Savills Suspends Employee After Racist Tweet

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12 July 2021 | Updated 13 July 2021

Property agent Savills is investigating a tweet containing racist content by one of its commercial building managers, after England's loss at Wembley last night.

Savills has suspended the person involved and is cooperating with the police. The individual in question currently "claims that his account was taken over by a third party".

The abusive tweet contained a racial slur, after England lost out on a win against Italy following extra time and penalties. The Twitter account and associated LinkedIn profile have both since been deleted.

Savills initially wrote on Twitter: “Savills is committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst our workforce. A full investigation will be carried out in regards to this unacceptable incident.”

An update read: “Savills abhors and has zero tolerance to any form of racism and racial discrimination and is appalled by the racist comments in these tweets. Savills is immediately investigating and will take appropriate action.”

The tweet was then followed with the news that the individual had been suspended, pending an investigation.

Several incidents of online racist abuse have been aimed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka. Greater Manchester police are also investigating damage to a mural in Withington, Manchester which honours Rashford's work in tackling child poverty in the UK. 

Metropolitan Police Condemns Abuse

The Metropolitan Police Events Team tweeted in the early hours of this morning that: "We are aware of a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers following the #Euro2020 final.

"This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated."

Diversity and Inclusion at Savills

The real estate company has a definite diversity and inclusion presence on their website, and claims to be "committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst our workforce."

Savills has working groups within their business, one of which is dedicated to ethnicity. It's also a supporter of "BAME in Property" an organisation for professionals who are passionate about increasing ethnic diversity in the property and planning sectors.

How Can Employers Help Tackle Racism?

BAME communities make up an ever-growing part of the UK population, yet they continue to be under-employed and underrepresented at senior levels and racism in and out of the workplace remains an ongoing issue in the UK.

There are several pledges and commitments organisations can take to publicly condemn racism and contribute to educating their workforce:

• Sign the Race at Work Charter, which commits a business to capturing ethnicity data and to commit to  zero tolerance of harassment and bullying
• Develop an anti-racism strategy, to clarify your organisation's stance and values, and create an approach for practical action. The CIPD has published a useful guide on how to get started with this
• Consider equality training from a reputable source – The Red Card can visit your workplace and tailor a workshop to your organisation
• Educate senior leaders on the effects of racial bias and microaggressions. The Diversity Trust can provide specific training on this.

Picture: a photograph of a screenshot from a smartphone showing the Twitter app

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 12 July 2021

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