How should companies respond to #BLM?

[3.38 minutes]

Sherri Williams, assistant professor of race and media at the American University in Washington, noted recently that some businesses have more posts about black people than black people working for them. 

Which makes it a particularly good time to talk to Claudia Iton, former Global HR Director at Unilever, who is currently on the board of Portsmouth University and an expert in Diversity and Inclusion. 

She too has seen companies competing with each other to rush out statements rather than thinking through a response. 

She suggests a more thoughtful approach:

• Get a good understanding of both the data about your representation and the lived experience of those in your teams

• Set goals for different employment levels (bearing in mind that almost 14% of the UK population is BAME)

• Create a strategy that is grounded in your business goals—if you put this into your CSR work, Claudia warns it’ll become an afterthought on a Friday afternoon. 

Companies should look at the groups marching and note that they include people of every race, but are largely young people: the future of their talent pool. 

If we listen to Claudia, then next time this is on the front pages, we’ll read fewer platitudes and more substantial change. 

- Christine x