RACE EQUALITY WEEK 2023: 6-12TH FEBRUARY 2023
Race Equality Week is a UK-wide initiative uniting thousands of organisations and individuals to address race equality barriers in the workplace.
With over 3500 organisations signed up in 2022, 2023 is set to be bigger and better.
As part of a series of events foreshadowing Race Equality Week, we kickstarted the first of the Get Ready for Race Equality Week events on 25th May 2022 with over 350 organisations registered.
We heard from organisations that had successfully introduced Race Equality Week into their organisation, making a permanent commitment to racial equality beyond the week.
The experts, interactive Q&A session and polls inspired our attendees, as 73% committed their organisation to taking part in Race Equality Week 2023 (you can watch a recording of the event here).
So here are 6 recommended steps to support you and your organisation to prepare for Race Equality Week 2023:
1. Identify your Race Equality Week lead(s)
Try and make this a collective effort, to reduce workload on a single person. The lead(s) will provide Race Equality Week with the focussed organisation it requires.
2. Engage senior leaders
Engagement with senior leaders is central to creating a complete shift in your organisation’s approach to driving race equality, so attaining their buy-in from the start is important.
Our expert speaker, Davina Brown, from Croydon Council, told us that the success of 2022’s Race Equality Week was because: “We have had great support from the CEO and new corporate management team to drive that message down.”.
Race Equality Matters’ event series can help with ways to better engage with your organisation’s senior leadership.
3. Create a working group
By ensuring different people have distinguished roles, your Race Equality Week activity will run smoothly. This will also alleviate pressure and stress through sharing the workload across a larger group.
4. Identify activities you could run in the week
The most popular activities that event attendees plan to run during the week include Race Equality Matters’ Tea Break Solution, The Big Promise and #MyNameIs campaign.
Davina shared that Croydon Council successfully established a long-term action plan during Race Equality Week 2022, that included: a zero-tolerance policy, in-house mediators, training programmes on tackling racial inequality and Race Equality Matters’ Solutions.
Attendees of our event also recommended activities based on sharing lived experience, cultural celebrations, tackling biased recruitment and progression, and reverse mentoring initiatives.
5. Promote Race Equality Week
The earlier you start promoting Race Equality Week, the better! Over half of our attendees planned to organise and promote the Week from now until October, which will mean greater exposure to the activities before February 2023. This promotion can be internal, through email and visual reminders, and also externally to make stakeholders and clients aware.
As Davina reminded our attendees:
“It’s all about strength in numbers so promote, promote, promote!”
6. Share your activity
Finally, the activity you have selected should be shared with comprehensive information to enhance engagement.
Scheduling this into employee work calendars is a way to give people plenty of notice around their usual workload.
Croydon Council are hoping to shift their previously virtual Race Equality Week events into in-person engagements, which is an exciting advancement that other organisations may follow.
89% of attendees thought it was important to hear what other organisations were doing, in order to help inspire them in their own planning. Therefore, be sure to share your plans beyond your organisation, through LinkedIn and other platforms, to inspire and encourage others.
Just like last year, Race Equality Matters will be spotlighting the most impressive activities from December 2022 to February 2023, so be sure to tag us on LinkedIn and share your activity with us via: info@raceequalitymatters.com for a chance to be spotlighted!
With just 6 months to go until Race Equality Week 2023, get shouting within and outside your organisation!
Visit our website for more information on Race Equality Week, access to our Guild community network, information on our experience-driven Solutions and sign-ups for future events.