P&G demonstrates commitment to driving racial equality in the workplace by signing up to the Race at Work charter

Today, we furthered our commitment to driving racial equality both inside our organisation and in wider society, and are now a proud signatory of the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter.

We know that ethnic minorities still face significant disparities in employment and progression, and that is something we need to change. The Charter is composed of five calls to action for leaders and organisations across all sectors. Signing up means taking practical steps to ensure their workplaces are tackling barriers that ethnic minority people face in recruitment and progression and that their organisations are representative of British society today. We will be reporting our progress back to the organisation in the coming months.

What are the five calls to action?

• Appoint an Executive Sponsor for race
  Executive Sponsors for race provide visible leadership on race and ethnicity in their organisation and can drive actions such as setting targets for ethnic minority representation, briefing recruitment agencies and supporting mentoring and sponsorship.

• Capture ethnicity data and publicise progress
  Capturing ethnicity data is important for establishing a baseline and measuring progress. It is a crucial step towards an organisation reporting on ethnicity pay differentials.

• Commit at board level to zero tolerance of harassment and bullying
  The Race at Work Survey revealed that 25 per cent of ethnic minority employees reported that they had witnessed or experienced racial harassment or bullying from managers. Commitment from the top is needed to achieve change.

• Make clear that supporting equality in the workplace is the responsibility of all leaders and managers
  Actions can include ensuring that performance objectives for leaders and managers cover their responsibilities to support fairness for all staff.

• Take action that supports ethnic minority career progression
  Actions can include embedding mentoring, reverse mentoring and sponsorship in their organisations.

Northern Europe HR VP Chris Young commented “We are working hard to drive racial equality throughout our organisation and signing up to BITC’s Race at Work charter will help us in this important work. We cannot achieve our goals without leadership commitment and accountability to deliver on our goals. Radu Maftei, Finance VP Northern Europe, has already made a big impact as our lead team sponsor for Race, making a personal commitment to learn and understand in order to become a better ally. Equality starts with each of us individually, as leaders, as Managers and colleagues to set the tone and demonstrate inclusive behaviours. I look forward to continuing this important work, learning and taking action to ensure we embrace our diversity as a business advantage to win”.