History and context
Race is one of nine protected characteristics defined under the UK Equality Act 2010. This means discrimination based on a person’s race, colour, citizenship, nationality, or ethnic or national origins is illegal.
A racial group can be made up of two or more distinct racial groups, for example black Britons, British Asians, British Sikhs, British Jews, Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers. An individual may be discriminated against because of one or more aspects of their race – for example, people born in Britain to Indian parents could be discriminated against because they are British citizens, or because of their Indian national origins.
Race has been dogged by controversy since it was coined as a concept. It is a social construct rather than a term that reflects genetics and biology, and its meaning has changed over time and across cultures. Historically, however, race has been weaponised to build hierarchies that label certain groups as inferior, or superior, to others, which unsurprisingly results in discrimination and division.
Race should not be confused with ethnicity. Unlike ethnicity, which takes into account culture, language, ancestry and traditions, race focuses purely on physical appearance. In the workplace, neither must be used as a basis for discrimination.
In the UK, racism was only made illegal as recently as the 1960s, likely because of the way black and brown people were treated post-Windrush. On 25 October 1968, the Race Relations Bill was given Royal Assent and came into law as the Race Relations Act 1968, adding to the provisions of the 1965 Race Relations Act, which had banned racial discrimination in public places and made promoting racial hatred a crime.
In addition to the latter, the 1968 Act focused on eradicating discrimination in housing and employment. It aimed to ensure that the second-generation immigrants who were born in the UK and who were educated here, would get ‘the jobs for which they are qualified and the houses they can afford.’
At the time, the Act was pilloried and was the subject of Enoch Powell’s infamous Rivers of Blood speech, in which he criticised immigration to the UK. After his diatribe, several polls showed that 67–82 per cent of the British population agreed with Powell’s stance, highlighting concerns that are still apparent many decades later.
Racism at work
At work, as in other scenarios, racism is not a homogenous experience. While there will be some commonalities as far as lived experience goes, black men and women experience racism differently and they, in turn, experience racism in different ways to members of the South Asian and East Asian communities.
For example, 69 per cent of people from minority ethnic backgrounds have experienced workplace discrimination. Segmenting the data further, almost two in five people of black, black British, Caribbean or African ethnicity, and one in three Asian or Asian British people reported being discriminated against at work, according to a 2025 Ciphr report.
Intersectionality
The term intersectionality was introduced by American Critical Race Scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in 1989, who established the term in reference to black women experiencing double discrimination – racism and sexism in particular.
An intersectional approach helps to understand how different aspects of a person’s identity combine to create unique modes of disadvantage and privilege, as factors such as race, gender, class, disability and others, overlap in myriad ways, when it comes to inequality. An intersectional approach is important as there will be cross-cutting themes of race, gender, social background, religion, age and other factors affecting people’s experiences.
The TUC states: “Racism does not exist in a vacuum – especially in the workplace. Far too often workplace racism is wrongly reduced to either a series of random one-off events and/or the implicit attitudes and unconscious biases of an individual.
“Racism is a system of domination and oppression with a deep-rooted historical foundation. It divides and organises society in a way that structurally disadvantages certain ethnic groups. In the years since the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement – what change has been made for Black communities in the UK? The reality is very little.
“Race is intrinsically linked with our economic structure that categorises certain groups of workers to do certain jobs – many without the security and rights that protect them.”
Business in the Community (BITC) commissioned Race at Work Surveys (2015, 2018 and 2021) in partnership with YouGov. Many of the comments from participants illustrate that without a root-and-branch approach to anti-racism, little changes.
For instance: “Nowhere to report to. HR don't do anything because they believe that a manger is not racist otherwise, they would not be a manager”
– Chinese male employee.
Or, “Every time something goes wrong, they used to blame me and say ‘this is not your country; we do better in the UK’. I haven’t done anything to report [it] because my HR managers [are] all friends with them and confidential information leaks out, so to keep my job I just go quiet every time”
– Mixed multiple ethnic background female.
These two examples are sadly representative of many more.
It is the responsibility of employers to call out racism, every time. By overlooking racism – whether in the form of a covert microaggression or direct discrimination – employers are implicitly demonstrating that racism is welcome in the workplace.
This does not create a psychologically safe environment where employees feel supported, valued and respected. When a workplace is not inclusive, it can have devastating effects on employee morale, productivity, retention rates, brand reputation and ultimately, financial outcomes.
