Black History Month Guide

e-book

Black

HistoryMonth

13 Meaningful ways for UK companies to take action at work this October

Table of Contents

What is BlackHistoryMonth?

Black History Month in the United Kingdom is a time for everyone across the region to come together to share, celebrate, and understand the impact of Black heritage and culture.

a month to elevate Black voices and celebrate the community for their contributions to society—both historically and now.

What is the history of BHM? Why is BHM important?

Black History Month was first proposed by Black educators and Black students at Kent State University in the United States in February of 1969. But it wasn't until the next year that the official month was celebrated.

In the United Kingdom, the first Black History Month took place in February of 1987 as a part of the African Jubilee Year. With American Activist Maulana Karenga appearing at an event at County Hall to mark the contributions of Black people throughout history, Addai-Sebo drew up a plan to recognise the contributions of African, Asian, and Carribbean people to the economic, cultural and political life in the UK.

From there, the month was officially named Black History Month and has been celebrated across the UK ever since.

However, it's important to note that Black History Month UK does not support the use of the term "Black" to refer to all people of colour in the United Kingdom.

lack History Month is a time to learn about Black history and culture. It’s a time to champion Black achievements, celebrate Black lives, and empower Black voices.

It’s also a time to listen to Black stories and hear the lived experiences shared by Black people around the country and the globe. It’s a time to unlearn ingrained prejudice and acknowledge the role we all play in creating an equal, just world.

Black History Month is important because racism still prevails in society. It still prevails in institutions. It still prevails in the day-to-day lives of Black people, including in the workplace.

In fact, research finds that Black workers have higher unemployment, lower wages, and worse prospects than other workers. They’re overrepresented in low-wage occupations, and underrepresented in high-wage occupations.

Education, along with institutional reform, is key for stamping out racism —BHM highlights the injustice and creates space for people to learn and grow all year round.

How can companiessupport?

There are many ways in which your organisation can celebrate Black History Month in the UK and there’s definitely a right and a wrong way to go about it. Here are some tips on how to make sure your approach reflects the importance of participating in Black History Month.

Leave time to plan your involvement

There have been times where we’ve advised you that something last-minute is better than nothing at all. This isn’t one of those times.

It’s essential to ensure your BHM celebrations don’t feel rushed—your involvement in racial justice should never be an afterthought. Take the time to plan how your organisation wants to get involved and make sure you have ample time to pull the plan together.

Get involved in whatever way you can— be that a regional campaign or local volunteering. Different organisations are able to support in different ways— identify how your team can best create a positive impact.

Celebrate internally and externally

Support for BHM shouldn’t be performative. It’s not about a favourable public image, it’s about using your influence and budget for good. Only supporting Black History Month sends a concerning message to your Black employees—that you only care when people are watching.

Celebrate internally and externally

Ensure your BHM efforts include internal participation, not just social media campaigns and other public-facing involvement. Marginalised groups know when they’re being exploited for positive press. Find out what your Black team members need from your organisation—both internally and externally—and involve them in the process of making it happen.

Not just for Black employees

A huge mistake that organisations make is thinking that Black History Month is for Black employees only.

Of course, there may be events and opportunities specifically for your Black team members to engage with Black history and culture. However, it’s also a really key time to start important conversations around what it’s like to be Black in the given country. It makes space for people to highlight their experiences and be heard by their non-Black colleagues.

12Ways to support th in the workplace

There are plenty of ways to support Black health, education, rights, and community development this Black History Month. Here’s how you can get involved.

Take action

Getting involved and creating impact in your immediate community is a great way to support Black lives and growth. There are ample initiatives to get involved in across the country, and many ways your organisation can take immediate action within your community.

Whether you’re giving time or money, BHM is a great time to start taking part in these initiatives. Here’s where you can start.

Volunteer for a Black-owned nonprofit

All over the country, nonprofits are working day in and day out to lead and support the fight against racial injustice. They work with Black communities to support healthcare, education, employment, and more.

Here are some examples of nonprofits and how they work to support communities:

BLAM UK Black Minds Matters

StopWatch UK Southall Black Sisters

AccessUK UK Black Pride

Attenda march

Another great way to support Black History Month is to support peaceful rallies and protests. Numbers are essential for impactful rallies, and encouraging safe participation sends the message that you’re not happy to sit around and let things continue as they are.

But of course it’s essential to ensure that your employees are safe when attending events outside of work. Encourage caution and make sure everyone knows both the risks of attending and safe ways that they can show their support. This way, your team can take action to avoid any possible dangerous situations, including potential exposure or spread of COVID-19, while still showing up for the cause.

Donateto a nonprofit Host a speaker

Monetary donations are part of what keeps these organisations doing the important work they do. Without funding, many of the organisations wouldn’t exist and continued monetary support is essential for staying afloat.

In order for these nonprofits to support Black individuals, they must exist. Encourage employees to donate to Black-run nonprofits and further support the cause by matching donations. It’s an effective way to boost donations for the nonprofit and a simple way to support change.

