Racism at work

[NCforobviousreasonsok]

I'm interested to know peoples take on this.
A colleague used an offensive word (go it letter beginning with a p) to describe a type of place. They seem somewhat remorseful but it's still wrong.

It's being dealt with formally, but I want to know how you would expect this to be dealt with at your workplace? It's upset a few people and rightly so - I'm just debating if it's a sackable offence or warning and if so, how severe?

@RedRidingGood agree. What do you consider serious action to be?

That was my thought, too.

Their language about the incident seems a bit wishy-washy.

Give them a formal bollocking and make it clear that they're on wafer thin ice going forward. 🤏🏻

I'm not sure EDI 'training' is going to help.

The thing is - they were told and continued. I think that’s straight to last stage before dismissal.

You have to be living under a rock to think that’s a socially acceptable word to use.

@ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews I agree I don't think DEI training is going to make any difference for this person. It's still the right thing to do but they would need months and months of understanding to get this.

@NCforobviousreasonsok you need to have no doubt that they won't say it again. The investigation process is designed to ensure that they 100% understand that what they did was wrong. If they absolutely knew it was wrong and chose to say it anyway (twice), then it's dismissal.

That word was common when I was growing up and I've managed 25 years in the workplace not using it. It's really not difficult.

This straight to gross misconduct territory for me. Using a racial slur in the workplace is never acceptable.

In my view there would have to be a formal disciplinary meeting to explain to the person why what they did was considered gross misconduct and against workplace policies. If they were genuinely contrite and showed they understood why it was wrong, then a formal written warning and mandatory training might be enough.

I would expect them to be sacked

zero tolerance on racism

it was not used by all of the older generation it’s always been known it was a derogatory term just ignored and certainly died out by the 90’s

and to many it’s deeply offensive and harmful regardless how the word is used

As a POC I'd be talking to my union about why racism has been allowed to stand if they weren't dismissed.

Why would it take months for them to using the work p is racist?

Do they have a learning disability or cognitive impairment?

It's still the right thing to do but they would need months and months of understanding to get this.

I think you’re giving too much benefit of the doubt here. They said it, were told it was offensive and did it again. That’s not lack of understanding at play.

Besides which they don’t need to get it, or even agree that it’s offensive, they need to control their use of language in the workplace. If they can’t do that, out they go.

People may disagree with me here but I think there's a big difference between what I consider racism (hatred of another group), and stereotyping a particular group based on observation.

Telling someone to "f-off you (n-word, p-word)" - for example, obvious racism and needs to be stamped out...

A disproportionate number of those sorts of shops are run by (that ethnic group)
Germans are frequently in engineering roles
Polish are frequently good tradesmen/women
Asians are frequently in maths/computing
British make the best football hooligans :)

I think it's dangerous when we link hatred with observation... otherwise we can't report say, crime statistics and work out the 'why' for fear of being labelled racist.

What are you talking about? The OP didn't simply observe that a shop was run by Asians, she used a racial slur to describe the shop. It's not the same thing.

Using it once might be a first warning. In this case they continued to use it despite being told its offensive. It has to be a minimum of a final warning.

The op hasn’t used the term. She is dealing with the person who did.

As someone who was around in 1984 I would say not even then!

In 1984 I was in my final year at University. One of my flat mates was a Sikh. I was astonished how racist she could be and used the P word several times in a derogatory way. The rest of us were somewhat gobsmacked and often embarrassed by this and would try to tell her she couldn't go round saying that but she just shrugged it off. She did have a very ethnically diverse group of friends but was just bigoted towards this one group.

I agree. I'm 70 and have never used that word in my life, nor has my 77 yr old husband. It's never been acceptable in any day and age as far as I'm concerned.

I assume the word beginning with 'p' was a short way of saying 'Pakistan'. British people get called Brits a lot, I don't see why one is offensive and the other isn't. If it's caused that much emotional damage, just sack them.

I'd say a formal warning would be appropriate.

My parents used this term all the time when I was growing up, to the point where I thought it was the actual name for the shops. I said it once in primary school (late 1990s) and never again after the teacher explained to me that it could upset people.

This is intended as a counter to the 'my 80 year old granddad never thought it was acceptable' type posts, because clearly in some locations and for some social groups it was, in the 90s. But also, if I as a 9 year old could understand that I shouldn't use a particular word at school even if my parents use it, because other people will be hurt by it, adults in the workplace have no excuse. Once could be ignorance, repeated use isn't.

What are you on about?

Oh come on. You cannot seriously be unable to see the difference between the two terms?

Of course they can. They are using faux naivete to excuse racism. It's pathetic.

I'm an immigrant to the UK and I face all kinds of comments "you're not from around here etc..." and that all seemed perfectly acceptable to them and anyone who heard it. I suppose it rolls off my shoulders now and for some people it's genuine curiosity and for others you can tell they are just a nasty xenophobic C**t.

If they made a regrettable remark and it was a one off and this person isn't known to be a racist or a jerk in general. I'd try and move past it and education the person.

Perhaps you need to look at the culture in the organisation as well. If people from a certain community are only sitting together or making friendships amongst themselves, only conversing among themselves - then how is this impacting the perception and culture in the organisation.

There is no context around the situation. I'm not excusing the remark in anyway but if there are frustrations - when those boil over they aren't going to be reasonable.

They will probably get a written warning.

Why is it offensive to observe that someone is from or has lineage with Pakistan but not offensive when observing that someone is from or has lineage with Britain? Either we instead refer to British people as 'British' or we stop selectively getting offended over pretty much every abbreviation or instance of shorthand that can be construed as racist. It would also be a good idea to stop obsessing over race as a general concept. The content of character and morals of a person are far more important than skin pigmentation.

I assume the word beginning with 'p' was a short way of saying 'Pakistan'. British people get called Brits a lot, I don't see why one is offensive and the other isn't. If it's caused that much emotional damage, just sack them.

Because the shortened version of Pakistan has long been used pejoratively as an expression of distain. It carries a different weight and power than calling someone a Brit, Aussie or some such. But you know this.