Australian organisations are not doing enough to prevent or respond to racist incidents, according to a sobering new report that calls for companies to diversify their workforces and tear down racial barriers.
Diversity Council Australia's (DCA) Racism at Work report found less than a quarter of 1,547 workers surveyed nationwide believed their employers took immediate action against workplace racism, while just 27 per cent said their organisations were proactive in preventing it.
It also highlighted that "racially privileged" white workers struggle to recognise racism at work because they have not suffered such discrimination first-hand.
Some 18 per cent in this category said racism in their workplace was common or very common, compared to 43 per cent of "racially marginalised" non-white workers.
"What the findings of the report show is that racism is widespread among racially marginalised groups, and that people from racially privileged groups don't actually see the extent of the racism," DCA CEO, Lisa Annese, said.
"And that's important to understand because we need people to see and understand racism before we can eradicate it."
Harrowing instances of workplace racism laid bare
The report highlights the many forms racism can take — from overt to systemic — through stories of those who have been subjected to such discrimination.
One person who took part in the survey said they were "referred to as a 'disgusting Jew'," and told that World War Two "was great for Germany's economy".
In another incident, described as "subtle racism", a respondent said colleagues had imitated and laughed about their accent "even if it's a meeting about important matters".
One worker said their employer's fixed-term contract jobs were "disproportionately filled by people of colour", while an Aboriginal man working in aged care told of horrendous verbal abuse by a colleague that took a toll on his mental health.
"She would manipulate other staff members to taunt me as well … calling me a black lowlife, black piece of s--t," he said.
"The verbal aggression l copped from her broke me down to the point of finding a place to cry because of the constant aggressive racism.”
Combatting racism: Education is key
The report urges Australian companies to cast aside terms such as "harmony" and "cultural inclusion" when discussing racism and instead discuss the issue directly.
"As a country, and certainly in workplaces, there are very low levels of racial literacy in Australia; we're not comfortable at all talking about race," Ms Annese said.
She said individuals and organisations need to "own their ignorance" and "build their own understanding of racial language".
"That means moving away from only ever talking about cultural diversity or culturally and linguistically diverse people," she said.
Diversity Council Australia CEO, Lisa Annese. Source: Supplied / Hero Shot Photography
"And you can't address racism by only talking about culture," she said. "So you actually have to build your language and literacy in that space."
She said organisations needed to draw upon evidence-based material that is relevant to Australia when developing anti-racism training programs.
Companies should also not rely primarily on online training modules.
"They can, at best, provide a framework for a conversation, but a topic like racism needs a conversation that is expertly facilitated," she said.
Dr Victor Sojo, a Senior Lecturer in Leadership at the University Melbourne's Department of Management and Marketing, agreed.
He said organisations need to consider what type of changes they want to make, and then develop training programs to facilitate that.
"They need to look at what kind of processes they are going to change and how they will do that, and then develop a training program that will encourage behavioural change," he said.
Would racial hiring targets help in addressing racial bias?
In order to eradicate racial bias during the recruitment process, the report recommends that companies should introduce racial hiring targets and make them public.
Ms Annese while such targets would "depend on the industry, the organisation, and where it wants to go", they should be "achievable with stretch".
"If it's too pie in the sky, people become demoralised because they're not able to achieve it," she said.
"But if it's too easy, you haven't stretched the organisation. So pick something that's realistic and add a stretch into that for the short-term, and maybe something for ambitious for the medium- to long-term."
Asked if companies should disclose such targets in annual reports, she said: "I do think things like transparency, regulatory frameworks and reporting can be very useful in terms of precipitating change."
The report recommends that organisations look for "cultural add" rather than "cultural fit" when recruiting candidates, and consider using specialist recruitment providers rather than online systems that are "prone to racism".
Dr Sojo said employers should map what level of diversity exists in the organisation and the community in which they are operating.
He said if the skills don't exist, companies should think about developing employment pathways.
"If they do exist, employers should think about forming partnerships with community organisations that these individuals are typically attached to so you can do targeted recruitment, instead of just posting it on a website like Seek knowing that there are certain groups that wouldn't normally look for work there," he said.
He said employers should also monitor how many people from diverse backgrounds are taking part in work projects because they can "define whether your career progresses or not".
"If managers are allocating projects in a way that is biased, a bunch of people may be left behind," he said.
Empowering workers to call racism out
Employers should, among other things, ensure that "all reasonable steps" are taken to prevent and address racist incidents, and "commit to unearthing and acting on workplace truths about the nature, scale, and impact of racism" in order to foster a culture that encourages workers to call it out, the report says.
The Australian Multicultural Foundation's executive director, Dr Bulent Hass Dellal, said one of the key ways to achieve such a culture was to ensure robust systems to handle racism complaints in an appropriate manner are in place.
"It's about responding to the complaint, and making sure that person's complaint is dealt with fairly," Dr Dellal said.
Dr Dellal said this was important because if it does not occur, workers might not make complaints because they may feel as though "they will go nowhere".
"I think it's really important for an organisation to demonstrate leadership and say 'we're not going to tolerate racism or any form of discrimination," he said.
"One way they could do this would be undertaking an audit of complaints to show that their processes are working and give people confidence that their complaints will be dealt with properly, fairly, and seriously."
