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This week is National Inclusion Week - an annual opportunity to raise awareness of inclusion in the workplace.

Here, Kimberly McIntosh, columnist at gal-dem magazine, writes for Sky News about the problems race can pose in workplaces across the UK.

Diversity and inclusion have become buzzwords of the moment.

I attended a talk on women in journalism earlier this year and when race came up it got awkward. One news outlet waxed lyrical about the diversity statement painted prominently on their wall, but had little to else to say about race.

Whilst nearly everyone has a mum, sister or female friend in their life, not everyone has a black or Asian friend or colleague. This can make race an afterthought for companies: a less popular sibling of gender equality.

Reducing racism and increasing representation must be more than a mission statement. But what problems does race pose in workplaces across the UK? Shouldn't we be colour-blind and focus on people's talents?

Unfortunately, people do see colour so pretending otherwise doesn't help matters.

Analysis by The Runnymede Trust and NatCen revealed that 44% of those surveyed believe "some races are harder working than others". These beliefs and stereotypes don't just stay in peoples' heads not harming anyone.

Who would consciously hire someone they unconsciously think isn't hard working? Who gets hired, who gets promoted and how customers are treated is impacted by prejudice and bias.

The result: even when qualifications, age, region and industry are taken into account, BME workers fare worse in the workplace - paid less and with limited promotional prospects compared to their white peers.

My first job after university was for an international NGO as an assistant to the office manager. Working with her on recruitment showed me what small organisations can do to try and increase representation and challenge bias.

I removed all the names and and country information from application forms and cover letters before passing them on to the relevant team.

And we started advertising in new places for volunteers, like community centres, to get demographically different applicants - not just different ethnic backgrounds but age and life experience as well. Most volunteers (me, a previous volunteer, included) had been completing Masters degrees and were in their early 20s.

If there are no black people in senior management it needs to be OK to challenge that at work

When I organised a panel last year on BME employment, Severn Trent, a water company based in Coventry, impressed me with their approach to inclusion.

They recruit outside of Russell Group universities where BME groups are less represented. They collect data at each stage of the recruitment process and monitor the success rate of BME candidates.

When filling their apprenticeships and work experience schemes, they use OFSTED data to recruit from local schools with a high proportion of pupils from BME backgrounds and on free school meals.

They also made smaller but equally important changes, such as changing the imagery on the company website to include BME staff.

Moving forward, workplaces need to create a space for staff to talk about diversity openly and ask difficult questions. If there are no black people in senior management, it needs to be okay to challenge that at work, which is important because race can be an awkward topic of conversation that makes people feel uncomfortable.

Being minorities, by definition there's not that many of us about. Many people grow up not knowing many (or any) ethnic minorities, so companies and employees won't always get it right.

Last year, the comedian Russell Howard mocked a pocket guide for workplaces titled: Let's Talk About Race.

But I think it's a great guide. I don't really want people randomly touching my afro without asking me first in the workplace - I'm not a pet!

But unless people are educated on issues they won't know what's appropriate. A willingness to trial new approaches, learn and change will make our workplaces better for everyone.

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