6 minute read
Do Black Lives Matter in Business?
Colin Kaepernick. George Floyd. Defund the Police. In 2020, the debate on racial inequality has never been a more constant pressing issue in global society and one of the largest cultural debates of our ঞ me. However, while the focus is currently in America, the protests and social media response have made it abundantly clear this is a truly global problem. Wri en by Ma hew Meehan. Within the European business community, numbers of household names from every market sector as well as the regional and local companies have stated their support for the cause and even pledged money to help the Black Lives Ma er campaign or independent civil rights organisaঞ ons in their pursuit of equality. Yet, racism is sঞ ll prevalent in workplaces and industries even some 200 years after the abolition of slavery with some such supporters having had race-based issues within their own company culture. So, do black lives actually matter in business or is this simply a PR stunt at their expense? The staঞ sঞ cs suggest not.
Image vs Reality
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The concept known as brand acঞ vism is be er understood as publicly supporঞ ng or denouncing a cultural issue in order to match the consumer behaviour of its audience, with independent studies highlighঞ ng its eff ecঞ veness as 64% of this group would actively support companies who looked to make a difference in the world. For the benefits of driving up the corporate image and increasing percepঞ ons of a brand in touch with its customers simply by making a public statement and tweeঞ ng out the relevant hashtags this is an incredible opportunity that costs nothing. The reality is that for all those companies who made this eff ort, a study by the University of Manchester showed that 70% of black/ ethnic minority workers have reported to have faced discrimination over the past fi ve years, and of these people 40% claim to have either been simply ignored or now gain a negaঞ ve reputation for causing trouble that
has led to 1 in 10 actually punished or forced out of their jobs as a consequence. Law suits a empted by the vicঞ ms have risked either retaliaঞ on or literally been dismissed based on the fact that ‘they were not discriminated against enough’ to be able to gain the jusঞ ce they sought from their employers with this being seen across both major and minor companies within the UK and Europe.
White Privilege
According to statistics, this kind of treatment has also not changed in the past 50 years even with the Race Relations Amendment Act 1968. In direct comparison to the white working populaঞ on, Government unemployment staঞ sঞ cs show that 12.9% of the black community is without work compared to 6.3% of white ciঞ zens with the possibility of jobs much harder considering the findings of a employment opportuniঞ es study which showed that white criminals were considered more ঞ mes than a black applicant with a clean record. Within work, there is hardly any differences as when employed there is almost double the number of white professionals who are managers or directors at 10.7 % vs 5.7% with them also being paid 14.3% less. In the top echelons of corporate success, of all the FTSE 100 companies, 47 of that 100 has no black board members with only one having the lead role. This also trickles down through the corporate culture to a substantial degree, with such causes as globalisation, neoliberalism and austerity being blamed for causing a detrimental and disproporঞ onate eff ect on the ‘white working class’ who therefore seek to reject diversity and inclusion in order to protect their culture from being taken away. There is also evidence that in some corporaঞ ons their work to empower the women and promote gender rights is mostly due to the fact that this keeps a white majority while sঞ ll meeঞ ng new inclusivity standards.
Poliঞ cal Pacifi sm
A key factor behind the continued existence of such business strategy is seen as the lack of governmental intervention due to the existence of voluntary laws that mean those responsible for making the changes can put the responsibility onto the companies who without any legal obligaঞ on do not see an incenঞ ve or a reason to change. While businesses are ulঞ mately responsible, if the government do not care about the equality and success of the black business community then this provides a platform for corporate ignorance of the issue. The biggest example of this comes from the Brexit debate, where now as a result of the EU withdrawal agreement people of colour are becoming much less desirable due to a perceived racial bias that was perpetrated throughout the campaign. In a ঞ me when we ask the quesঞ on about black equality, naঞ onal public fi gures have created an environment where across Europe racial incidents rose 16% and 52% of the black business community fear for further damage to their careers and their business prospects. When faced with such damning evidence, it is clear that in the current climate that black lives do truly not matter in business and in fact provides a comparison to see just how engrained into our society the issue of racism and inequality is throughout the business community. This isn’t to say that this is all negaঞ ve, there are many large companies whose workers talk about how strong their racial corporate culture is and where they feel supported and without reprimand, and there are now even more that are being forced to wake up and make the changes within their own companies now that the world has spoken up and fi ghts back against injusঞ ce. But how will these companies be able to ensure that they provide equality? Simply through changing the narraঞ ve. Most major companies do not keep major staঞ sঞ cs on such issues as race or even considered the ways in which they have to equalise the field, especially when the populaঞ on is generally lower than in companies such as America. This will not be acceptable any more. The organisaঞ ons must bear the responsibility of puম ng in strong legislaঞ on that protects all workers at every level and it is these leaders that must ensure the government finally moves to intervene when such protecঞ ons are not applied whether that be in the applicaঞ on process, in the role or through any discrimination legislation that may follow. Now that the people have spoken and are united behind the cause, simply showing acঞ vism will not pacify their global consumers at any B2B or B2C level. Those at fault have shown that black lives don’t ma er, and now is the ঞ me to make sure they do.
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