The Toya Talks Podcast
The education system teaches us to learn and recall information and at the end of it we are tested and expected to then pass exams. After all said and done the reality is, we are supposed to get a job at the end of it. I was unaware of the difficulties I would encounter at work especially as a Black Woman. How do I navigate work and how do I keep a job? Education institutions do not prepare you for work, racism, bullying, and oppressive managers in the workplace. Where the education system has not prepared you, I will. Toya Talks is a platform birthed on my day to day uploads on Snapchat. I discuss the realities of work from the perspective of a Black Woman and how I have successfully navigated work using my experiences. Toya Talks Podcast covers the world of work and not just the corporate world. Black Women for too long have been overlooked and underrepresented in the workplace. Toya Talks is a safe place and a platform to share, grow and learn, more importantly, educate ourselves and everyone else so we can navigate and grow in the world of work more smoothly. This Podcast contains my opinions and feelings based on my lived experiences, my opinions and my Black experience. My views and experiences are in no way intended to cause offence. Lets put the sensitivity to one side, prepare to laugh, learn & grow!!!!
The Toya Talks Podcast
Whitewashed out. How white coworkers impact Black Women's careers. ( A Harvard Study)
The episode unveils critical insights into the obstacles Black Women face in the workplace, particularly regarding the impact of white colleagues on their career trajectories. Through discussions on a Harvard study, workplace dynamics, and alarming revelations from a BBC investigation into McDonald's exploitation of young workers, the dialogue urges a reevaluation of systemic biases and the need for more supportive work environments.
• Discussion of the Harvard study examining Black Women in professional services
• Findings on disparities in promotions between Black and white employees
• Examination of intersectionality affecting Black women's workplace experiences
• Insights on performance evaluations revealing biases against Black women
• Analysis of the McDonald's 'sex for shifts' scandal and its implications
• Discussion on Adidas AI-generated marketing and brand representation
• Urgency for systemic change in workplace dynamics and policies
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Music (Intro and Outro) Written and created by Nomadic Star
Yesterday I did not go to bed until two o'clock in the morning listening to 90s and the early 20s R&B. I was born in the 80s and raised in the 90s and what a time it was to be alive and what a time of great music. On this episode we are going to be talking about all things AI albeit there will be a dedicated episode to AI, but for the purposes of Adidas' recently AI-generated floral campaign. We're going to be getting into how it was received and we are going to also be talking about McDonald's sex for shifts scandal. The BBC conducted an investigation and, honestly, what came out of it was shocking, but the times we live in disgusting. The House of Commons yesterday voted on a fresh national inquiry into child grooming and the historical child sex exploitation and the rape gang scandal. We are also going to be talking about a recent study that was done by Harvard University and it looked into the effects of white co-workers on black women's careers. You're locked in.
Speaker 2:And this is, of course, the Toya Talks podcast legacies for all to see. This lecture couldn't stop this flow law degree. Just watch me grow. Masters of the game, we show every sister how to own their throne. T-o-i-n. Let me show you how to navigate and elevate. That's what we do. Black queen energy, growing, growing.
Speaker 1:So a Harvard study was conducted between 2014 and 2020. It looked at the intersectional peer effects at work, specifically the effect of white co-workers on black women's careers, and effectively, what they did is they concentrated their research looking at 9,037 new hires between 2014 and 2020 at a professional services firm. So when we talk about professional services, think about EY, like, for example, the likes of EY, kpmg, deloitte so we're talking about organisations that they do so many different things but professional services and providing services to all different organizations, covering anything from tax, finance you name it, you know and professional services is a very stressful environment. It's a delivery services orientated environment and initially, what they did is they looked at these 9037 new hires and they like the assignments in which each of these new hires had were it was very random. Now what? What they did as part of this investigation is they looked at black, asian and Hispanic employees specifically. So for the purposes of the UK and how they describe, you know, ethnicity. It will be ethnic minorities. That's how they describe it. The reason I always stumble my words is because I really hate that term, but in order for me to kind of set the scene and the tone, I will always caveat if I don't like something, but just to bring things to life, sometimes we have to use the terminology that is used either in studies or in the UK right.
Speaker 1:So this study was done and the results were surprising, because a lot of the results was based on data and they progressed from data to having impersonal conversations. However, for the purposes of the results of based on data and they progressed from data to having impersonal conversations, however, for the purposes of the results of this data, what they found is black employees were likely to leave the role in the professional services company, so new hires were more likely to new. New black employees who were new hires were more likely to leave within two years of accepting a role compared to white employees. So, for example, every 10 white employees who stayed for a period of two years, roughly seven black employees did the same, so there is quite a massive gap. Also, they found, as part of the study, that black employees were less likely to be promoted on time compared to their white counterparts. So when we say promoted on time, what we mean is if the average promotion for a new hire is two years, a black employee would not be promoted within that two years, so it may take them a further two years, so within four years, that's as an example. It may take them a further two years, so within four years, that's as an example. Then, as part of the study, they looked at, obviously, asian and Hispanic employees and they did find there were similar patterns, but just to a lesser extent. It's also important to reiterate and point out that, whilst there were similarities with other ethnic minorities who were part of the study, there was a massive gap when it came to black employees. Now, the biggest turnover gap was between black women and white women. Black women were significantly more likely to leave the role within the first two years in comparison to white women, and this sets and speaks to the core of the actual study and the intersectional effects.
