A report in September 2017 presented findings from polling commissioned by the TUC from ICM. It was conducted with a panel of 1,003 Black and minority ethnic (BAME) workers. The findings show that BAME workers face many forms of discrimination and racism such as: verbal abuse; racist comments and jokes; bullying and harassment; physical violence; being singled out and treated differently; or discriminated against. Many BAME workers feel unable to report their experience formally and this has a negative effect on their general wellbeing, mental health and performance at work.
The Key Findings show that:
- More than a third (37%) of workers polled have been bullied, abused or experienced racial discrimination by their employer.
- 19% have experienced discrimination such as being denied training or promotion.
- 15% have experienced verbal abuse and 16% of BAME workers have experienced bullying or harassment at work.
- 4% say they experienced assault or physical violence in the workplace in the past 5 years.
- 43% did not feel able to report their experience of discrimination to their employers and 38% did not report incidents of bullying and harassment.
NOTICED Committee member, Tony Diangelo, commented “Encouragingly, the report concludes with a clear set of recommendations for employers and the government to follow. Salient recommendations include: having a strong equality, diversity and dignity policy; publishing data on BAME pay, recruitment, promotion and dismissal; setting and monitoring organisational diversity targets and ensuring there is a clear procedure for BAME workers to report racism.”