A report by business psychologists Pearn Kandola has found that more than half of UK employees have witnessed racism in the workplace, but the majority have failed to act on or report it.
In a survey of 1,400 workers 52% have witnessed an act of racism at work, a third said they had not reported it to their employer and less than a fifth reported the issue to HR. Only 18 per cent has spoken to the victim. Of the remaining 82% nearly half said they did not do so for fear of the consequences.
Black employees (69%) are the most likely to have witnessed racism at work, with Asian staff and White less likely (53 per cent and 45 per cent respectively). In contrast White employees are most likely to respond to an act of racism by confronting the perpetrator, with more than a third claiming this would be their first course of action. Only a quarter of respondents with a Black or Asian background said they would do the same.
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