Speaker 1:Now, you're probably thinking when you talk about intersectionality, what are you talking about? Now? Intersectionality recognises that people's identities are quite complex. It's not just about race and gender, but a combination of different aspects of their identity. Those different identities can intersect to create a disadvantage. So, for example, myself, I am black and I am a woman and those two intersect to create a significant disadvantage. As part of this study, as a black woman and bearing in mind there's different intersectionalities for myself and I'm sure for other black women as well. So it's not just being black and a woman. I have a learning disability. I have undiagnosed ADHD. I came from a more kind of a more what is a PC word. I grew up in Tottenham before the lottery fund, so I came from a disadvantaged community at the time and those intersectionalities are part of my identity and it's about how those differences intersect and create a disadvantage.
Speaker 1:So for the purposes of this study, the intersectionality here is not just being the only black woman in a team. It's about being black and being a woman. So they found, as part of the day, what the data was basically demonstrating is that the intersectionality of being black and being a woman in that particular environment of professional services was driving negative outcomes. So the researchers wanted to understand why and wanted to dig deeper in terms of just trying to explore certain things, to get to understand what was driving the negative data. So they looked at three things in particular. They looked at performance evaluations, they looked at work assignments so what assignments that these individuals were assigned to and employee engagement. So in your organizations there'll be, like employee surveys, employee feedback, which they tell us is anonymous. But is it really? I don't know, really I don't know. So when looking at performance evaluations, they are subjective and for the purposes of this study, they found that black women came out as low performers.
Speaker 1:It's important to also recognise the subjective bias that sits underneath the performance evaluations and remember when you're setting your objectives and in your workplaces, those objectives form part of your performance evaluations, and this is why I always talk about the feedback folder and be more it's more delivery orientated. So what did you deliver that would support your overall performance objectives that you set at the beginning of the year? Then, obviously, there are guidelines in each organisation about how they assess performance evaluations. There are guidelines in each organisation about how they assess performance evaluations. Now, as part of this study, as I said, work assignments was one of the things that they did a big, big deep dive and they found that a lot of black women were more like. They had a lot more training that they were put on, which meant that if you're working in a professional service organisations, you have billableable hours.
Speaker 1:So if you're training, how are you then meeting your billable hours? And then the domino effect is that it will hit your performance evaluation because, ultimately, you're in a delivery environment and you're not delivering against your performance objective, against your um, your objectives, which is part of your performance evaluation. If you're in training, if you're in training, if you're in training, you're not hitting your billing hours and effectively when you're in a and you know they did a professional services environment. But if you're in an environment where it's delivery orientated, the reality is, if you're not billing, then the bias there is, or the undertone of it, is that you're not billion, then the the bias there is, or the undertone of it, is that you're not doing the work. No one considers in organizations the time spent in training. That takes you away from the actual do um and the weight based on training is if that's part and part of your own personal development. Some organizations don't necessarily see training as part of a benefit to the job and the ability for somebody to widen their understanding about what they're doing in terms of a job and you know that added responsibility they don't particularly look at that.
Speaker 1:Now, employee engagement in your organisations it would be like the employee surveys which they tell us is anonymous, but really is it, I don't know. But how often are you as honest about your experience or the questions you're being asked in your employee engagements about your careers and things like that. Because as black women, we already don't feel safe in the workplace. So why would you ever believe that employee engagement surveys are anonymous and I'm not saying they are or they're not but if you're already distrusting of organisations and how they treat black women and ethnic minorities, if you have a employee survey and you're asked about your experience, you're less likely to be as transparent about what you really think and therefore the employee engagement doesn't actually give, as part of that of the Harvard study, a full picture of a black woman's experience in the workplace. But what it does speak to is the lack of safety that black women feel in their employment and in their organisations. A lot of organisations are well, a lot of organisations where black women find themselves in a minority. It speaks to how their organisations look at inclusivity and diversity and representation, but we can get onto that a little later on in looking at this study.
Speaker 1:This study is significantly important because when we then look at the effects of white women on black women's careers, this study went deeper. So they had interviews with 17 employees and these were face-to-face interviews because, again, they wanted to understand what was driving the data and the feedback that they had is black women had real issues with fitting in. They felt as though they were having to play down who they were in order to conform to white norms, so code switching and suppressing their identity. They found it hard to build genuine work relationships and then often felt that they were assuming a role and assuming a personality that was not relative to who they are in order for them to progress, or at least seem seemingly appear to be one of them. One of them In looking at the performance evaluations. The feedback face to face was that they, you know, felt like their work were minimised and that they were never able to meet expectation and if they did, they were not rewarded.
Speaker 1:The black women that were interviewed said that they felt like they did not belong Effectively. It's overcoming barriers just to get to the starting line. So it's almost that they were set up to fail. It was more than just being the only black woman. It was the dynamic in the work environment that they were in that contributed to their decision either to stay, go, how they felt how they felt how they felt included, or excluded. The data showed that the more white co-workers were on a team, the less successful a black woman was to be on that team, but the less successful they were in their careers. So, in effect, the dynamic of having more white employees meant that there was a higher barrier to entry.
