Emergency repairs and improvements organisation Homeserve has signed the Race at Work charter, committing to address the issues that ethnic minority employees face in the workplace.
The race charter, which has been developed in partnership with the UK government and business outreach charity Business in the Community (BITC), has set out to improve the workplace quality for employees from black, Asian and minority (Bame) backgrounds based in the UK.
As part of the agreement, Homeserve which currently employees 3,000 staff, has agreed to have a zero-tolerance policy for racial harassment and bullying, as well as ensuring ethnic minority career progression.
To commit to this, the organisation has appointed two executive sponsors to drive the initiative forward; Femi Bamisaiye, chief information officer and Nick Kasmir, chief financial officer at Homserve.
Through these appointments, the business will set out to regularly publish its ethnicity pay gap figures, provide training and development material for employees from Bame backgrounds to progress within the business, as well as provide communication about this charter through internal emails to ensure that all employees are aware of the businesses commitment to this cause.
Homeserve is also encouraging staff to confidentially file information on their race and background to better understand its demographics and diversity levels across all staff. The organisation is additionally partnering Bame staff with senior staff to educate them on race, perspectives on race and diversity.
This is in addition to the diversity and inclusion council that Homeserve introduced in 2018, providing mentoring schemes for Bame employees and improving recruitment methods to attract diverse talent.
Femi Bamisaiye, chief information officer at Homeserve, said: “In 2018, we created Homeserve’s diversity and inclusion council, and since then we have made huge steps towards becoming a workplace that champions all its people and promotes equal opportunities.
“However, we know that there is still a huge issue in the UK with racial equality and ethnic minority staff still face challenges in employment and career progression. That is why we felt it was so important to get involved with the Race at Work charter and we would encourage more organisations to sign up.”