reboot., a team of ethnic minority ally cross-industry communications and marketing professionals, has launched its inaugural campaign to spotlight the journeys of successful ethnic minority professionals who have risen to senior positions in the corporate world despite the societal challenges they face. By using the power of storytelling, reboot aims to support positive dialogue on race in the workplace as well as engage senior leadership across large organizations to help tackle conscious and unconscious biases.
The campaign name is built from a simple mantra:
- Take control of the narrative
- Alter your perceptions and inherent biases
- Delete racial inequality in the workplace. Time to reboot.
Over the coming weeks, reboot. will release a series of video interviews on LinkedIn with black, Asian and minority ethnic professionals who are redefining the corporate world. Many are interviewed by their senior leaders to delve into their career journeys and the obstacles they have faced, plus thoughts on how to achieve a truly inclusive workplace. Premiering on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and running through International Women’s Day, the first interview in the campaign is a conversation between Baroness Helena Morrissey, founder of the 30% Club and Chair of the Diversity Project and Mary FitzPatrick, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Natwest Markets.
“There are still practices and behaviours in the workplace that continue to create bias against people from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic backgrounds,” said Mary FitzPatrick. “With all that has gone on, like the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, now is the time for change. People should now be thinking more about how some behaviours like microaggressions can affect others. We should listen more and understand what we can do to be allies to people from minority ethnic backgrounds.”
The Black Lives Matter movement has galvanised the interests of minorities across the world and has highlighted the criticality of addressing racism and inequality in all its forms. In the UK alone, racial equality has the potential to boost the economy by as much as £24 billion per year. However, the reality today is that ethnic minority groups are less able to secure opportunities for job progression or employment that matches their skills and abilities. Ethnic minorities make up 14% of the UK working-age population, yet only account for 6% of senior positions, 5% of CEOs in FTSE 100 organisations, and 3% of the most prominent 1,000 people in the UK. This all adds up to a £3.2bn pay gap for ethnic minority workers in the UK versus their white peers.
Suki Sandhu OBE, Advisor for reboot. and Founder of Audeliss Executive Search said: “Championing a diversity of perspectives, cultures, and experiences will create a positive business impact. Diverse groups make better, faster decisions with less bias and groupthink, and drive team creativity and innovation. We need to continue to shift the diversity narrative away from a box-ticking exercise to a more meaningful and accountable dialogue between senior business leaders, ethnic minority role models and allies.”
Noreen Biddle Shah, Founder of reboot. and Marketing and Communications Managing Director at State Street commented: “Although our first series focuses largely on financial services, we are confident that there is a wealth of inspiring ethnic minority leaders across industry sectors, and we encourage companies to join in this effort so we can learn from these stories. Organisations can play a vital role in shifting the narrative to support equality. We want to work with them and use our platform to help educate others and ensure momentum is maintained and dialogue flowing around race in the workplace.”
Organisations participating include: 30% Club, Accenture, The Black British Business Awards, Capital International Group, Citi, Invesco, Natwest Markets, State Street, and more.
