Recognising and celebrating Black workers in adult social care
25 Oct 2024
8 min read
Every year Black History Month provides us with an opportunity to remember, reflect on and celebrate the contributions of Black people in society, past and present.
Throughout the month we’ve been shining a spotlight on and celebrating the incredible contributions of Black and Asian individuals in social care through a series of videos.
We interviewed some inspirational people working within adult social care, asking them what they love about working in adult social care, why diversity in the workplace is so important and their inspirations along the way.
Registered Manager Cynthia Boateng shares her thoughts on the importance of having a diverse workforce. She emphasises how diversity strengthens teams and enhances the quality of care provided to those who need it most.
It is important to have a diverse workforce in their workplace... if you have people from different culture or nationalities, they come together to stack up ideas... when different people come together, we see ourselves as one people, one nation, and together we go.
Kerwin Jeremy’s passion as Senior Practitioner Occupational Therapist shines through as he talks about the opportunities he has to support others to improve their lives.
To me, it's very, very important to have a diverse workforce, a workforce that replicates the community that you live in… having a diverse workforce with people like myself, senior management, young people, young, Black and ethnic people have role models… They have people to aspire to, to maybe be a Principal Senior OT like me, and even go beyond, the sky is the limit
Violet is Care worker and finds great satisfaction in making her residents happy. She discusses how having a diverse workforce has helped her to develop as an individual, learning about different cultures, enriching the quality of care she’s able to provide.
It's beneficial for me as a carer to be working in a diverse society...working from different countries.... we are going to be using that to look after the residents. So I think working in a diverse society is beneficial for the carer, the organisation and the residents.
Master’s Adult Nursing Student Paula Dunkley is attracted by the diversity of the sector and shares how she enjoys being able to make a positive difference to people’s lives every day.
What I enjoy most about working in social care is the fact that I get the opportunity to make a difference in patients' lives on a daily basis. I get to act as that that channel of support to help them live as independent as possible.
Taiwo Afolabi, Senior Commissioning Officer – Learning Disabilities and Autism, is driven by the knowledge that he’s making a positive, lasting difference to the lives of the people he supports and shares why diversity is needed to deliver person-centred care.
Having a diverse workforce is absolutely essential in social care, because it mirrors the community that we support. We need to be able to engage with, we need to be able to connect with, the individuals in a more authentic, empathetic way. We need to be able to meet their needs on an individual level
Registered Nurse Tintu Tom loves her role and doesn’t see herself ever leaving her current workplace with its family atmosphere. She shares how the diversity of her organisation allows everyone to learn from each other.
[A] diverse workforce is very important because it's different skills and experience all coming together. People from different countries, different cultures, we are learning from each other as well as from our residents.
Making connections with the people she supports, their families and her colleagues is what Victoria, a carer in a residential nursing home, enjoys most about working in social care. She shares how diversity in the workplace can support person-centred care.
…social care has given me an opportunity to provide support to the residents in such a way that they are able to live us independently as they can…It's important to have a diverse workforce, because it provides an avenue for learning and getting to know different cultures... and it also gives you an opportunity to provide the best care you can for the resident.
Starting out in human resources, Zainab Saleem, shares how colleagues inspired her into frontline caring role and then to progress into the role of registered manager. She believes having a diverse workforce is enabling – diversity breeds inclusivity which has a positive impact on the face of the organisation.
Having a diverse workforce, it definitely helps with the challenges of recruitment that we face in social care, because the employees tend to have a higher level of job satisfaction because they see other people working together, and it builds a team as well.
You can watch all the interviews and explore resources to support you and your teams achieve equality and diversity in the workplace by visiting our Black History Month webpage.
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