Speaker 1:When it came to performance reviews, black women were scrutinized more. In fact, overall, the morale of the black women that were spoken to or participated in the study were that well they often found that before they even got to a point of having the conversations about promotions, most of these black women have left. So the data that it was driving would always be negative, because black women felt as though their white comparators had an advantage because they were white and also because the system had been created for their benefit. So when it came to, for example, performance reviews for black women, the scrutiny, the scrutiny I can't even speak. The scrutiny and the measure was that much higher and that much harder. And the endemic issues within that particular organisation meant that black women were disproportionately disadvantaged in comparison to other ethnic minorities that participated in the study.
Speaker 1:So the lead researcher of the Harvard study was quoted as saying that retaining black employees in elite jobs is as important as receiving them. I'm going to repeat that Retaining Black employees in elite jobs is as important as receiving them. So it's not just about doing mass hires of Black women. It's about creating an environment where Black women want to stay, where Black women want to grow, giving Black women the same opportunities and the same trajectories as everyone else, measuring them everybody at similar standards or similar metrics so that black women have an opportunity to excel and have the same platform of excellence as their white counterparts.
Speaker 1:I think also it's important to point out that, even though the study demonstrated that black women left within the first two years, I actually related to the study a lot. I don't like the word triggering because in this context it would seem quite negative, but it just triggered me, but not in a bad way. It reinforced a lot of decisions that I've made in my career. So, for example, if we take sorry, I'm going through my notes because I geeked out on this report like I was making notes and everything I like the way that as part of the study, they kind of wanted to get to the, the foundation of the data, by asking why, why and why was um black women in these work environments driving such negative outcomes and experience such negative outcomes as part of of being employed by this professional services and the splitting it into performance evaluations, work assessment, employee engagement was actually really good and it was good because I've been in organizations um, whereby and it was the motivator for me to go contracting where there was no progress within the first two years of an organization. I need to be progressing, if not sooner. I've been in organizations and progress within a year.
Speaker 1:But I got to a certain stage in my career where there was no more progression. I was going to teams that had flat structures, which already meant that I was further disadvantaged from excelling in my career. So, for example, I was on a team for two years and it was a flat structure, so there was nowhere to promote me to. But then the head of my department left. I was the natural successor because I had not just the length of service but I had the experience.
Speaker 1:But they went out and recruited somebody externally who happened to be a white man who had no understanding of the business that we were in, no understanding of contract management or commercials. He did not understand commercials but expected me to. Then they expected me, as in the organization, to train him, to get him up to speed. So I'm good enough to train somebody, but I'm not good enough to hire in that position, and sometimes you don't have to be in an organization for a long time for them for you to understand the messaging that they don't see you in senior positions. I didn't need them, I didn't need to challenge them and say why not me? The fact that you went through a whole recruitment process and it was closed and you didn't even give me the opportunity to apply is one thing, but expect me to train a white man who's disproportionately advantaged by my disadvantage is crazy. That being said, you know you guys know I've shared in previous episodes that I decided to go perm and I you know I went into a range of reasons why. But this is off the back of being a contractor for over seven years now and I loved it. I made a lot of money and, more importantly, I accelerated in my career to be able to make that money quicker than I ever would if I was in a perm, in an organization where I'm having to navigate such negative stereotypes and the lack of representation that clearly was abundant in this professional services organisation in which they conducted the study.
Speaker 1:But I'm going to share something with you the team I'm in within my organisation and it's a big organisation but the team is new. So the problem is, when you have a new team, I say the problem. And the problem with a new team is about how it's formed, and what I mean by that is the team is created for a reason, so you usually have a sponsor for the team and there should be a mandate for the team that just that basically makes clear what the team does, the parameters in which they do it and what they're in charge of doing, how they do it, whatever. And that didn't happen in this new team and I've been watching and observing and just trying to figure out kind of the organisation ecosystem, the new function that I'm sitting in, and also trying to figure out where I fit into it in terms of like, where do I fit in? It's a professional services environment. So already when you have a new function and you haven't got a mandate, it creates problems because people then don't know what you do.
Speaker 1:There is a lack of credibility in situations like that and a lack of respect, and I have been really like umming and ahhing about whether this is the right team. I can't lie and I'm so blessed to even be in a position where I think that way, because sometimes you can go into organisation and you just want to make it work and it's not working. And I'm very open minded and I'm very I went into this role open minded and what I said to myself is I'm here for a purpose. As soon as I fulfil that purpose, I need to understand how I continue to make the role work for me or how I can pivot, and that came from contracting, because it's more than just making money. It's about the skills you learn as a contractor, and one of the many skills that I learned is understanding how to pivot and you know when you climb up the career ladder as quickly as I did within my sector. I want to hold on to pivot and you know when you climb up the career ladder as quickly as I did within my sector. I want to hold on to that.
