Am I being unwoke?

I was working for a MAJOR supermarket chain years ago ( I retired in 2015)… and we were all asked to ‘attend’ an equality and diversity course ….I refused as I’d been working for them for 20 years. Then a few months later I was asked to bring into shop proof of whom I was was 🤷🏻‍♀️…. apparently everybody had to do this to prove they had the ‘right to work ‘ in this country . I explained I was born here ….worked here in this shop for 20 years and indeed they had been paying me all that time , and that I had no passport OR driving licence to ‘ prove’ my identity. So was told to get a passport to remain employed by them! I refused and said would they please let me know when they wanted me to leave the company. I never heard another bleep from them….the quite sensible manager ticked the box to say I’d been ‘checked out’ and that was that! I think the problem of getting some other idiot to get outa bed at 4.30 am and be at work at 5.30 am to open shop at 6 am was just too daunting a task!
You have to stand up to these official nobody’s and say “no”

I have been asked countless times to show official documents to prove I am who I am and have no problem with it. It's to ensure people are who they claim to be. It's standard practise.

Here's something that is woke and not only a waste of money but actually harmful as it makes life more difficult for people with sight problems.

Lathyrus - good post.

Equality and Inclusivity I think has to be addressed by any organisation receiving funding from the government, directly or indirecly.
I'm pretty sure it was brought in this way in 2013 after the Equality Act 2010 was passed so I don't believe it's new "woke" thing. I know from experience it was at first an uphill struggle to get some people to take that on board. It is much wider than many may think and builds legal protection into the workplace which has to be a good thing.

I have done "tickbox" training on all sorts of things - there is nearly always something that can be discussed with the team or a colleague afterwards, even if you feel that the particular training given was poor.

I think people should not really be complaining about training where the intention is to "raise awareness".
We may all be diverse and inclusive here on Gransnet () - but as someone who is a volunteer and who once managed a team of volunteers, I do know they are a mixed bag.
Making (some) training compulsory for everyone whether an employee or volunteer is surely good practice?

Sadly I think we are all “guilty” of unconscious bias at times and with the equality laws in place it s quite important to fully understand Diversity and Inclusion - I do however struggle with large Charities employing large numbers of expensive staff. If you don’t feel comfortable then look for another voluntary role

Totally agree with Dickens.

No one is ever 'guilty' of unconscious bias, nor is it something to be sad about. It is a natural part of the human condition, that teaches us to be cautious of the unknown in case it is a danger to us.

Humankind would probably not have survived without it. We must just make a conscious attempt to know that it exists and do all we can, personally, to treat everyone fairly and with an open mind, not easy, but always apologise if you do get it wrong.

For goodness sake this Woke thing is just absolute madness .

NotSpaghetti

Lathyrus - good post.

Equality and Inclusivity I think has to be addressed by any organisation receiving funding from the government, directly or indirecly.
I'm pretty sure it was brought in this way in 2013 after the Equality Act 2010 was passed so I don't believe it's new "woke" thing. I know from experience it was at first an uphill struggle to get some people to take that on board. It is much wider than many may think and builds legal protection into the workplace which has to be a good thing.

I have done "tickbox" training on all sorts of things - there is nearly always something that can be discussed with the team or a colleague afterwards, even if you feel that the particular training given was poor.

I think people should not really be complaining about training where the intention is to "raise awareness".
We may all be diverse and inclusive here on Gransnet () - but as someone who is a volunteer and who once managed a team of volunteers, I do know they are a mixed bag.
Making (some) training compulsory for everyone whether an employee or volunteer is surely good practice?

I agree. And I think it's all about the quality of the training. As a Community Education Officer in the 1990's I ran diversity courses - at that time it was focussed on disability and cultural awareness. I ran it by getting different people in from those groups to present and do Q and A sessions.

We all do have unconscious biases. We are indeed a mixed bag. there is always something to learn. But like I said, it's how it's done. Informative, benign, can actually be very interesting.

This was courses for both employees in the Education Sector and volunteers. the emphasis was not on political correctness but on understanding "where others come from".

Good for you Saggi (today 05:42)! Some time ago we applied for a bridging loan from our bank and were asked to produce passports. We refused as we had been with the same branch (since closed, of course) for 30 years and were known to all the staff. Fortunately the member of staff processing the loan saw sense and we didn’t have to go elsewhere. Had we needed to go to somewhere where we weren’t known, of course we would have taken our passports!

I would say that it matters in what spirit the course is offered. If I were told that I was required to attend a course to correct my bias against inclusiveness, I would feel I had been proved unworthy and sent to expiate my sins - ( like the guilt trips of manipulative religion, where we are all automatically found guilty of original sin and must confess that we are miserable sinners. Only then, when we are prostrate before the throne, will Big Brother relent and intercede for us to be allowed to participate in the perfect glory that is Total Inclusivity, when all rebellious thoughts are annihilated)

But if the course is presented as an explanation of the difficult personal journeys being experienced by "some of our valued colleagues" which might need a bit of forbearance from fellow workers while everyone adjusts to working beside each other, I would be enlisted on their side. The pronoun changes, avoidance of crass mentions of disabilities, and so on would then follow to point out where some awareness is needed of the sensitivity required, and how much they would be helped by it for a putative real person working there, or using the facilities rather than a litigious theoretical being who was likely to report any mistakes to the inclusion police.