By having a zero-tolerance policy to racism in the workplace, with the appropriate reporting lines and training, organisations can encourage its employees to speak out against racism, too. The benefit of actively addressing and preventing racism in the workplace is clear: organisations that do this benefit from improved employee morale, increased productivity and enhanced innovation, according to the World Economic Forum.
Covering and code-switching
A lack of feeling psychologically safe at work often results in covering and code-switching for people who are minoritised or marginalised through their race or other protected characteristic. This is a significant problem. A survey by the Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion discovered that 61 per cent of employees cover their identities in some way, which can adversely affect their sense of belonging and engagement at work.
Analysis published in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) discovered that code-switching can have a substantial emotional and cognitive impact, including generating additional stress and burnout, as individuals endeavour to match dominant cultural norms at the expense of their own identity. Also, covering can lead to feelings of invisibility and emotional exhaustion, as individuals feel unable to be themselves.
HBR notes that code-switching is a weighty dilemma that black employees face in the context of race at work: ‘While it is frequently seen as crucial for professional advancement, code-switching often comes at a great psychological cost,’ states HBR. ‘If leaders are truly seeking to promote inclusion and address social inequality, they must begin by understanding why a segment of their workforce believes that they cannot truly be themselves in the office. Then they should address what everyone at the company needs to do to change this.’
And, The Fawcett Society and Runnymede Trust’s joint report, 'Broken Ladders', notes that black women of Caribbean heritage, and women of East Asian and Chinese heritage were the least likely to report ‘often’ or ‘always’ feeling comfortable in their workplace culture, at 43 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively.
Muslim women were significantly more likely to make changes to themselves at work than non-religious women or women of other religions. In fact, 53 per cent of Muslim women changed the clothes they wear at work ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a bit’, compared to 37 per cent of Christian women and 32 per cent of non-religious women.
Black women of African heritage were most likely to change ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a bit’, their clothes (54 per cent did so), the language they use (50 per cent), the topics they talk about (46 per cent), their hairstyle (39 per cent), and accent (29 per cent).
Jemima Olchawksi, CEO, The Fawcett Society, commented: “[This] report reveals what women of colour across the UK already know – that experiencing completely unacceptable racism at work is, sadly, the norm. It’s sickening that three-quarters of women of colour have experienced racism at work.
“We just can’t accept this as a society. If we want to be a country where everyone can achieve their potential, to progress and make the most of their talents, then we need serious and concerted action to address this. This evidence and the stories women have shared with us must be a rallying call to Government, to employers, to our educational institutions to drive real change.”
For more information on covering and code-switching in the workplace, view our on-demand webinar, 'The role of covering and code-shifting in the workplace'.
Systemic racism
Following the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, Sir William McPherson, who conducted the public inquiry into the crime and how it was handled by the authorities, defined systemic racism as: ‘The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racial stereotyping.’
Such institutionalised racism can pervade an organisation where it simply becomes the norm and bias is consequently embedded into processes and practice by stealth. The Institute of Government and Public Policy states: ‘Institutional racism involves policies and practices within institutions that result in unequal outcomes for different race groups. Unlike individual racism, which is overt and intentional, institutional racism is often subtle and ingrained in organisational structures, leading to disparities in hiring, promotion, and workplace culture.’
This can lead to pay gaps, limited career progression, insecurity at work, high turnover and poor teamworking and productivity – as well as considerable moral and ethical shortfalls.
To help address these inequalities, organisations should engage in anti-racism training. For example, FAIRER Consulting offers a ‘Let’s talk about racism at work’ programme, which provides actionable steps on how to address racism at work.
Unconscious bias and microaggressions
Racism on an individual, as opposed to a systemic basis, can undoubtedly be blatant, but it can also be less evident. Individuals can often unwittingly demonstrate partiality based on race, or other characteristics. This is known as unconscious or implicit bias.
Such bias can be harmful in the workplace, causing stress and discord for those at the receiving end, as well as damaging the organisation in terms of teamwork, productivity, retention, innovation and reputation.
Unconscious bias stems from individuals’ life experiences, culture and upbringing, and it influences the way people understand situations and others, and how individuals act and make decisions. Savvy businesses understand that diversity and inclusion foster innovation and success – but this depends on them introducing strategies and unconscious bias training to eradicate it from their practices.
