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Driven out by racism

Driven out by racism Racial harassment at work was outlawed by the Race Relations Act in 1976. Yet every day thousands of nurses face this injustice. This week, Nursing Standard reports on a new appraisal of research carried out for the Department of Health in 1994. What makes this study new is that the researchers have gone back to the survey and looked at what it had to say about the experience of racial harassment at work for nurses from ethnic minorities and its effect on their job satisfaction. The researchers have applied new techniques that link job satisfaction with the decision to leave. The result is a warning for managers that as perceived racial harassment is the biggest cause of low morale among ethnic minority nurses, it is likely to be the biggest single factor driving them out of the profession. The message is clear: tackle racial harassment and you can keep ethnic minority nurses in the workforce. There have been numerous initiatives by government, managers and nursing unions in the past eight years to tackle racism, so hopefully the situation is a little less grim in 2002. But this report provides valuable insights into which ethnic minority nurses are most vulnerable and where action is needed. The saddest part is that for most of the nurses surveyed it was their own colleagues as well as patients who were guilty of harassment. For most of the nurses surveyed, it was their own colleagues as well as patients who were guilty of harassment The three main causes of job dissatisfaction among ethnic minority nurses were, in order: harassment by colleagues; discrimination when trying to progress in their careers; and harassment by patients. On the positive side, it seems that the problem was less acute in trusts with an equal opportunities or racial harassment policy, so managerial initiatives do seem to help. It can be uncomfortable to acknowledge and tackle racist attitudes in the workplace, but the toll on individual nurses and the workforce as a whole means it is shameful not to. See news page 4 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nursing Standard Royal College of Nursing (RCN)

Driven out by racism

Nursing Standard , Volume 16 (29) – Apr 9, 2002
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Publisher
Royal College of Nursing (RCN)
Copyright
©2012 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.
Subject
Editorial
ISSN
0029-6570
eISSN
2047-9018
DOI
10.7748/ns.16.29.3.s1
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Racial harassment at work was outlawed by the Race Relations Act in 1976. Yet every day thousands of nurses face this injustice. This week, Nursing Standard reports on a new appraisal of research carried out for the Department of Health in 1994. What makes this study new is that the researchers have gone back to the survey and looked at what it had to say about the experience of racial harassment at work for nurses from ethnic minorities and its effect on their job satisfaction. The researchers have applied new techniques that link job satisfaction with the decision to leave. The result is a warning for managers that as perceived racial harassment is the biggest cause of low morale among ethnic minority nurses, it is likely to be the biggest single factor driving them out of the profession. The message is clear: tackle racial harassment and you can keep ethnic minority nurses in the workforce. There have been numerous initiatives by government, managers and nursing unions in the past eight years to tackle racism, so hopefully the situation is a little less grim in 2002. But this report provides valuable insights into which ethnic minority nurses are most vulnerable and where action is needed. The saddest part is that for most of the nurses surveyed it was their own colleagues as well as patients who were guilty of harassment. For most of the nurses surveyed, it was their own colleagues as well as patients who were guilty of harassment The three main causes of job dissatisfaction among ethnic minority nurses were, in order: harassment by colleagues; discrimination when trying to progress in their careers; and harassment by patients. On the positive side, it seems that the problem was less acute in trusts with an equal opportunities or racial harassment policy, so managerial initiatives do seem to help. It can be uncomfortable to acknowledge and tackle racist attitudes in the workplace, but the toll on individual nurses and the workforce as a whole means it is shameful not to. See news page 4

Journal

Nursing Standard – Royal College of Nursing (RCN)

Published: Apr 9, 2002

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