Racism is a serious issue in offices across the country. As an employee, you have the power to be part of the solution by making sure that your company doesn’t tolerate racist behavior and makes an effort towards diversity. How to prevent racism in the workplace? Here are three ways you can be part of creating a more diverse and equitable workplace:
Speak up
It’s important to use your voice to help change things for the better in the workplace. If you hear a racist comment or joke, speak up about it. If someone is making assumptions about another person’s race, tell them that’s not okay and ask why they’re making those assumptions—you might learn something! Experts at Intuit say,”Words can be powerful tools, but they can also be harmful when used to marginalize others.”
If you’re struggling with something at work, don’t be afraid to ask for help or input from others in the office. You have nothing to lose by speaking up and asking questions—and everything to gain by doing so!
You might be surprised at how many people are willing to help you out if you reach out. If someone is making assumptions about another person’s race, tell them that’s not okay and ask why they’re making those assumptions—you might learn something!
Listen more
The second step is to listen more than you speak.
To do this, you must become aware of and eliminate any unconscious verbal tics that indicate that you’re speaking and not listening. This includes using phrases such as “yeah, but,” “like,” and “you know.”
If a coworker says something that doesn’t interest or concern you, don’t say “yeah” or “that’s true.” Instead, ask questions like: How do they feel about it? What are their thoughts on the matter? What would happen if things didn’t change?
The second step is to actively listen. This means that you should be paying attention to the other person’s words, tone of voice and body language. You can also use reflective listening techniques such as summarizing comments back to the speaker or asking them questions about what they’ve said.
Have a plan and strategy for diversity
Why should you have a plan and strategy for diversity? Because it’s important to the company. Diversity helps your business grow, innovate, be profitable, sustainable and socially responsible.
Having a plan means you’ve thought about what needs to be done and how you’ll do it. It also means that if someone asks why they should care about diversity in the workplace or asks what they can do to support diversity they will have an answer besides “because it’s good” or “don’t know how.”
Diversity is about more than just race and gender. It’s also about age, ability, ethnicity, sexual orientation and lifestyle preferences. Diversity helps make the workplace more interesting and innovative by providing new perspectives on problems or challenges. A diverse workforce can help you attract top talent and retain employees who are engaged in their work because they feel valued by their company’s mission and vision.
The workplace is the ideal place to practice tolerance and acceptance, but it can be difficult to do this without offending someone else. If you know that there’s a risk of offending someone with your words or actions, it’s best not to do them in the first place! This article has given you some helpful tips on how to prevent racism at work.
Interesting Related Article: “How Diversity and Inclusion Present Business Advantages“