Elevate Black voices

BHM is about making space for Black voices and experiences to be heard. So next up are actions that amplify Black voices and bring Black stories to center stage.

Here are some of the ways you can amplify the Black voices in your community, and encourage further learning from your team.

Invite a Black speaker to come and talk to your organisation about topics that are relevant to your workplace. This could be a panel discussion on improving DE&I hiring practices, or maybe a speech on stamping out discrimination in the workplace.

There are ample topics your speakers can cover, and many ways in which they can educate your workforce. It’s also essential to ensure speakers are paid fairly for their work—POC speakers are often paid less than their white counterparts.

5

Your online presence is a powerful tool for elevating Black profiles—use it. Invite an influencer to host a ‘takeover’ of your channels to discuss Black history and culture with your followers.

Ask a Black influencer to host a social media takeover

Ask aBlack influencertohost asocialmedia takeover

Sharing anti-racist content to your page is a great start, but inviting Black individuals to share their experiences is much more impactful. It also provides your speaker with a place to share any important information or initiatives regarding further action.

For example, a speaker may have further materials or opportunities for anti-racist action that they can push during their social media takeover. This is useful for your audience and the speaker—a great way to support Black success.

Here are some influencers you could pay to take over your socials:

Stephanie Yeboah Yomi Adegoke Alexandra Wilson Marvyn New Harrison Brooke Boney Akala Newman

Create partnerships with Black-owned businesses

Partnering with Black-owned businesses creates a lasting commitment between both organisations. Look for organisations that share your values and align with your goals so you can continually support each other.

A few ways you can partner are:

Provide mutually discounted prices

Work with Black-owned businesses

Pay for Black-run workshops for your employees

Whatever you choose to do, ensure you’re supporting Black-owned business growth.

Champion Black employees

Supporting Black History Month

publically should be backed up by internal support for Black employees. Our advice is always to think global but act local—in this instance, that includes supporting your Black employees.

It’s also essential to acknowledge intersectionality when considering Black employees in your workforce. Intersectionality, as coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, refers to the way in which social identities—such as race, gender, sexual orientation, and class—create overlapping systems of discrimination and disadvantage.

This intersectional discrimination isn’t just something that’s faced in the workplace. Black women live the intersection between race and gender in every aspect of their lives. The same goes for LGBTQ+ members of the Black community, and Black people who face class and disability-related disadvantages.

Ignoring how Blackness intersects with other aspects of an individual’s identity doesn’t make space for adequately supporting and celebrating them. It instead provides a limited approach to creating a more equitable workplace and society.

Share your DE&I report and efforts

DE&I should be an integral part of your hiring process and organisational culture Black History Month is a great opportunity to update your team on how you’re supporting Black talent in your workforce.

It’s also an opportunity to commit to new goals moving forward supporting Black lives doesn’t end after BHM is up. Here are some goals you could look to set:

X% of management being Black

X% of new partners being Black owned businesses

X% increase in mentorship programmes for Black employees

These are just an example of a couple of DE&I goals you can look to set, but don’t limit yourself to these There are plenty of ways you can support your Black employees in the workplace.

Share your DE&I report and efforts Growth opportunities

You can also provide a more equitable environment by requiring all management to undertake diversity and inclusion management courses. It’s then important to ensure that the necessary actions are taken following any DE&I course. This could look like an intent, implementation, and impact strategy to measure and improve knowledge application.

This ensures your top leadership and team heads know how to support your Black employees in the workplace and how to remove the barriers that stop them from growing.

Adequate opportunities for growth and mentorship are key aspects in supporting your Black team members. According to a 2021 study, Black employees are overrepresented in frontline jobs and underrepresented in management positions. Evidently, action is required to rectify this.

In order to ensure transparency and accountability, it’s also essential to establish and communicate a measure of career progression within an organisation. It’s a roadmap that details the stages of career progression that employees can expect from your organisation. This allows them to better understand the stages of career development, and holds businesses accountable to the development promises made.

You can also offer growth opportunities alongside efforts to find sponsors. Company-sponsored education encourages employees to continue their learning and grow their skillset. Offer your Black employees the chance to enroll in courses that support their growth not only in your organisation but also as individuals.

Support learning Educational reading

Another key part of supporting Black people and stamping out racism is education. It’s essential to understand Black history and how it continues to affect life for Black people nowadays.

It’s not just about learning, but it’s also essential to unlearn. The society in which we’ve been raised is systemically racist, and a racist society breeds everyday racism— racism that many white people don’t even notice.

It’s just not good enough—continue reading for more ideas of how you can support the change.

11

Edu

Providing your workforce with resources to learn about Black history, culture, and life is essential for creating a more conscious society. During Black History Month there’s a boom of resources to help with continued learning—take advantage of this.

