New recruit complaining about lack of employees from ethnic minorities

[Dickieanddolly]

I work for an environment-focussed agency in one of the smaller UK countries. My team covers one of the more rural regions where the population is 99% white. Last year needed to recruit someone with specific qualifications and experience and the best candidate applied from India. She was the only applicant with the qualifications we were were looking for. She'd been to university in London, then returned to India where she'd gained several years of relevant experience. I interviewed her remotely and I and the HR rep talked to her about how our area was very different from her university city experience and may present challenges. She brushed off our concerns: she said she knew the UK and didn't anticipate any issues.

Within a couple of weeks of her starting the job I had feedback from her manager that she had talked several times about her discomfort at finding she was the only minority ethnic person on the team. I had an informal 'how's it going' chat with her when I encountered her in the office at the beginning of June and she said she was struggling, seeing so few people like her around. I asked her about her experience with colleagues and with the stakeholders she encounters in her work: was she encountering racism? She said no, everyone she'd met had been very nice and any minor 'off' comments were made out of ignorance and not intentionally. I asked if there was anything we could do to make the transition easier for her and she shrugged.

Yesterday a member of the team dropped in to update me on a new project. I was pleased to hear that our new recruit is working well and has come up with some ideas that will be trialled. Great. But apparently several of the team are on eggshells around her because of regular comments about how white everyone is. Several members of the team, appreciating the culture shock she must be experiencing, have done what they can to make her feel welcome. Many of us have had work experience abroad, often in developing countries (I spent a year in Malawi, for example), and know how hard it can be. She's been invited into peoples' homes, invited out at the weekend and her colleagues have introduced her to other people of colour elsewhere in the organisation and in town — and then worried that that might be seen as racist.

Any ideas on what more we can do to help her feel more at home? Anything I need to look out for/ be aware of?

she has mentioned that she is the only ethnic minority in the company and that everyone is white.

mentioning someones race when discussing race isn't racism isn't racist.
was she using white as a perjortive?

No. I am veggie Hindu by upbringing, but I don't think anyone eating beef or meat is a barbarian. I sometimes find the smell a bit overpowering. My DS now eats meat and I just leave the kitchen if he is cooking.

No doubt, other people find the smell of garlic, ginger and spicy food overpowering. So I take cucumber and cheese sandwiches to work.🙂

A little bit of give and take is needed in multicultural environments. Just like living in a house share.

Could you involve her in a working group to make recruitment more inclusive generally - making sure jobs are advertised to diverse audiences, looking at the wording of adverts, consider implementing diversity targets in the number of applicants you progress to interview - that kind of initiative? You can't instantly acquire a diverse workforce but you can take steps to make sure a diverse range of applicants have the opportunity to be considered for future roles.

Your HR person tried to warn her - how direct was HR person? I just don't think she heard it.

She is making several of her team members walk on eggshells around her because of regular comments about how white everyone is.

We have no idea if she was talking about white as a perjortive. However she is making her team members uncomfortable and that is not acceptable. She was warned when she joined the company, its her own fault if she didn't listen.

It's problematic and unprofessional to keep going on about it. If I got a job where most people were Indian and kept on complaining about how I was the only white person (even though everyone was treating me perfectly well), I'd expect to be called out for it. Triply so if the job was actually in India.

Maybe HR needs to have another quiet, gentle word with her.

I'm foreign and have worked in the rural environmental sector in the UK. What on earth was she thinking taking this job and expecting diversity? Springwatch and Gardeners World may have diversified, but on the ground, not so much.

Fwiw I moved to London and even here the environmental sector isn't that diverse. More than 10 year ago, but still below average compared to the local population.

As someone from one of the smaller UK countries it can be difficult for people from cities to grasp how different rural areas can be. If it’s rural Wales then English is often the second language which can be a big shock and there isn’t industry/lots of jobs to attract new people so it is usually very white. I find it a culture shock and I’ve lived in Wales all my life but in a very multicultural city.