Speaker 1:I'm not letting go of the key things that I've learned as part of a contract, part of being a contractor, but there was a conversation that was had where my boss had said to me and I really like my boss, by the way, I think he's amazing, but in our team we have all different experiences, but when it comes to diversifying that experience, I have the most diverse experience and what I mean by that is I've worked in the public, private sector, I've worked in the third sector and I've worked in the charity sector. I've worked for massive organisations and I'm you know, I'm really proud of it. But equally, it brings a different skill set to the team. We've got team members who have only ever had two roles and they've spent maybe 15 years in the profession, but they've spent 10 years in one organisation and five years in another, and the other is where we're at now, do you understand? You've got some people who stayed in one organisation for their entire career and there's nothing wrong. Listen all these examples. There's nothing wrong with it. But I'm giving the example to show you as a black woman, in order to obtain the experience and be a subject matter expert, it's not always found in one place. You are the architect of your career. I've always said that to you and, as being the architect of your career, you have to be in front of your career.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, I wasn't willing to roll the dice with one organisation. I wasn't willing to take my chances in just following an organisation through to see people you know, grow and pivot as people who are not black, whereas the black employees are in the same position, trying to find our way through and trying to, you know, begging for a pay rise. That could never be me, and the fact that I was in situations whereby I was made to feel grateful because I even get to work there was rubbish for me. To me, because I had white counterparts just accelerating at speeds that I couldn't understand, especially since I had either joined just before them, joined at the same time, or just was more experienced. So my boss, I was having a conversation and he was like oh, you know, in comparison to the whole team, I feel like your experience and what you do is on par with everyone. And I had to correct him. I said I don't agree. He said pardon, I said I don't agree. I said I am the most experienced in terms of diverse portfolio of experience in the team.
Speaker 1:And I say that because, as a black woman, unfortunately we don't have the privilege to be able to stay in organizations for long periods of time and get promotions and pay rises at the same rate and pace as non-black people. But the fact of the matter is, in order for me to get to where I am in my career, I had to go contracting and the benefit of contracting is I worked for all these organizations and I listed some of them off and in working there I, you know, worked in our space. I was a commercial contract manager, often a commercial manager, and I was managing multi-million pound contracts and I was doing the end-to-end negotiation. And bear in mind my academic experience meant that I was able to do all the legal stuff and take it to the point of signature. So if you know, if we're looking at comparing experience, I don't think we can and my academic accomplishments supports my level of experience. So when you compare us on that way, I don't it disadvantages me because it means that you don't acknowledge the extent of my experience.
Speaker 1:And he was quiet Because I think what white people do really well is they minimise black women's accomplishments and you have two choices you accept being made small. So, as part of this study, many of the black women that were interviewed face to face, they felt invisible, they felt as though their achievements were overlooked and they were considered low performers. But can you see how, if I had let my boss say what he had said, I would feel I would be one of these people in the study because I haven't been in my organisation two years, feel I would be one of these people in the study because I haven't been in my organization two years and I was already having conversations with Kay to the effect of where do I go? Where do I grow? So when I'm thinking about my career, I'm always thinking that you need to be in a continuous state of learning and growing and achieving, and if I am stagnant, that means I'm not growing. If I'm stagnant, what am I achieving? Or is it just business as usual? I feel as though you can be in an organisation for however long you want. It depends what your objectives are.
Speaker 1:But for me personally, what success looks like to me and how I define success is not just money, it's growth. I'm trying to get to director. Success is not just money, it's growth. I'm trying to get to director, I'm trying to get to board level. So telling me that, oh, we are on par with everyone else means that you're minimising what I have done to get here and the fact that, whilst I recognise everybody else's achievements individually, in comparison as a black woman you cannot not just as a black woman, but as a black woman who has a master's in law. Don't make me go and get a PhD.
Speaker 1:My experience spans from working in financial services, within the procurement, at Goldman Sachs to PwC to so many more places that I've worked in. Like, honestly, like I couldn't even believe that he was saying that to me, and I know it didn't come from a bad place, but it came from a place of where white people undermine and underestimate how far black women have come to get to where they are. Um, and the access for white people has, in my experience, has been that a lot of people that I've worked with in my profession who are white haven't had to have the formal education that I've had to have to get to where I am. Do you understand what I mean? So I hope this study goes as far to tell you that being a subject matter expert has to be part and part of your career. Progress and your career goals has to be about progression because, if not, there is always a white man or a white person willing to keep you where you are. And I say a white person because if you're working in white dominated spaces, you'll find in senior management they're going to be white people. That's why I'm saying what I'm saying, do you understand?
Speaker 1:I personally, for me, I've always had white managers. I have, and maybe it's just the organizations or even the industries that I've been in, but that has been my reality and I'm okay with that. But what I am not okay with is you not recognizing when it's time to do the promotion or when it's time to do the pay rise and give me what I deserve, because those are two different conversations. But, that being said, I feel as though I'm also looking about how to pivot in my organization, because within my team, I don't see where the growth is and where we're not mandated to do certain things. It causes a lot of issues and it's quite undermining Already.
Speaker 1:I'm having to kind of navigate the white dominated workplace as a black woman, and I'm often the only black woman or just the only woman on calls and meetings. And don't get me wrong, I feel like I'm on an amazing project, so I have a voice at the table. But I had to fight for that voice. I know how it was when I first started. The first few days it was difficult and at times it has been uncomfortable, and I know that if I was a white woman the experience would be different.