Support your employee’s learning by buying books by Black authors and subscribing to Black-run podcasts— any way you can think to support your team’s learning. You also support Black creatives when buying

Here are some books to get you started:

Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Think Like A White Man by Nels Abbey Poor by Caleb Femi

The Clapback: Your Guide to Calling out Racist Stereotypes by Elijah Lawal

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Another great resource for appreciating Black art is through movies that depict Black life. It’s a mistake to think these movies must depict the struggles and pains of the Black community—there are plenty that depict joy, growth, and excellence.

Here are some movies, documentaries, and TV shows that you can watch to prompt discussion:

Show movies written, direc acted by Black creatives Educational excursions Bullet Boy Passing Belle Young Soul Rebels Babylon

The Stuart Hall Project 13th Pressure Highlife

I May Destroy You

These movies bring Black stories forward and address issues faced by different intersections of the Black community. For more Black cinema, check out the Black Film Archive

Take your team on excursions that improve their understanding of Black history and culture. This could be to a museum or a monument, or even an exhibition—there’s sure to be ample opportunities during BHM.

You could also consider partnering with a school to ensure students are aware of the opportunities available to them. It’s essential to support the next generation, and your organisation is in a unique position to highlight some of the career pathways available to them.

kickoffa campaign

Remember supporting Black causes isn't relegated to October; you can launch a campaign year-round. And a timetable is a great way to get all your plans across in a simple schedule.

As we mentioned before, it’s essential to include your Black employees in your preparations. Ask what they’d like from your Black celebrations and do your best to make it happen.

Take a look at an example:

On Monday, we’ve got an expert coming to speak to us about the racial pay gap

Volunteer Day

On Tuesday, we’re volunteering with a Black run nonprofit to support Black people in the community.

Day Trip

On Wednesday, we’re taking a trip to the museum of African history.

Socials Takeover

On Thursday, our social media is being taken over by a nonprofit focused on improving Black people’s access to healthcare.

Movie Night

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Expert speaker

On Friday, we’re hosting a movie night focused on sharing diverse stories through film.

2. Get buy-in fromstakeholders

Here’s where you run your team through the ins and outs of the proposed BHM celebrations. You want to convey the importance of taking part and of supporting Black employees in the workplace.

Make sure you prepare a comprehensive proposal that outlines exactly what you plan to do and what you need to achieve it. You also want to outline how you plan to implement the plan and what your desired outcomes are.

3. Communicatetheplans internally and externally

Now it’s time to share what you’re doing with the rest of your team and the wider world. As this is two different audiences that you're reaching, make sure to constantly communicate your efforts so that everyone knows how to get involved.

But keep in mind that you’re not looking for praise; you’re looking to raise awareness of the cause. If you’re able to, consider matching customer donations made through your organisation to maximise impact.

4. Kick-off your campaign

Kicking off your campaign is super important, and it’s a great way to get everyone excited from the word go. There are a number of ways you can kick off your campaign, so here are a few to consider:

A launch party. You could hire a Black owned catering company that specialises in making traditional food from their heritage.

A launch call. To get the whole organisation involved no matter where they are.

A keynote speech. From a Black speaker on their thoughts of Black History Month and causes to frame the conversation in the best way possible.

Whatever you choose to do, make a big deal of it and get people excited. If that means creating email reminders, calendar invites, and verbal prompts, then so be it!

5. Track your impact

The last step is to track the progress and impact you’ve made. Doing this manually is quite a hefty task, but here are some metrics to look out for:

Number of employees participating

Amount raised in donations

Number of employees engaging for the first time

Most engaged team eg HR, Marketing, etc

You can also gather feedback on the campaign by sending out an internal pulse survey once everything’s come to a close. This will help you understand what your employees thought of the campaign, and how they’d improve it next time.

If you’re looking for a succinct way to track your impact and progress, consider using an employee engagement tool like Benevity.

Benevity helps not only with the reporting side of your campaign, but also with the planning and execution. You can look through their catalogue of 1.5million+ organisations and set up simple donation matching to lessen the load on your finance team.

From there, you can create activities for your employees to take part in during your campaign, and allow them to access their events calendar from anywhere. You can also easily collect pictures and notes from your events to share afterwards.

All of this is done on one platform, so you can focus on what really matters—creating positive impact in your community and organisation.

Lastly, don’t limit yourself to celebrating Black history and lives only during October— it’s key to remain engaged with anti-racism all year round.

Start empowering your employees to take action today

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Benevity, a certified B Corporation, is the leader in global corporate purpose software, providing the only integrated suite of community investment and employee, customer and nonprofit engagement solutions Recognized as one of Fortune’s Impact 20, Benevity offers cloud solutions that power purpose for many iconic brands in ways that better attract, retain and engage today’s diverse workforce, embed social action into their customer experiences and positively impact their communities. With software that is available in 22 languages, Benevity has processed more than $10 billion in donations and 46 million hours of volunteering time to support 326,000 nonprofits worldwide. The company’s solutions have also facilitated 770,000 positive actions and awarded 1.2 million grants worth $12 billion. For more information, visit benevity.com.