A study by McKinsey revealed that diverse teams outperform homogenous equivalents. But, as Bertrand & Mullainathan found in 2004, unconscious bias can result in CVs with so-called ‘ethnic-sounding’ names less likely to elicit a response when compared to those that are often associated with people who are white – even if both applicants are equally qualified.
Microaggressions are often a symptom of unconscious bias. These are insensitive questions, statements or assumptions based on an aspect of who we are, such as race, gender or sexuality. In its article, 'Recognizing and Responding to Microaggressions at Work', HBR makes the point that microaggressions have a macro, rather than negligible – as the term suggests – effect on individuals.
‘Most often, microaggressions are aimed at traditionally marginalized identity groups,’ states the piece. ‘Yet these hurtful actions can happen to anyone, of any background, at any professional level. A microaggression against a Black woman, for example, could be “You aren’t like the other Black people I know” (indicating the person is different from the stereotypes of black people), whereas one for a white male might be, “Oh, you don’t ever have to worry about fitting in” (indicating that all white men are always comfortable and accepted).
Essentially, microaggressions are based on a simple, damaging idea: “Because you are X, you probably are/are not or like/don’t like Y.” When microaggressions are dismissed – for example where people are written off as snowflakes, woke, or easily offended, this doubles down on the damage.
McKinsey’s 2023 report, ‘Marginalized groups bear the brunt of microaggressions’, showed that Asian and black women are seven times as likely as white women to be confused with someone of the same race and ethnicity. However, MIT Sloan suggested in March 2025 that targets and perpetrators of workplace microaggressions can restore their relationship and possibly build a bond stronger than previously. This relies on their previous relationship, and a willingness to mend the relationship.
The researchers found that when both a target and perpetrator stick to a self-protective stance, little repair work is likely: ‘When targets and perpetrators have opposite stances, the mending falls somewhere in between. What’s more, two factors appear to influence the depth of repair work. Co-workers who both believe their work is meaningful, and that inclusive teamwork is critical for their firm, can do the most extensive work.
‘Companies can use the theory to encourage positive outcomes when microaggressions inevitably occur in the workplace. “People are going to make mistakes, we’re human. Firms can work to foster a culture in which employees firmly believe the job they’re doing is meaningful, while also highlighting the importance of collaboration and inclusion,”’ said Basima Tewfik, one of the researchers and an MIT Sloan assistant professor.
The latter is why organisations must foster a culture of psychological safety, whereby people can accept change and feel confident that there is a way to resolve conflicts without them being cancelled. A psychologically safe environment is one where new ideas and strategies can be tested without endangering the team’s cohesiveness, while allowing for learning and innovation.
FAIRER Consulting believes psychological safety is essential in establishing safe spaces. Any place where someone feels secure in the knowledge that they won’t face prejudice, criticism, or bodily or emotional harm is considered a safe space. Where there is psychological safety, people will be free to be themselves and express themselves without fear of bias, prejudice or judgement. For more information, watch our on-demand webinar, 'How to promote psychological safety at work'.
The business case for anti-racism
There are numerous examples of where racism has been raised and not tackled, where it has been left to silently fester, or where organisations are not doing a good enough job in their methods of rooting out racism. The moral arguments aside, tackling racism is good business, but there is a long way to go.
McKinsey’s 2023 article, ‘Race in the UK workplace: The intersectional experience’, states: “Black, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani groups (BBP) in the United Kingdom were the furthest behind on pay and labour force participation. For example, in 2019, BBP individuals earned 15 to 16 per cent less than White British workers. In contrast, Indian and Chinese workers earned 16 and 23 per cent more, respectively, than White workers.”
The report suggested that a lack of career progression and poorer experiences within a company increase the likelihood that BBP women, especially middle managers, will leave their company. An internal diversity audit performed by the Bank of England in 2021 found that ethnic minorities, including BBP women with the same performance rating as white women, were 25 per cent more likely to quit their job than their white colleagues.
And, McKinsey’s 2023 report, 'Diversity matters more: The case for holistic impact', found a strong business case for ethnic diversity, with a 39 per cent increased likelihood of outperformance for those in the top quartile of ethnic representation versus the bottom quartile.
Additionally, companies in the top quartile for ethnically diverse boards are 13 per cent more likely to outperform than those in the bottom quartile. However, McKinsey found that, for companies included in both its 2020 and 2023 reports, only 16 per cent of leaders on executive teams belong to historically underrepresented ethnicities.
