Earlier this month Fiona Christie wrote about the value of involving unions in careers guidance practice for creative and cultural workers. In this post, Widening Participation Careers Consultant, Ladan Mirzadeh Hong, describes a practical example of collaborating with a union representative to design and deliver a workshop on understanding and challenging inequity in the workplace. Naming oppression and encouraging people to work together are two of the signposts towards a socially just approach to career guidance that this workshop explores. Here, Ladan explains more about the context of the workshop and the topics covered…

The main focus of my role is to develop and lead on ‘Careers+’, a programme I established in 2019, which currently serves 1,600 students. Careers+ is an exclusive programme of additional careers related activities and support and is tailored to UK domiciled, undergraduate students from under-represented groups in higher education. Features of the programme include longer careers guidance appointments, ring-fenced internship opportunities and mentoring schemes as well as bespoke career topic and employer workshops.

I see the role of social justice in career guidance practice as vital. I believe we can be advocates for those experiencing oppression and social injustices and we can collectively challenge the status quo and to empower students from marginalised groups to approach their career journey through a different/broader perspective. 

Why was this workshop needed?

We felt that this was a topic that was not talked about openly and that many (if not the majority) of people from marginalised backgrounds had experienced or been exposed discrimination in the workplace. We wanted to encourage students to feel confident entering the world of work. For them to be aware of what to do if faced with discrimination, such as being aware of their workplace policies, external organisations that can support them but also highlighting that their wellbeing was the main concern and that there is no shame in moving on (and not challenging the discrimination).

The social justice principles we focused on where Equity, to equip students to challenge or overcome the inequities faced and Rights, to enable students to know and assert their employer rights.

Workshop design and content

I felt it was important to discuss the topic of inequity in the workplace and give students the tools to enable them to navigate these if they were ever unfortunate enough to be faced with them. I worked with my brilliant colleague Ben Brown, who is our Careers Education Assistant Learning Technologist and Union Representative to create and deliver a 1-hour virtual workshop.  

We focused on enabling students to:

• Understand the different types of discrimination that exist, including micro-aggressions: We wanted to first raise awareness of what was classified as discrimination (with the caveat that any untoward behaviour was unacceptable, and it did not have to just be towards protected characteristics).
  
• Consider the impact discrimination may have on them: In this section we explored the short- and long-term impact it may have, inside and outside of the workplace, such as ‘minority stress’. This was to highlight the importance of being aware of the support available and taking care of our mental and physical health.
  
• Explore the different ways they can support themselves through it: We gave them practical tips, such as taking notes of incidents, engaging with HR or external bodies such as unions and ACAS. We also discussed the methods to address/challenge discrimination if they wished and we highlighted the value of putting your wellbeing at the forefront.

Next steps and advice for others

We had great anecdotal feedback from the students who attended, who said they felt they were now more aware of how to manage their workplace should they be faced with discrimination and felt more confident going into the world of work. We feel strongly that this is an important topic so we will be running it twice in the next academic year!

I would highly recommend addressing this issue with students, especially with those from marginalised backgrounds. Our key take-away was not to focus on the negative aspect of discrimination (which is hard not to do) and balance it with being factual but mainly educating and empowering them to feel prepared to navigate ANY inequities they may face in the workplace.

Can you see this model working in your context? Have you worked with union representatives in the design and delivery of career learning and guidance? We’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below.

Ladan Mirzadeh Hong lives and works in London, working in the field of Widening Participation for over 14 years. She changed careers in 2018 and became the Widening Participation Careers Consultant for King’s College London, part of The Careers Group. Ladan has also written on this blog about the Careers+ Global Internship programme for students from under-represented backgrounds.