Speaker 1:But what this study has further demonstrated to me is how important it is for black women just to take control of our careers. You can't leave it to your managers. I've got a podcast about it. It's not your manager's job to further your career or to have aspirations for you. You have to know what you want to do and, even if your career is just a segue, to fund your real passions. The point is, in order to fund those real passions, you need to be making as much money as possible, and part of making as much money as possible is growing up the career ladder. So I definitely think it's important that you maybe have a look at the study, google it. Whatever. I will leave a link to the actual study in the show notes because I think it's important.
Speaker 1:Um, and black women, it's important that you black women, it's important that you know like when we're having these careers talks or Black History Month, no one wants to talk about white people's effects on black women's careers, but you have to have the conversation. If you are in white dominated industries, of course your white colleagues will have an impact on your career, doesn't that go without saying? The UK, I wish, would do a study like this, but they won't. So what's going to happen is, when studies are done like this across the globe, I'm going to bring them here to the podcast because they affect us. It affects how we look at our careers, how we career plan. It also affects how we look at our individual jobs, because every two years there should be growth. Really, especially if you have aspirations to senior level, you can't be in the same position and then just I'd never want to be in a job and I'll be in a job 10 years and by default I make manager because I'm the only person that knows the systems.
Speaker 1:Fuck that shit. Sorry, I'm swearing in this. Toya, you are live on the toyah talks podcast. Please do not swear. Okay, let's, let's. You know that was. I know it's quite a heavy conversation, um, and it's quite heavy for me because I'm I. When I read it I was like, oh, my god. I was like, yes, yes, it's so true, and I think that maybe one or two episodes that will come in the future. I will revert back to this study because now there is something concrete that supports everything I've ever told you guys since the conception of the Toys for Tools podcast five years ago. So, yeah, I hope that you find that interesting. So we're talking about AI and I know that a lot of organizations are integrating AI as part and parcel of their everyday life and their systems.
Speaker 1:So Adidas decided that they would have a floral campaign, and I'm going to put a link to the floral campaign in the show notes. It's completely AI generated, so none of the people that you see in the ad are actual people. They're all from artificial intelligence. Now, what they said, like a lot of critics were shocked and I think they were shocked about how lifelike that advert was and I thought it was brilliant. I think, if it was about a floral campaign which it was, it was very floral, it was very bright, it was very. I found it to be quite enchanting, it was a, it was nice, it was very Adidas, right, um. But a lot of critics said that it lacked emotional depth and I think what depth do you want when it comes to flowers? I mean, there were just bright flowers and it was showcasing a new collection, it's the three stripes. I think they got it right. I mean, we spoke about um Jaguar that had an advert and it was just made no sense. It didn't even have the, the, the Jaguar car.
Speaker 1:But now we're talking about the progression of artificial intelligence and integrating it into our everyday lives, and Adidas had the good sense to, you know, not spend their entire marketing budget on you know the status quo of marketing but instead invest money into artificial intelligence to generate a marketing ad. And I liked it Like you, get straight to the point. I know what you're selling into artificial intelligence to generate a marketing ad, and I liked it Like you. Get straight to the point. I know what you're selling. It's very bright. You know it's very beautiful. The aesthetics is really nice and I don't need depth because it needs to be quick and punchy. You need to deliver the message to the consumer, and I think it does just that. So I'll put the link into the show notes and you let me know what your thoughts are.
Speaker 1:Can we talk about Elon Musk, please for a second? I have a theory and I truly believe that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are going to have an almighty fallout. It's coming, I promise you. It's going to be like Kanye West and Adidas. It's going to be messy, messy, messy, messy, messy. Now I've watched a couple of like Elon Musk interviews and he's not very charismatic. He's quite dull. He's like Magnolia and also his haircut is really odd Like he's just a man that's made a lot of money and just throws his weight around and he's spoken to Donald Trump's ego and whatever arrangement they have, um, it's worked for him. He's now joined as part of like, he's got a make-believe job. It's just such a like as part of um, donald Trump's cabinet. Bear in mind, donald Trump takes and I believe he's sworn in on the 20th of January 2025.
Speaker 1:Our cousins across the globe. We're really thinking of you because I really don't understand what's going to happen over the next four years. And whilst I, you know, I do respect Trump's business acumen and how he's used business and his audacity. I do respect the audacity. You have no qualifications. You have no right being the president of the United States, but you've come back twice Like, come on, like. You have to put respect on that. But Elon Musk has been causing a lot of problems for UK politics and it's actually quite scary how he uses social media and he owns X, but how he weaponizes it to talk on things that I feel like he has no experience talking on and that's politics More on our side of the globe, uk politics, the whole child grooming scandal, the rape gang scandal.
Speaker 1:It's been classified as the biggest scandal in UK history. And for those of you who do not know Keir Starmer's background, keir Starmer is the current Prime Minister of the of the United Kingdom, but he was also um head of the Crown Prosecution Service. So for our um US he would be almost like the Attorney General. Yeah, he was very powerful. And for those of you who do not know what the Crown Prosecution does, but it makes decisions whether to prosecute. So the police will put together a case, submit it to the Crown Prosecution Service and they'll decide if there's a case to answer for answer to. They will then um go to court and effectively, like historically, represent the crown right and um at the time, kia star, mart um at the time. Sorry, I trigger warning and I should have said this before I started talking about this topic, but this whole rape gang scandal is heavy and I have limited the amount of research I've done into it because it is that heavy. But Keir Starmer was instrumental in the prosecution or the non-prosecution of those who were investigated as part of this scandal.
