and


advocacy by 2020. With the support of a number of partners and an Advisory Board of senior business and academic leaders in the field of ethnicity, RBS has created a positive action programme to support the development of our ethnic minority talent and their pull through to more senior roles. Our plan is to increase ethnic minority representation at all levels of the bank, mirroring the objectives of the Government review led by Baroness McGregor-Smith. Interventions like reciprocal mentoring, development workshops and the embedding of tools from our pan-bank leadership programme Determined to lead, are just some of the ways we’re helping with this.


We know we have much to do and we remain committed to building an inclusive workplace that champions all forms of diversity. By listening to what colleagues tell us and


understanding the impact of the barriers to different groups of people (and at different stages of their career) we’re building a workplace and a workforce that represents our changing population. It’s great to see and feel the change within the industry. Government and business’ collective approach helps us all to see the value of diversity and that change is needed to respond to the demands of customers, employees and the communities we serve. I feel proud that I’ve made a difference through my career, supported strongly by RBS, to create a more ethnically diverse and aware place to work. We’ve still got more to do - and I look forward to being a part of that.


NEXT MONTH ISSUE 144


INTERVIEW Lorraine Metcalf, HR Director - Zoopla


DIVERSITY & INCLUSION


If it took law, quotas and relentless chipping away at established norms to increase the amount of women on boards, what will it take for race equality and the disabled.


EMPLOYEE BENEFITS Employers must seize the opportunity that the world of work is presenting and create a culture of confidence, accessibility and self- responsibility.


EXPLORING MINDFULNESS


The definition of Mindfulness appears to hold solutions to a new culture of leadership. But you cannot just introduce mindfulness in a keynote speech from the incoming CEO.


EMPLOYER BRAND The employer brand recipe is increasingly complex and all- too often, the flavour promised at recruitment turns into an unpleasant after-taste, as the brand fails to live up to expectation.


FOR FURTHER INFO www.rbs.co.uk


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