Complaining how white it is to white people isn’t really on. Surely she shouldn’t be commenting and complaining about other peoples skin colour? No one is being racist to her or unwelcoming. She just sounds very very rude.

I kinda agree with this. Maybe HR or her manager needs to speak to her, especially if people are feeling uncomfortable. Make it clear its what she says and not who she is, otherwise it could look like you’re victimising her because of her race. It’s one of those tricky situations whereby it could look like you’re picking on her by calling her out, but you’re not.

Hmmm - 'playing the race card', as you put it, is a term used when people are trying to use their race to improve their situation in some way or to deflect criticism. The lady in the OP's example is talking about race a lot and complaining about the ethnic mix of the team but there is nothing to suggest she is doing this to improve her situation or benefit in anyway.

Don’t you think saying :everyone is so white is also offensive:

Imagine if a white person took a job in India, then continuously moaned about how Indian everyone was and that it made them uncomfortable. How do you think they should be handled? Do that. If you treat this person differently than you think a white person should be treated in the exact same situation, you are racially discriminating against them.

I don’t understand her complaint, if I moved to rural India I would absolutely expect to be the only white person there and I wouldn’t expect to see people that looked like me. Where I grew up in North East England I don’t think I saw a single person who wasn’t white until I was in my teens, no one emigrates to small rural communities with no large industry.

Why did you really post this, OP?

Maybe she is more of a city person? Maybe she has realised the hard way that she is not cut out for working in a very non diverse environment.

I think the suggestions from PP are good - check there is no unconscious racism she might be experiencing and ensure DEI training is up to date across the board. Also let her suggest ways that you can promote greater inclusivity. Though these will be limited given that you are located in a 99% white population. There really isn't much anyone can do to change local demographics.

She needs DEI training too - she needs to be aware that all racism is illegal under the EA2010. She should know she risks stepping into a grievance situation if she continues vocalising some of her opinions about white people. It's amazing how some people (younger women especially) are under the impression that you can complain about white people or men freely at work but the Equality Act is just that. Equal treatment for everyone.

I have always managed diverse teams and encountered several cultural fit issues - not always necessarily race-based but around socialising expectations, ways of communicating, teamwork and personality styles. Aside from things that you can control (such as ensuring work event food and drink includes suitable options; ensuring that processes and communication styles are inclusive with respect to language difference and understanding) and focusing on performance and getting the job done, there is only so much you can do if someone feels culturally uncomfortable for them. It's their choice.

Ultimately she will likely manage herself out sooner rather than later but if you focus on dodging any potential grievance bullets and managing her performance and work and not get sucked into any wider cultural quagmire, that's the best outcome.

Why are you letting her comment on how white everyone is? Why are you letting everyone be uncomfortable due to her issues? Get rid of her if you can. She doesn’t sound like a good fit.

Im not sure what being Christian has to do with it and I’m not passing judgement on whether her behaviour is reasonable or not but Im pretty sure you haven’t used the term ‘playing the race card’ in an accurate way. Or at least in a way anyone would understand it.

ETA - the OP hasn’t said she’s ’fucking useless’ she’s said she’s ’working Well’, what are you reading???

also… you sound angry. I’m not sure why…

Any ideas on what more we can do to help her feel more at home?

Just want to answer this specific question.

No. You are her employers. Not her mum. She is an adult with several years pg experience who has lived across two continents. It's for her to manage her personal life and culture expectations.

Sure, but, that’s not what playing the race card means 😂

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_card

language works because we all have a common understanding of what things mean. If you make it up, it doesn’t work.

" Rape central India". O..k.
Christian country? I think most of the UK counts itself as being of no religion. But the employee in question has not mentioned religion at all. And there are very many Indian Christians, so she could be one.

I think you have had as much useful input as you will get here, OP. And I agree that this may be picked up by the DM. You don't need to be her mum though.