Speaker 1:So what's happened is Elon Musk said there needs to be a national inquiry. Now, bear in mind, at the time there was an investigation that was done and there was an inquiry, but it wasn't on a national level and the inquiry had certain recommendations and the Conservative government were the reigning party at the time and, according to um, what's her name? Kemi Badenoch. Um, the Conservative government took 18 out of I think it's 18 out of 20 or 18 out of 30 of the recommendations that were made. The question is, what about the other recommendations? But that's another conversation for another day.
Speaker 1:Now, obviously, kemi Badenoch is the leader of the Conservative Party and yesterday the House of Commons voted on whether there should be a fresh national inquiry into child grooming, historical child sex exploitation and the rape gang scandal. Now the votes were 30, sorry, 364 votes to 111, which means that there will not be a national inquiry. The current Prime Minister of the UK, keir Starmer, made you know as part of the bill. There's a thing that they do where he basically tells his party don't vote for this. In really, his party don't vote for this. In really simple terms, don't vote for this, I don't want this. And Keir Starmer went on record saying that he doesn't believe there needs to be a national inquiry, that it will affect the victims and survivors who were part of this sex agreement. It's disgusting. But remember, even though they voted against a national inquiry, labour has the super majority within the House, so this was always going to be blocked because Keir Starmer does not want this.
Speaker 1:Now my question is why wouldn't Keir Starmer want a national inquiry? He can't say, oh, he doesn't want to further traumatise the victims and survivors. My question is is it that he doesn't want people to look under the hood of this and question some of his decision making? That's my question, Because some of the survivors are in support of a national inquiry, and if we're saying that this is one of the biggest scandals of UK history, why wouldn't you want a national inquiry? Now, it would cost millions and millions of pounds, but the point is we have millions of pounds to fund and support Ukraine against its war efforts with Russia, so I don't therefore understand why we can't apportion or redirect funds to a national inquiry. Now.
Speaker 1:Kemi Badenoch has been really vocal. She wants a national inquiry. She's often questioned why Keir Starmer is against a national inquiry, but I have a question for Kemi Badenoch, because between 2022 and 2024, she was the Minister for Women and Equalities. So why did she demand a full National Inquiry when she was the head and the Minister of Women and Equalities? Why now? I fear that this resurgence of a demand for a National Inquiry?
Speaker 1:Although Elon Musk was a very important catalyst, I think that this is political point scoring, and the casualties of the political point scoring are the victims and survivors of this rape gang scandal, and it's disgusting. It's a disgusting use of people who were directly affected by this to have a debate and to lay blame. There should be a national scandal, because I believe that there was a lot of things we don't know. That's number one and number two. I think that there needs to be lessons learned on a public scale and I think you I read something that said because there were ethnic minorities involved in this scandal, and I mean the victims. The victims are not just white girls and boys. They are from diverse. They are ethnic minorities from diverse communities, so I don't know whether that plays a role in not wanting an inquiry. If I'm honest because let's call it what it is, I feel like whenever something is done to ethnic minorities, specifically black people, I think the UK has a tendency to shirk and use slopey shoulders in terms of responsibility and I think that a conversation needs to really be had in my community about what is really happening out there.
Speaker 1:I believe trigger warning that there is a serial killer that is targeting the black community. There's been so many stories and so many situations of black women, black men, going missing and being found dead under suspicious circumstances and the police will shut the case down and say, oh, this person committed suicide or no. And I don't really want to get into the ins and outs of it. I'm not really trying to upset anyone here, but there are a fair few cases that I have read where I think to myself this is not right. There's something not right here. Dependencies go on um a work, a remote work, um situation and then end up dead like. There's a case in particular that bothers me a lot and maybe one day I'll bring it to the podcast. But yeah, that, in a nutshell, is what the national inquiry, the calling for the national inquiry, was about. It's been shut down in terms of having a national inquiry. The votes were 364 votes to 111 votes mcdonald's. So trigger warning. I'm going to be talking about um, um, an investigation that was done by the bbc and mcdonald's hires a lot of like teenagers, young people as well as older people. But I guess, for the purposes of this episode and what we I want to discuss as a as what came out of um the investigation by the BBC is that there was a sex for shifts culture within McDonald's, and I want want to read a PR article that I was sent directly just to give you guys a flavour of what this investigation that was completed by the BBC, what came out of it.
Speaker 1:So the fresh allegations of sexual harassment at McDonald's, including claims that a manager requested sex for shifts, have renewed calls for action to protect young workers. The continuing investigation by the BBC into the fast food giant uncovered a workplace where younger employees, some still in their teens, are subjected to sexual harassment and discrimination as both political and public pressures grow. Mcdonald's CEO Alistair McCrow today told the government's Business and Trade Committee that he was committed to investigating the allegations. He said these cases are abhorrent, unacceptable and there is no place for them in McDonald's. But the damage has been done for many victims and some of whom said they felt silenced and dismissed when they asked for help. Now over 700 junior McDonald's employees have joined legal action against McDonald's.
