Sainsbury’s work on Race, Ethnicity, Religion and Belief

Sainsbury’s work on Race, Ethnicity, Religion and Belief

17 June 2021

We continue to make significant steps forward in our Diversity & Inclusion strategy and continue to work towards our aim of being a truly inclusive retailer.

Sainsbury’s named as one of the UK’s Best Employers for Race

Business in the Community named Sainsbury’s as one of the UK’s Best Employers for a race in the first ever listing of its kind. The Best Employers for Race list was compiled to showcase best practice on race equality in UK workplaces, following a recommendation from the McGregor-Smith Review of Race in the Workplace. We are committed to creating inclusive workplace cultures and taking action in leadership, progression and recruitment through several Ethnically Diverse development programmes including our, ‘Let’s Talk About Race’ initiatives and partnering with The Black Young Professionals. 

The I Am Me Network

Sainsbury’s I Am Me network has been established for around 5 years with a its purpose to build ethnically diverse colleague confidence by supporting them with more development opportunities, celebrating different cultures and encouraging colleagues to continue developing an inclusive environment. The network has been incredibly successful, enabling our colleagues all over the UK to connect with one another by hosting sessions to share stories and discuss meaningful topics. The network membership has grown by over 300% to 4,300 members who have played a pivotal role increasing corporate confidence in race fluency, such as formally changing language from ‘BAME’ to ‘Ethnically Diverse.’ The network has naturally grown to coach areas within the business. Such as the internal and external narrative for the Christmas advert that featured a black narrative, the BLM movement and supporting commercial teams with improving our World Foods ranges in store. The network is also working with charities in the black community and made a £40,000 donation to the Sickle Cell society in April 2021 as part of establishing a long-term partnership. 

The importance of the network

The exceptional voluntary effort and hard work by the I AM ME leads are and continue to be recognised both internally and externally. They are brilliant at celebrating role models and achievements across the organisation and make up a key part of our strategy to attract and retain more ethnically diverse people to join our business. 

“There's a great quote from Verna Myers that sums it up perfectly: "Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance. It's about making sure that everyone, regardless of background, can bring their whole selves to work and feel included by doing that. Only then you can be the best version of yourself.” 
Sarah Nelson, Zone Managing Director London and chair of I AM ME. 
 
“14% of the UK population is from an ethnic minority, so our colleague base should reflect that at all levels. I’ve always made a conscious effort to make sure the teams I lead are diverse. If you've got representation from different cultures and experiences, you’ll have a variety of perspectives and will be better equipped to make the right decisions for the communities you serve.” 
Raj Patel, Head of Stores at Sainsbury’s 

Ethnically Diverse Programme

The Ethnically Diverse Programme has been a success with developing talented, high potential ethnically diverse colleagues and the feedback has been incredibly positive. We have now tripled our investment into the programme and after listening to colleague feedback, we have further introduced specific cohorts for black people where possible. 

Let's Talk About Race

Sainsbury’s developed an ethnic diversity education intervention called ‘Let’s Talk About Race’ (LTAR). This was initially trialled with the HR community in spring 2020 and was further delivered to the PLC and Operating Boards and over 1,400  senior leaders. With the continued success of this intervention, ‘LTAR Together’ was  rolled out across the rest of the business.