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How important is career progression to you in a role?
At Diversifying Group, we believe strongly in growing talent from within. It is also a key element in fostering and maintaining diverse and inclusive workplaces. This week, a huge 11 promotions have been implemented in our organisation! We value our team’s time, effort, and dedication to our mission, and believe this should be reflected in regular pay rises and promotions ?
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Podcast:
What Exactly Does "Woke" Mean, And How Did It Become So Powerful?
To some, "woke" is a term used to describe a proliferation of so-called "PC culture", a policing of speech and opinions to seem progressive and engaged in social issues. To others, "woke" has been unfairly recycled into a negative term and is constantly used to thoughtlessly dismiss any argument that surrounds sensitive social issues. In this engaging podcast, linguist Tony Thorne and New Yorker editor, David Nemnick discuss wokeness, its timely usage, and its surprisingly theistic origins. What does "woke" actually mean, if anything?
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In Memphis, Tennessee, the same place where Martin Luther King was killed, a huge uproar has followed the death of a black man. Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old man, recently died in hospital after being attacked by five black police officers. Tyre was stopped by the officers and assaulted continually, all captured on camera by both the police body cameras and a street light.
All five of the policemen have been fired and charged with second-degree murder less than a month after the incident. It has been questioned whether the fact that the cops in question were black caused such rare rapid action. There were over 10,000 fatalities involving the police between 2013-2021, but only 153 were charged and 38 were found guilty.
Many people are pointing out that merely hiring diverse people does not ensure an equitable or just system.
When minorities acquire positions of power, they will often be subsumed into the system that oppresses them. It's been described as a "club of power" in which discriminations are deeply imbedded.
Consider Cressida Dick as an example - a gay, female Met commissioner. The number of recorded rapes, teenage killings, and domestic violence all increased during her four years. Between 2017-2020, 326 Met employees were allegedly involved in domestic violence.
Hiring for diversity's sake won't resolve deep-rooted systemic problems - a black man was killed by black policemen. So much more work needs to be done to address the system and specific institutional values.
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In the US, 315 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation were submitted in state legislatures last year, but only 9% of them passed into law. The majority of the newly announced legislation was aimed specifically at young people who identify as transgender or non-binary. A record 17 measures targeting trans and non-binary youth did in fact become law by the end of the 2022 legislative session. Overall, 19 states forbid trans students from participating in organised sports, while five states limit access to gender-affirming medical care. Despite the rise in the number of legislation submitted around the country, local activists and advocates were able to defeat the majority - a small win to be celebrated.
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200 children are still missing from government-funded hotels after seeking asylum in the UK, and government inaction continues. Campaigners have responded this week by leaving 200 missing person posters outside the Home Office. The activist group responsible, Lesbians and Gays Support The Migrants (LGSMigrants), blame the government's hostile attitude towards migrants, saying this was an “inevitable result of the Hostile Environment." The immigration minister claims that the case is being treated “exactly the same way as any young person." Yet children seeking asylum are subjected to unique racial abuse. It was revealed on the weekend by a whistleblower that staff were heard "threatening to throw children out of the window and joking about them going missing" at one government-run hotel.
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For the first time last Friday, German parliament focused their Holocaust memorial commemorations on LGBTQIA+ victims persecuted over their sexual or gender identity. It’s something campaigners have been fighting for for decades. Section 175 of the German penal code meant “kisses, touching – even glances became punishable by law" between two men. Thousands of men and women were imprisoned or deported to concentration camps for this reason, many abused for medical experiments and eventually killed. Friday’s ceremony symbolised a much-needed recognition of these injustices.
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Former New Zealand rugby player, Campbell Johnstone, never felt comfortable coming out publicly as gay during his professional career, though he did to friends and family. He explains that he felt pressure to adopt a certain image, to be "manly, strong, possibly with a wife and kids." However living this lie weighed heavily on him. Now, over a decade after he retired, he wants to help break down the stigma. Johnstone hopes that by coming out now, he will inspire more players to feel safe enough to do so. New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said in response: "We want to be clear, no matter who you love, rugby has your back."
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Historically, men were seen as active agents in their life and women equated with passive passengers. Today, this characterisation still holds weight. The London School of Economics have found that people still hold heavily gendered conceptions of success and luck which can lead to discrimination in the workplace. When men succeed, or complete a good piece of work, it is down to their hard work and innate ability; when women succeed, it is less expected, perhaps a stroke of good luck or a fluke. Conversely, when men make mistakes we tend to put it down to bad luck, while for women it is an indicator of insufficient ability. So how do you reduce luck and ability biases? Increase the women in senior positions to balance out the effect; use task-based assessments; and hold decision-makers accountable.
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Since the pandemic, there have been twice as many companies monitoring employees. Nearly 80% of managers are using surveillance software, according to internet security provider ExpressVPN, tracking employees' keystrokes and activity. Some businesses have installed time clocks that use fingerprint scanning to record an employee's time in and out; some use webcams to collect data on eye movement. But there is growing evidence that electronic spying might actually be detrimental to your business, not to mention company culture. Employees who are being watched are more likely to break the rules, work slower or consider quitting. Workers report feeling a lack of agency, responsibility and dignity which means they are less likely to want to work hard for their employer.
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According to a new study from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), businesses are more likely to hire younger employees than older ones. The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is simultaneously advising those who have taken early retirement to find new employment. Hunt warned that businesses would struggle to expand if they couldn't find enough workers in a speech on Friday, claiming that there were roughly 300,000 fewer people employed than before the pandemic. Older workers can offer many benefits to a business, but they won't gain access unless employer attitudes change.
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