How HR and DEI can help
So, what can be done? FAIRER recommends businesses practice the principle of ‘what gets measured, gets done’. Setting publicly available targets for race-inclusive workplaces is the way forward, and targets must incorporate the whole employee life cycle, including recruitment, employee engagement, development opportunities and promotions.
FAIRER’s MD, Dan Robertson, says: “If in the UK, to meet these targets business should utilise the Positive Actions provisions within the Equality Act 2010. Other activities include implementing sponsorship programmes and creating a diverse leadership bench. Organisations will need to agree quick-win targets as well as more longer-term strategic goals. Targets should be communicated both internally and externally, as public targets increase accountability and act as a motivator for sustainable and long-term action.”
Also, leaders should drive racial inclusion through their supply chain by setting explicit criteria for awarding new business contracts and in-contract re-negotiations. For instance, when working with head-hunters and recruitment companies, insist on racial diversity on the final short-lists and, when working with suppliers, include commitments to racial diversity in the selection criteria. If suppliers fail to meet stated goals and targets at contract re-negotiation stage, they should face financial penalties.
Inclusive hiring
Mitigating potential race issues – and other DEI pain points – begins with the job advertisement. FAIRER recommends taking an intersectional approach to inclusive hiring, and when examining talent, review processes to avoid the oversimplification that can come from a one-dimensional view.
The Fawcett Society’s aforementioned 'Broken Ladders' report found that, at all stages of the career pipeline and across all sectors, from recruitment to leadership, women of colour face barriers. "This starts in recruitment, where 52 per cent of women of colour experience discrimination – such as being made to feel uncomfortable in relation to their race or cultural background, being asked for UK qualifications or English as a first language and being asked for ethnicity information outside of monitoring processes.
"It carries on through to decision making and leadership, with 34 per cent of women of colour reporting requiring their colleagues vouch for them to have their decisions accepted, compared to 23 per cent of White British women."
The latter illustrates the importance of eradicating racism and other biases from the recruitment process and beyond. This begins with the job advert, its placement, language, the information provided, and feeds through the whole recruitment process and beyond.
Training
Regular, tailored training on racism at work, unconscious bias and conscious inclusion, that is backed by evidence and informs awareness, application and action, can empower leaders in tackling racism. With the appropriate guidance, leaders can implement a clear action plan that tackles the inherit and institutional barriers that minority ethnic groups often face when it comes to gaining, keeping and progressing in employment – and having a positive experience while doing so.
Also, FAIRER recommends conducting regular training sessions on cultural competence and inclusive leadership to nurture a more understanding and supportive workplace. Such steps should be shared with wider teams across the organisation to reinforce the fact that this is normal and is expected.
Before and after training, HR colleagues should measure the sense of psychological safety, connectivity and belonging via employee engagement surveys and listening groups. And HR may wish to hold micro-listening groups at key stages of any race inclusion implementation plan, as these provide useful points to pause and reflect, allowing for adjustments if necessary.
Employee Resource Groups
Invest in and empower Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). These groups play an important part in supporting an organisation to challenge underrepresentation, tackle discrimination, improve the understanding of different communities and cultures and provide wellbeing support, guidance and signposting to all employees.
Employees from similar backgrounds, cultures or common identities can come together to support each other so they can share their lived experience with the organisation for which they work, creating dialogue and understanding and giving a voice to underrepresented groups. It may be beneficial to also provide mental health support to help employees manage the stress associated with code-switching and covering.
While ERGs are valuable tools in creating safe spaces for minority groups, they can be counterproductive by perpetuating segregation if not executed carefully. FAIRER Consulting’s on-demand webinar, 'Best practices for ERGs and staff networks', explores how organisations can leverage ERGs to strengthen business strategy, build inclusivity and engage workplace communities.
The future
While DEI is thrown around like a dirty word in certain quarters, many shrewd businesses can see past the bluster and are committed to behaving in ways that are morally and ethically sound and make excellent business sense, too.
Training that is not founded in silos where one group is demonised over another, and that allows people to make mistakes and raise issues in a way that is curiously respectful, is key to tackling racism and other discriminatory behaviour and attitudes, giving an organisation a competitive advantage.
As Toni Morrison said, “The very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.” And no business in 2025 should have the time or space in their business plan for that.
To find out how your organisation can tackle racism and other forms of discrimination, please get in touch. Alternatively, explore our ‘Let’s talk about racism at work’ and unconscious bias training.
