New guidance on supporting People of Colour and Black colleagues

Social enterprise Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England has today published new guidance on supporting the mental health of People of Colour and Black people in the workplace.

The free guidance document provides advice on how organisations, managers, and colleagues can be better allies to People of Colour and Black colleagues. Created with support from Business in the Community (BITC) and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), the guidance comes after recent research from YouGov found that half of Black Britons say they are as likely to have experienced racism in the workplace as they are in the street.

The guidance is released as part of the next stage of MHFA England's My Whole Self campaign, which calls for inclusive and empowering workplace culture change. Research from the campaign found that less than half (43%) of UK employees think their colleagues know the 'real' them. The research also found that almost one in five workers – some 6.5 million people – feel they cannot be their whole self at work.

Simon Blake, Chief Executive of MHFA England said:

“In 2020, no-one should have to leave parts of their identity at the door when they get to work – which unfortunately is the current experience for many People of Colour and Black people and the impact of this on a person’s mental health can be devastating. We must act now.  

“We are clear about the urgency of playing our part in dismantling systemic and Institutional Racism and have committed to doing the work to become a truly anti-racist organisation. An immediate action for us was to work with our People of Colour and Black colleagues, and the race teams within CMI and BITC, to develop guidance for a more inclusive and supportive workplace. We believe it is important for everyone to have access to this resource, which is why today we are launching it as part of our My Whole Self campaign and calling on all employers to become actively anti-racist.

“My Whole Self is a campaign which aims to create a healthier workplace culture by strengthening human connections, because it’s better for wellbeing and better for business. To achieve this we must all act to do more to become actively anti-racist and to ensure that every workplace demonstrates through their words and actions that Black Lives Matter.”

To download the free guidance click here.