Nicely put, Elegran.

As a paid member of staff of a charity, a volunteer at that charity and a hospital volunteer I've been on lots of courses on all manner of things, some done in house, so no extra charge, some done by the local cvo, some by the local law centre, some by kindly people who offer free places, some by specialist solicitors
Every time I've done a first aid course something has changed and I have learned how to do things the most up to date way, the same applies to all the other courses, I have always learned something new even if I've done a training before
I recently did a trainjng on unconscious bias run by someone outside the organization and there were others from different places, and it was really good, we all learned from each other. Yes we all have unconscious biases but some know they have and are very careful to learn and others deny that they have.
Its not just a matter of being in a volunteer team which has a Muslim volunteer, a volunteer in a wheelchair, a black teenager, a single mum, a man from a rough estate, that sort of thing, it's being open to learning from the people, or their needs you are likely to come into contact with, or people that need your services but don't come along because they are worried that maybe they'll be looked down on or misunderstood, or that people won't understand that they need different food as they haven't got a cooker cos they are in emergency accommodation. Maybe none of the posters have someone who looks like them, all the photos of families have Dads but their family has been abandoned by the dad, simple things like that
Go along and learn something new, I'm sure they won't force you to share pro ouns, but if someone uses different ones to the ones you think they ought to, it's not a big deal to call them by the ones that they prefer. Think how you'd feel if after divorce people insisted on writing to you as Mrs Fred Bloggs instead of Mrs or ms Anne Bloggs or indeed Ms Anne Maidenname. It's just courtesy really making someone feel like they have been listened to
I'm sure no one on the course will identify as a cat, but you could take a packet of dreamies just in case

BlueBelle

I ve worked for the same charity for 9 years and the only training I ve ever done is an online lifting advise course annually takes about 15 minutes
The cat identity thing is a load of rubbish and I m afraid they should have a saucer of milk for their lunch

Yes....if people want to be this stupid, they can do it without my input or donations lol 🙄

FarNorth

Here's something that is woke and not only a waste of money but actually harmful as it makes life more difficult for people with sight problems.

That crossing could send someone with Alzheimer’s into a complete meltdown, unable to move: I’ve seen it happen.
Spitting nails 😡
If I lived in Reading I’d be very tempted to go out in the early hours with a can black spray paint.

Would these experts help me to get over my bias towards known shoplifters, customers taking price labels off and telling us they were on the cheap rail 🤦🏼‍♀️
I won’t mention the regular drunk we have.

How can you know what your unconscious bias is? That is a contradiction in terms.

I worked for three major charities in my life and the question from a member of the public asking about staff salaries frequently landed on my desk. One even suggested that we should be unpaid! It wasn't very hard to convince most complainants that "pay peanuts and you get monkeys" was a valid reason to pay the going rate, and usually not more as many people actually want to work for charities!

MerylStreep

FarNorth

Here's something that is woke and not only a waste of money but actually harmful as it makes life more difficult for people with sight problems.

That crossing could send someone with Alzheimer’s into a complete meltdown, unable to move: I’ve seen it happen.
Spitting nails 😡
If I lived in Reading I’d be very tempted to go out in the early hours with a can black spray paint.

Besides which, the stripes go the wrong way, someone could walk along the road by mistake.
Just saying.

Who decided that rainbows belong to the LGBTQ community?
They belong to everyone.
Like the rain and the sun which produce them.

Maybe finding a smaller closer to home charity that needs your willing help would be better overall, after all you are volunteering and giving your time for free, you need to be able to relax and enjoy it at least.

Rainbows don't belong to LGBTQ, the same way red roses don't belong to the UK or the colours red white and blue.

Someone designed a flag, lots of which exist

You can still love rainbows

It's just the chosen symbol

Monica I thought at first you were being sarcastic, but in case you are being serious. I can think of half a dozen exercises - all allowing participants to discover their own biases - off the top of my head.

The best known are probably Implicit Association Tests (IAT) (and several IATs developed by Harvard Uni are online for anyone who fancies a bash) but I favour the Tag Game (see S M Fowler 2006), and the Trust List activity to explore affinity bias.

Going back to the OP: there is quite a lot of evidence that good training in identifying unconscious bias can bring about individual change, and can be effective in reducing implicit bias, but these biases are unlikely to be completely eradicated and training needs to be supported and reinforced by appropriate changes to organisational structures, policies and procedures. A sensible question for your organisation would be, therefore, how they intend to identify and implement any necessary organisational change.

Nelliethelephant- The charity I volunteer for has twice as many volunteers as paid employees. We would all feel very insulted if we were considered to be monkeys.
When I trained there was a huge module on inclusion and discrimination, long before the word woke was invented ( apart from as a verb- I woke up at 6 o’ clock.)

I don’t get this business of pronouns. There is rarely a need to use any other than you and your, when speaking to someone.
If we are talking about someone, it could be breaking a confidence. Or gossiping.

Cabbie21 we do often use 3rd person pronouns in normal speech eg "Where's Mary?" "Oh, she's in the store room."
As I don't want to use wrong-sex pronouns, tho, if I knew Mary was a transwoman I'd reply "Oh, in the store room."