It was only last month when the UN celebrated International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, nearly a year since the world reacted to the death of George Floyd and only a a couple of days ago did we hear about the horror of the Daunte Wright shooting.
As with any major push in social justice, more companies are waking up and addressing racial inequality, but with that comes critics widely panning the notion of diversity training claiming to be ineffective or at worst likely to cause harm. Founder and CEO at In Diverse Company, Johanna Beresford discusses what you need to do to embed anti-racism within your company culture, without scratching upon Unconscious Bias Training. With a number of organisations, including the government, announcing plans to scrap unconscious bias training (one of the tools frequently used in organisations’ D&I strategies), it has brought the topic under much debate. While yes, awareness of unconscious bias is important, studies have repeatedly shown the prevalence of bias and discrimination in the workplace, evidence also shows that training alone is not effective in changing behaviour. Recent studies showed that despite 81% of companies conducting unconscious bias training