On 31 August 2022, Partner Jaerey Velasco attended the Racial D&I Charter Networking Event by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), that included small group discussions.
The EOC brought together some of the recent signatories of the Racial D&I Charter, which Payne Clermont Velasco signed in June. The representatives brainstormed ideas about how to overcome barriers that most workplaces face in advancing racial D&I goals.
During the session, the attendees identified some key issues:
- Language and cultural barriers that get in the way of hiring racially diverse talent and building inclusive teams;
- Lack of awareness about how to access local talent from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and
- Lack of racial diversity at senior management level.
Together, the group came up with many possibilities for making progress in overcoming these barriers:
- Build cultural competency through programmes, trainings and workshops;
- Sponsor language courses for non-ethnic Chinese talent;
- Engage NGOs who have connections with young talent of different ethnic backgrounds;
- Review company’s recruitment process and encourage diversity in hiring
- Set D&I KPIs at all levels;
- Create a development programme for ethnic minority hires;
- Create a special leadership accelerator programme for high-performing ethnic minority talent; and
- Conduct training for senior management on D&I.
