Canadian HR Reporter

N E W S 8 www.hrreporter.com Anti-racism training is popular these days, but does it really work? With the Black Lives Matter movement staying strong, many employers are keen to offer employees some kind of anti-racism training, but that doesn't mean they'll always get it right, finds Sarah Dobson ACCOMPANYING the rise of the Black Lives Matter move- ment has been a rise in anti-racism training. Employers looking to show they care have eagerly run virtual workshops or webinars to enlighten employees and hopefully make their workplace a better one. Coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, people are frustrated and raising their concerns, says Wyle Baoween, CEO and senior facilitator at HRx Technology in Vancouver, who has seen a major jump in inquiries for his business. behaviours, not just their skills or knowledge. Training is like medicine — if it's used in the right way, like a prescription, and the conditions are right, "it will lead to greater impact, it will open people's eyes, it will make them more committed, make them understand and could lead to greater change," says Baoween. "But if it's applied in the wrong way, with no thinking or no guidance of how to apply it, it could really lead to bad results, which, to be honest with you, is the common result." If employers are going to make the investment, there are a variety of best practices they should consider, say the experts. Why it doesn't always work A lot of organizations rush into the training — whether it's unconscious bias training or anti-racism training or anti- oppression training — and don't really do an analysis of: What is the problem we're trying to solve? Oftentimes, it's just about checking a box or appeasing people, says Hamlin Grange, principal consultant at DiversiPro in Toronto. "There's no real thought in terms of 'What is the problem we're trying to solve?' And, so, the training amounts "Also, I think leaders, really, senior leaders, are thinking about race. It's the conversation they have with their family, with their friends, they see it every day. And they're like, 'I want to know more about discrimination, systemic racism, and we need help.'" Through anti-racism training, people can better understand how some groups have faced barriers for a very long time, in terms of wealth, access to opportunity and access to power, he says. "That is leading to them now being marginalized; they are less represented and in positions of power. They make less money, less than the average Canadian income [and] they have less access to opportunity. They're facing barriers to education and health and the justice system and policing. So, you want to make people understand: Why is that happening now?" Despite the good intentions, this type of training doesn't always work. It may perpetuate stereotypes or build up resentment among staff. It may be more about a company trying to look good than trying to make real changes or it might lead to short-term gains instead of long-term ones. Plus, it's a complicated exercise that's about changing people's attitudes and to nothing more than just a muddied mirror theory — you figure you throw enough mud at a mirror, something is going to stick eventually. And, invariably, not enough of it sticks." Another problem? People go back to the organization after the training but all the systems in place don't hold people accountable for their actions and some actually reward people for bad behaviour, he says. "That reward can be simply the silence of the organization that does nothing about it… 'Nobody says I couldn't do it, so I guess it's OK.'" It takes much more than just training to have an impact on how an organization operates, says Marie-Hélène Budworth, associate professor of HRM at York University in Toronto. "Training alone is not a solution to racist practices or to any type of bias or diversity challenge that exists within an organization; one training session — or even a few training sessions — will not solve any problem," she says. "In the absence of support, in the absence of other initiatives and in the absence of a concerted effort, training alone will do very little within an organization." How to make the training work To start, every employer should acknow- ledge that it has a racism problem, says TAKING A STAND AGAINST RACISM Source: FleishmanHillard HighRoad, Abacus Data 69% Percentage of Canadians who believe companies should take a strong stance on addressing equality and racism, versus 59 per cent in other countries 46% Percentage of Canadians who expect their CEOs to take a stand on racial equality, compared to 32 per cent in other countries 61% Percentage of Canadians who think systemic or institutional racism exists in Canada 23% Percentage of Canadians who say they either have 'a lot' or 'some' racists views

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