Workplace inclusion drives have almost trebled since BLM protests, survey shows

theguardian.com:

The number of employers implementing new diversity and inclusion drives has almost trebled since the end of the Black Lives Matter protests, new research shows.

A total of 27% of ethnic minority workers said their employers had introduced new initiatives during the last 12 months in response to the global movement, according to an Opinium survey of 2,000 adults. This was an increase from 10% in 2020, the year in which protests began after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in the US state of Minnesota.

The latest Multicultural Britain survey, undertaken by the pollsters in partnership with the advocacy organisation Reboot, said that almost half (47%) of ethnic minority workers had seen their employer take some sort of action to tackle racism and diversity problems – up from 40% in 2020.

“We were interested in questioning whether promises made by employers after George Floyd were just an example of performative activism or if we were still seeing the action happening today, which is why we specifically asked whether employers have taken action,” said Priya Minhas, the lead researcher of the Multicultural Britain series. In 2020, 73% of ethnic minorities said they had experienced discrimination, but this year, for the first time since the Multicultural Britain series began in 2016, that figure dropped to 64%. Minhas said that it’s difficult to tell whether this is positive change as a result of the global protests or because of people largely working from home and restrictions in socialising due to the pandemic. “While there have been improvements in increased satisfaction in what employers are doing, and more people feeling that businesses and organisations are making an authentic effort to tackle racism, there