Racist incident - protocol

[Wonderbug81]

I witnessed a racist incident today at work. The person involved is one of the most senior people in the company and they displayed racist behaviour towards someone more junior. The racism was also indirectly related to me as I'm the same race.

I was too shocked in the moment to say anything but want to raise a complaint with HR. I don't know how seriously they'll take it as the senior person oversees the HR team indirectly too! I'm also therefore concerned about being treated differently after I raise it.

Any advice on how I manage this e.g. I assume I should keep records, follow up conversations in writing over email etc? Feeling a bit of out of my depth.

Fair enough.

My angle is just that what is racist for one person is not racist for another, as we all know.

And that can, and does, have an impact on reaction.

I think you should definitely raise it, OP. You should not have to tolerate racism in the workplace, regardless of who it's coming from.

If you are brave enough, I would raise it directly with the manager who said it, rather than going to HR, which you say reports into him anyway. Obviously, we don't know exactly what was said, but could you potentially approach it from the perspective that he might not have realised that it was racist, and you know that he is committed to DEI, so wanted to bring it to his attention?

If you report to HR, he will feel under attack and my concern would be that he might then adopt a negative attitude towards you, which could end up damaging your progression. Not that it should, of course, but we all know that people's egos often get in the way of rational or ethical behaviour.

If it is feasible that you could approach him in some way which acknowledges that he is "committed to DEI" and somehow enables him to preserve his image of himself as a decent person, then you might get him to engage more readily. But, depending on the culture of the company, I know that it might not be feasible to approach him in this manner.

@Wonderbug81 does your organisation have a whistleblowing phone line? You can usually report serious issues anonymously so you are protected from any blowback?

I second joining a union and document the who, what, where, when of this incident.

You can absolutely report the senior person who did this awful thing - we should never stand silent in the face of racism but in reality, things like this can often be swept under the rug or the person who reported it gets the consequences which is unfair but happens.

Protect yourself first and then take steps to report. Make sure you are protected by anonymity or by a union representative though.

Well if you are 100% sure it was racist and it happened during work hours or on a work platform (i.e you have proof of it and it was not something that happened flippantly outside of working hours on a personal level) then you have no choice but to go to your direct manager about this and tell them you want to raise a grievance but you feel HR are too close to the issue and you want advice on where to go although your manager might see it that you are making accusations against your HR dept being able to do their job.

Have you got a whistleblowing policy? If so, that might be a good route to go down.

If you work in finance for example, there's strict ethics rules and this would certainly breach it.

So that sounds like a bullying and harassment issue with a racist element. So its the harassment or dignity at work or similar policy you should be following. You can ask HR about the appropriate policy without needing to tell them details at this stage if you prefer.

Nobody thinks calling a black person black is racism. If they are calling them a black 'expletive/insult' then it is.

I agree with you OP not to post the specifics, if you do the thread will fill up with people posting about how it’s not racist and you’re overreacting, regardless of what it is. People don’t even know what it is and they’re already minimising!

It's very interesting to see how eager people are to minimise and dismiss racism when they don't even know what has been said.

The OP has made it clear that she isn't looking for help as to whether the incident should or shouldn't be considered racist, because she already knows that it was. It's a shame that people can't respect that.

Thank you yes they do, comments on this thread reminded me to look at our policies. I think it will be quite outing if I whistleblow to be honest, so weighing up whether I just do it openly anyway. As I understand it trade unions can only protect existing members.

@PinkFrogss @MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack

Thank you, yes the same thoughts struck me! Highlighting exactly why it's so difficult to speak up in the first place...

I think that whistleblowers do have extra protection in law. So whether you use the hotline or not, you might want to research that first, any if relevant make it clear that you are disclosing under whistleblowing protections.

Fair point. But we do not know what was said.

Although describing someone by their race when it is not relevant in any way can be called racist. There is a case for that anyway.

We don't need to know what was said.

It is the OP's considered view that it was racist, and she is the one faced with the decision about whether or not to report.

I hope you are ok.

My advice is to contact HR and tell them that you wish to report a racist incident and ask them what the procedure is.

You don't have to give them any more details at this point. Find out what the procedure is and then follow it meticulously.

It is worth sitting down today and writing a file note of what you saw and heard, when it happened, who else witnessed etc. Keep it completely factual and do it today whilst your memory is fresh.

The other thing you could is contact ACAS for free and independent advice.

Good luck and well done for wanting to do the right thing.

Not if it's purely for visual description purposes. Not opinions about someone's character or personality or assumptions about their behaviour.

'What did he look like?'

'He was about 5'10, black, large build, had a short grey beard' etc. is perfectly acceptable.

This is good advice. All the best Op as that’s not something anyone should have to put up with anywhere, never mind in the workplace & especially from a senior manager. Hope you’re ok.

Do you have a D&I manager where you work? Or a Wellbeing team? That would be my first place to go. They would be best placed to advise on next steps.

Really good advice, thank you. Should have remembered ACAS!

No to both even though it's a very large company. Perhaps gives some insight into why some of these things are happening...

100%^

As the Op is not divulging what happened I am assuming she thinks it was not really racist but wants to be offended

It's very interesting to see how eager people are to accuse someone of racism when they don't even know what has been said.

Except nobody is doing that.

The OP knows exactly what was said, and she thinks it was racist.

She isn't asking for opinions on that. She is asking for advice on how to report.

It's very telling that you are so eager to dismiss her concerns as "not really racist" and to suggest that she just "wants to be offended". That says far more about you than it says about the OP or her workplace.

The OP is wise in not divulging the details which could be outing and detrimental to the process. Just because you assume something, doesn't make it real.

It's very interesting to see how eager people are to accuse someone of racism when they don't even know what has been said.

The OP knows what was said. No one else has accused anyone of racism.