• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, October 15, 2018

Karen Blackett, UK country manager and chairwoman of MediaCom UK & Ireland, has been appointed Race Equality Business Champion in the UK to support a new government initiative there aimed at driving racial equality in the workplace.

The new initiative was announced at an event hosted by WPP in London last week attended by numerous business leaders and UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

May called on organizations from across the UK to improve inclusion and equality in the workplace by appointing an Executive Sponsor for Race Equality and capturing ethnicity data in order to identify the action needed to help ensure fair employment practices for everyone.

Blackett has established an Inclusion Board at WPP UK designed to remove barriers to progression and look at how apprenticeships and programs focused on reverse mentoring can encourage a more diverse and reflective workforce that in turn results in greater creativity and business growth for clients. 

“Embracing diversity and inclusion is not a choice, it’s a business necessity,” Blackett stated at the event. “As the UK Government’s Race at Work Champion, I’m committed to helping businesses address inequality at all levels by taking practical steps such as introducing apprenticeships, offering mentorships and capturing ethnicity data to create a more inclusive and representative workforce.”