Speaker 1:Ruth Sparks, a co-founder of the harassment reporting platform Safer Space and I'll be sharing that link in the show notes has said that sex for shifts is beyond shocking. It exploits the vulnerability of young workers on the zero hour contract and is a total breach of trust. She went on to say that the power balance, together with the lack of awareness about their rights, often leaves younger employees as easy targets for exploitation. Younger workers should have transparent access pathways to report harassment without fear of retaliation, and employers should demonstrate that they take these complaints seriously with visible consequences. Now this also comes in the wake of the Harrods investigation that allegedly Dodi Al-Fayyad was abusing his position as owner of Harrods, and there's been a claim of being pressured to have sex, sexual harassment, and the list goes on.
Speaker 1:I think what's the scary thing is how McDonald's allegedly exploits young workers and they are, and they appear to be, easy targets because they don't know their rights. So what happens is they go in thinking they've got a job and they are going, they're getting paid, but you've got managers saying well, if you want more shifts, then you have to have sex. That is disgusting, it's abhorrent, it is unbelievably unacceptable. But this just didn't start yesterday. It's just come to the forefront now because the BBC have done an investigation and I'm so, so happy that the CEO of McDonald's is before a committee to answer. But it's not just about that, it's the follow through and I need to understand what the government are going to do to tackle this. And I don't think it's just related to McDonald's for the purposes of the investigation that it's McDonald's.
Speaker 1:But there are so many organisations which I think should be investigated, especially where you have young people who join, particularly the retail sector, at young ages, not aware of what their rights are, not understanding how vulnerable they are in those positions because they don't know, and a lot of young people are ignorant to what their rights are. It's not taught in schools. I think that as part of the education system in the UK, we need to start telling our young people what their rights are, especially employment rights, and we need to have modules on sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination, victimisation. We need to be having those conversations. Their life skills and the fact that in the education system they don't go as far as to educate our young people Is it any wonder they're being exploited by these big companies where they're employing sex pests yeah, sex pests who go on and harass these young people and because they're on zero hour contracts, they are further exploited because the zero hour contract means that a lot of these big organisations are not obligated to give these young people shifts. So now you've got managers who have the power and are abusing that power. It's dangerous, it's disgusting and I really hope that this goes as far as it should do in highlighting a lot of the problems that happen in the UK. But we need a solution and part of that solution is education. So if you are the education minister, I think in secondary schools they should be having these conversations that educate, which education is not just about the vikings and um um the plague in the uk. We need to in.
Speaker 1:In the same way that society has changed, I think the education system needs to shake up. We're talking about life skills. Artificial intelligence needs to be taught as a module. Employment rights and understanding what your rights are and how potentially you could be exploited when you're new in the world of work needs to be taught, and unless we're willing to do that, we're going to find more and more big organisations being investigated for sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse of power. Jpmorgan Chase Co. Yes, jpmorgan Bank is preparing to order its employees to return to the office five days a week. Jpmorgan is one of the biggest banks in the US and it's the first major bank to potentially kill the whole hybrid working and demanding that employees come back into the office. Now, bear in mind that they haven't made that announcement yet, but there is speculation that that is coming, and that's obviously, of course, off the back of Amazon demanding that their staff is returned to work five days a week, and so many other organizations have followed suit.
Speaker 1:I'm going to reassure you of something Remote roles and hybrid roles still exist. We are in a battle of mobility. We are, we are, we're in a battle of mobility. Now. There are some people that love to go to the office five days a week, and that is okay for you, because some of you hate your lives as well. You hate your lives and you hate your wives. Can you hear the rhyming? Yep, some of them do so. Going into the office with the tea and biscuit brigade suits a lot of people, but there are others who prefer to either work remotely or to be on a hybrid basis.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I want to reassure you of something Whilst we are in a battle of mobility. There are roles that are hybrid, and there are still roles that are remote, and there are organisations that are still quite progressive. I think what we need to be clear about is what is happening at the moment is battle of the wills. We're in an employer's market and a lot of employers are exploiting that fact and a lot of employees are exploiting that fact. I spoke last week about fake jobs and ghost jobs, and all of that tells a story of organisations feeling as though they have the upper hand and they're in power and using this whole return to work as a redundancy strategy, and I spoke about that in the last episode. But I want to just reassure people that, whilst the job market continues to change, I don't think we're going to be an employee's market for a while here in the UK anyway. But what I do think is that if you are a subject matter expert, if your skill set is in demand, that is leverage, and we talk about leverage being power, creating options, options creating choices, choices creating freedom, and this is why I always talk about being a subject matter expert. Can you see? It's just more than just earning money. It's about the ultimate goal, for me, anyway, is about freedom. It's about feeling free.
Speaker 1:I am a free spirit. I cannot, I will not be controlled by any one organization. I am also the type of person I do not like suits. I do not own one suit. Any shirt I own is oversized because, you know, I'm in my nineties vibe. I just can't be stuffy. I wear um. If I do have to go to a face-to-face meeting or whatever, I'll wear trainers. What do you mean, girl? I I dress to feel comfortable. I'm not dressing to impress. Those days have long, long, long, long, long, long gone. So for me, um, I've always been really clear about what I expect from an organization. It's not just what I'm able to give, it's what I expect. I know for some people they love the whole tight pencil skirt, the shirt that's choking you at the top button. I know some people love that whole vibe.
