The leaflet included questions that staff should ask themselves, such as "How am I contributing to advancing race equity in my daily work?" and "How will I know I am nurturing a safe space for everyone?", The Telegraph reported on Friday (28 March).
According to the report, museum staff were informed that the culture at the museum and employees' ways of working support institutional forms of racism.
Although the intentions behind creating this leaflet may have been good, it has the potential to backfire, explained Binna Kandola, co-founder of business psychology firm, Pearn Kandola.
He told HR magazine: “Many of the questions actually relate to fairness and psychological safety, issues that are relevant to everyone in the organisation, not just the racial majority or minority groups. Topics such as access to development, resourcing and voice are universal concerns. Yet the document frames them through a racial lens without acknowledging their broader relevance.
Read more: Met police officers report worsening racism
“Minority staff are largely absent from the framing, as if they are victims and bystanders rather than participants. Rather than uniting the organisation, this document risks reinforcing division. Terms like 'embedded whiteness' are introduced without explanation, and will likely be unfamiliar or off-putting to many.”
Kandola emphasised that talking about race isn’t always easy, and can’t always be discussed casually, without preparation.
Shakil Butt, founder of HR consultancy HR Hero for Hire, echoed this, stating: “The language used is not helpful and is going to trigger a reaction and accusations of being discriminatory against white staff or allegations of wokeness."
He told HR magazine: "The term 'whiteness' distracts from the real issue. Whiteness should not be seen as the problem. This is likely to alienate white colleagues who feel unfairly targeted over their skin colour.”
In order to combat institutional racism and foster a more inclusive culture, employers and HR leaders should work to educate and create greater awareness, Butt added.
He said: “While it is important to recognise white privilege – another unhelpful term – it should be done in a way to educate and create greater awareness of the barriers faced by people from an ethnic heritage background.
“If the intent is to prevent racism, then the focus needs to be on understanding how that surfaces in the employee lifecycle, and then tackling specifics, for example by having diverse recruitment panels to encourage fairer processes or mentoring programmes to enable more opportunities for career progression.”
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A statue of the slave owner Robert Milligan that sat outside of London Museum's Docklands’ site was removed by local authority Tower Hamlets and landowners Canal and River Trust in 2022, after a public petition. The statue was later gifted to the museum by the Canal and River Trust in 2022.
London Museum is committed to ensuring that its research addresses "the issues of diversity affecting our society, our collection and our own organisation", according to The Telegraph.
Employers should actively address unconscious bias, to create the kind of workplace they would like to build, said Darain Faraz, co-founder of not-for-profit advisory firm People Like Us.
Speaking to HR magazine, he said: "This kind of initiative is always going to divide opinion, but the bigger question is: what kind of workplaces do we want to build? The fact remains that many organisations operate in ways that unconsciously favour one group over others, whether in hiring, promotions, or leadership norms.
"Addressing that imbalance is important. Museums, whose role is literally to examine history, have a responsibility to do that work."
Faraz added: "How we frame these conversations matters. If the messaging gives critics an easy way to dismiss the issue entirely, then we risk losing the argument before it’s even started."
Mandatory diversity and inclusion training is also key to ensuring race equity, according to Paul Sesay, CEO of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultancy, Inclusive Companies.
Speaking to HR magazine, he said: “Employers must ensure mandatory diversity and inclusion training for all employees, to help them recognise conscious and unconscious bias, racism and all forms of discrimination in the workplace.
“Take advice from expert EDI workplace trainers who can take your ideas and concerns and approach the situation with care and tact.
“It’s unhelpful to focus on just one protected characteristic – in this case race – as colleagues may be facing discrimination for one or more reasons such as their gender, sexuality, religion, mental and physical differences and age. For true diversity and inclusion, an intersectional approach must be taken so that all protected characteristics are acknowledged and accepted.”
All staff should feel comfortable reporting instances of discrimination, added Sandra Kerr, race equality director at responsible business network, Business in the Community.
She told HR magazine: “Employers should take a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discriminatory behaviour or microaggressions in the workplace, and ensure that all employees are aware of the correct processes to report any instances of discrimination they experience or witness.”
