Racial Equality
We are on our journey to become an anti-racist organisation, focused on equity where ethnically and culturally diverse employees,- specifically people from African, Caribbean and East, Central, West & South Asian heritage, progress in, and contribute to our organisation without barriers or discrimination. Whilst we still have progress to make, here are some of the ways we are working to achieve our goals and ambitions.
Supporting Racial Equity
Alex Pond, Managing Director of Intertrain discusses City & Guilds' commitment with the organisation MSDUK (Minority Supplier Development UK), which is dedicated to working with companies to increase their supplier diversity, and ensuring that they are taking the necessary steps towards creating a more diverse and equitable supply chain.
#MyNameIs
City & Guilds supports the - a simple but highly impactful solution to ensure everyone pronounces people’s names correctly. We encourage colleagues across our organisation to add the phonetic pronunciation of their name and their pronouns to their email signatures and other communications channels.
Supporting Racial Equity at City & Guilds
At City & Guilds we have a racial equity closed and open group who are a voice back into the business, speaking truth to power to drive better outcomes for racial equality. We act as advisors and consultants to the organisation, being the voice in the room where representation is missing, working closely with our executive sponsors. In two years, we’ve become the go-to place for colleagues across the organisation to seek advice to advance racial equity. The Group’s are committed to supporting and working with members of all backgrounds to ensure we promote and advocate racial inclusion and diversity within City & Guilds. We are so proud of our many achievements to date and the impact our group has had.
Racial Equity Closed Group: The group formed on the back of the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, following a podcast conversation. For the first-time in our working lives, we were discussing issues or racial inequality within the workplace.These conversations were the catalyst to create a supportive space to connect and continue to share experiences and learn from our lived experience talking about race, racism and the impact it continues to have. The racial equality closed group has been created as a safe and open space to talk and connect with colleagues on issue of Racial inequality, this is an opportunity to share lived experiences in confidence and within a closed and safe group. All matters raised/discussed will be treated with utmost sensitivity!
Racial Equity Open Group: We started small and invited others to join in the conversation. Allies have a space to lean and are inspired by our experiences, and in hearing from guest speakers. We are so proud that we were the first community group to form, leading the way for others. Our members have said this group has been a “lifeline” during difficult moments and allowed many colleagues to speak up with honesty. The group cultivates a sense of belonging, for staff to be their authentic selves