Speaker 1:For me, freedom comes from what I wear. It comes from where I work. It comes from what I do for work. It comes from the things that I do outside of work, like my businesses, like the podcast. It comes from my ability to be able to express myself freely. And, whilst I accept that no one organization is perfect, it's about finding an organization that works for you. Some of you are afraid of change, and I understand it, because me too, me and change we don't always go together, but I've understood over the last few years how me and change have to go together, because with change comes opportunities and opportunities for growth. If you really believe that you are the architect of your career, stand in front of your career and make choices that benefit you.
Speaker 1:I need a work-life balance, even more now because I'm a mum, and even more so because I don't want to feel as though I am shackled to a job. I can't. I believe that organisation's a job. It's transactional, and part of that transaction for me is growth. I need mobility within an organization, and the mobility I need is to grow up the career ladder and, whilst I also accept that that may not be in any one organization, I need to get what I can out of an organization, the same way they're getting what they need out of me. So I just want to reassure people that the job market hasn't become stagnant. This is not the housing market. We're just going through the normal peaks and troughs and we're going through, I don't know, is it called a jobs renaissance? I don't know. I'm trying to figure that out, but I'm planning to, like every quarter, give my review on what's happening in the job market, and it's agnostic, so it's not necessarily just in my sector, it's generally what I'm seeing across the board.
Speaker 1:But I think it's also important that you know remain open-minded. If you're not happy where you are, put yourself in a position where you can pivot. There's nothing wrong with being in an organisation for five years, 10 years, 15 years. There's nothing. As long as you're getting what you need out of that particular organisation, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. But what I do not agree with is stagnation. I don't agree with that and I think it's far easier for black women to be stagnant than it is for our non-black counterparts. Does that make sense? I hope it does.
Speaker 1:I wanted to use this episode to talk about the uk honours list, but I think it deserves its own episode, and it does because of the history of the honours list colonialism. If you understand your history, that honours list is problematic. But you know me, I'm going to do the research, I deliver it, give you guys the truth and let you know what it is. It's far too easy to say you are liberated, but when this country gives you crumbs, you run. I don't want crumbs, I need the whole loaf and I'm willing to learn the ingredients to make that loaf. And I'm willing to learn the ingredients to make that loaf Because you give a man a fish for a day, he'll eat for that one day. You show him how to fish, he'll eat every day. Anyway, I'm going to draw this episode to a close. I hope the gems have landed. I hope you've caught the, the gems.
Speaker 1:Okay, and for me, listen. You know how we do on this podcast. I'm trying, honey. You'll get more than one episode a month. That's what I'm committing to. But I'm never just going to come here, switch the mic on and talk. That's, that's it, not it. There has to be a purpose, there has to be a message, there has to be something you get out of the episodes.
Speaker 1:How to navigate the world of work as a black woman is in every single episode. So if you're new here, start from the beginning. You will not regret it. I teach, I guide and I educate and I will continue to find the studies. I will continue to have the conversations to talk about what's happening, that kind of affect, how we are navigating the world of work as black women. I'm going to bring it here because I feel like if you teach and give people the tools, then you're giving people the opportunity to open their mind to another possibility and that success is attainable. Representation is attainable on a senior level, and even if that's not what you're aspiring to, you want peace. Come and learn how to find peace in an organisation. You have to be educated on how you're going to navigate as a black woman. Unfortunately, there's no sidelines. We ain't here to catch blisters sitting on the sidelines. Honey, mediocrity does not apply here.
Speaker 1:Anyway, if you want to follow me on social media, just type in Toya Washington. Just type it in, you'll find me. I'm there, I'm on TikTok, I'm on Snapchat, I'm on Instagram what else am I on? You can email me. If you have a work-related or life-related dilemma you want us to address here, we will discuss it anonymously. Email hello at toytalkscom. Cctoyawashington10 at gmailcom.
Speaker 1:If you're interested in the masterclasses and I'm so excited, I'm going to be updating a lot of the masterclasses. I'm so excited, I'm going to be updating a lot of the masterclasses I'm going to be adding stuff. There's been some new legislation on maternity pay, all that good stuff. Um, on the toytalkscom website. I will be updating as well, but there are masterclasses on there that you know, teach you, guide you, educate you on interviews, cv skills. Um, you go ahead and have a look, but I'm going to leave it there. Thank you so much for listening and I'm going to be back next time for a brand new, interesting, educational, filled episode. My name is Toya Washington and you have been listening to the Toya Talks podcast. Thank you, your talks podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you, t-o-i-a. Let me show you how to navigate and elevate. That's what we do. Black queen energy grown. No fantasy, just real talk, from classroom dreams to boardroom walk. Black woman power watch it shine. Breaking barriers, redesigning time From Tottenham Roads to CEO. Every step, teaching what we know, not just surviving but thriving more. Opening every closed door. Toya Talks. Toya Talks. Toya Talks no-transcript.