Social workers believe employers are failing to address discrimination at work, even with good policies in place, a poll has found.
This comes despite significant evidence of minority ethnic social care staff experiencing consistently worse outcomes than white counterparts, disparities across age, sex and race in relation to fitness to practise cases and concerns over the lack of inclusion of social workers based on their protected characteristics.
While social work organisations have regularly professed their vocal commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, most practitioners in a recent Community Care poll reported employers were not responding effectively to workplace discrimination.
Of 556 respondents, 47% said employers were handling discrimination badly, with "no accountability for, or learning from, discrimination". Just over a third (35%) agreed that good policies existed but said they were being poorly implemented.
Only 18% said senior leaders were prioritising tackling discrimination in their workplace.
A new approach to tackling discrimination
In relation to race, the latest Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard showed that council staff from minority groups fared less well than white counterparts in relation to recruitment, pay, progression and being subject to disciplinary processes, among other indicators.
In response to this and similar findings, British Association of Social Workers (BASW) England professional officer Wayne Reid and colleagues recently launched a new tool, Shades of Bias, to document, analyse and address instances of bias in the social work workplace.
Writing for Community Care, Reid said the model set out a process to "reveal" the instance of bias, "reflect" on its dynamics and impact and "repair" this through learning and accountability for those responsible.
“It recognises that progress depends not just on systems changing, but on individuals reflecting, learning and being brave enough to do better,” he added.
How has your employer handled incidents of discrimination in your workplace?
Celebrate those who've inspired you
Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure you can't help but gush about?
Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.
Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.
*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*
If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com
