Elizabeth Howlett
“This is not your typical CIPD webinar,” said Frank Douglas, chief executive of Caerus Executive and inclusion adviser, addressing more than 400 delegates during the first of three CIPD-hosted webinars on racism and racial inequality at work. Douglas added that the world changed on 25 May when George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis.
“Having been in HR for most of my professional life, I know we often want to rush to a solution… but the HR profession is ill-equipped to deal with issues of race,” said Douglas. “To be blunt, 88 per cent of the HR members in the CIPD are white… An overwhelmingly white HR leadership team trying to advise a white C-suite team about engaging with black staff just isn’t going to work.”