An ally is someone who is not a member of an underrepresented group but who takes action to support that group to help make their workplace more diverse and inclusive for all.
For workplaces to become truly inclusive it is up to people who hold positions of privilege to be active allies and to take responsibility for making changes that will help others be successful.
Allies at all levels can take action with simple, everyday efforts that make a real difference and in this series, we highlight some things that you can do to be an ally and to support your colleagues from underrepresented groups.
Develop clear protocols and policies on religious/cultural heritage and ensure these are communicated across the firm
We have written before about introduce a policy for honouring a variety of cultural and religious practices. It is important to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all employees includes understanding and respecting different cultural and religious practices and creating policies that support them, whether by creating a new policy and/or reviewing your existing policies with cultural and religious practices in mind. However not all policies go far enough.
Your policies should:
- Clearly explain why the firm wishes to collect data relating to religious and cultural heritage and outline the importance of having this data.
- Provide clear communication on the firm’s flexible working policy surrounding Shabbat and Ramadan and other key religious events. Ensure all employees who wish to observe holy days such as Shabbat and Ramadan are able to, and know they are able to. If employees which to work from home/work flexibly at this time this should be allowed.
- Ensure all employees who wish to take time off to pray are able to, and know they are able to.
- Ensure all employees are allocated religious leave days and understand they can, and should take them if they wish to. No employee should be prevented from taking a religious day as annual leave.
- Clearly communicate the firm’s zero tolerance position on bullying, harassment, racism, hate crime, antisemitism and islamophobia.
Read the full “How to be an Ally” series here.
