Productive disruptions: Supporting diversity and anti-racism in the workplace through multi-level organisational strategies

Abstract

Racism in the workplace occurs at both the interpersonal and institutional level in terms of prejudiced attitudes and behaviours and avoidable and unfair differences in hiring, retention and opportunities for training and promotion. Many organisations have stated commitments to workforce diversity; however, work-related racism remains the most common forms of reported discrimination. Rather, efforts to increase workforce diversity will fail in the absence of measures to address discriminatory attitudes, behaviours, practices and cultures. Current approaches also lack strategic development, including knowledge of how to implement workforce diversity and anti-racism strategies at multiple organisational levels. Specifically, there is less understanding of measures to support structural level change. This article aims to advance both theoretical and empirical understanding of racism and anti-discrimination in the workplace. We do this by presenting a multi-level framework for understanding and addressing workplace racism. We also study the implementation of a meso-level workplace diversity and anti-discrimination assessment within two local government organisations in Australia. Findings revealed the importance of implementing strategies across multiple organisational levels and establishing accountability for commitments to diversity and anti-racism practice. Despite its structural and universal drives, we argue that racism can be disrupted through the presence of diversity in the workplace and anti-racism intervention.