Sandra Kerr (diversity adviser)

For the folk singer, see Sandra Kerr.
Sandra Kerr CBE
CBE
OccupationNational Campaign Director for Business in the Community’s Race Equality campaign
Organizations
  • Ethnic Minority Employment Stakeholder Group (EMESG)
  • Royal Society Diversity Committee
Known for
Board member of
  • Business in the Community Race Leadership Team
  • Cabinet Office Race Board

Sandra Kerr CBE is a race, gender, and disability business and policy advisor in the United Kingdom.[1] Kerr is currently the Business in the Community's Race Equality Director and has worked in the Cabinet Office.[2][3]

Professional background

Between 1999 and 2003, Sandra Kerr worked in the Cabinet Office advising on policies on race, gender, disability, and work-life balance across Whitehall.[3] Prior to this, Kerr worked in the Department for Work and Pensions delivering front-line services to 33,000 customers whilst also managing a team of 120 employees.[4] Kerr also worked as a personal development and IT skills trainer.[2]

After her time in the Cabinet Office, Kerr joined the Business in the Community Race Equality campaign as the National Campaign Director where she works with the race advisory board to set the agenda for issues around race and employment in the United Kingdom (UK).Between 2012 and 2016 Kerr chaired the Ethnic Minority Employment Stakeholder Group (EMESG), advising the Government on issues and employment barriers facing individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds.[2][5]

In 2015, the Royal Society invited Sandra Kerr to become a member (2015-2021) of their Diversity Committee.[6] In 2018, Sandra Kerr was named as one of the panelists comprising a Cabinet Office task-force to create a public leadership center.[7]

Key works

  • Aspiration and Frustration (2010).[8]
  • Race into Higher Education (2011).[9]
  • Race and Recruitment (2012).[10]
  • Race at the Top (2014).[11]
  • Race at Work (2015).[12]
  • Race at Work 2018 Scorecard Report.>[13] provided a one year on review of employer performance against the McGregor-Smith Review: Race in the workplace 2017.[14]
  • Race at Work Charter. Employers sign up to five key calls to action: Leadership; capturing ethnicity data; zero tolerance on bullying and harassment; managers promoting equality; and supporting the progression of ethnic minority employees in the workplace. the Race at Work Charter now has more than 500 employer signatories[15]
  • Race at Work Charter 2019-one year on report.[16]
  • Race at Work Charter 2020 report.[17]
  • Race at Work Black Voices Report was published in August 2020 to support in employers to take action to ensure they are including their black employees in the workplace and including black enterprise in their supply chains.[18]

Honours and awards

Kerr was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2012 for services to Black and minority ethnic people and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to equality and diversity.[19]

In April 2015, she won the Women: Inspiration and Enterprise (WIE) Equality Award.[6]

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Sandra Kerr". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  2. ^ a b c "Biography: Sandra Kerr OBE". Race. 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  3. ^ a b "Interview with Sandra Kerr, OBE: the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities at work". Guardian Jobs. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  4. ^ "About Us - Association For BME Engineers (AFBE-UK)". afbe.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  5. ^ "Ethnic Minority Employment Stakeholder Group". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  6. ^ a b "Sandra Kerr | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  7. ^ "Cabinet Office taskforce to create new public service leadership centre | Civil Service World". www.civilserviceworld.com. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  8. ^ "Aspiration and Frustration". Race. 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  9. ^ "1.Race Into Higher Education 2.The Race Into Work". Race. 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  10. ^ "Race and Recruitment-Exposing the Barriers-Recruitment Industry Engagement". Race. 2012-11-26. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  11. ^ "Race at the Top". Race. 2014-06-16. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  12. ^ "Race at Work Report". Race. 2015-11-15. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  13. ^ "Race at Work 2018: The Scorecard Report". www.bitc.org.uk. 29 October 2019.
  14. ^ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/594336/race-in-workplace-mcgregor-smith-review.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  15. ^ "Race at Work Charter Signatories". www.bitc.org.uk. 7 July 2021.
  16. ^ "The Race at Work Charter: One Year On 2019". www.bitc.org.uk. 29 October 2019.
  17. ^ "Race at Work Charter 2020 Survey report". www.bitc.org.uk. 26 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Race at Work: black voices". www.bitc.org.uk. 23 August 2020.
  19. ^ "No. 62666". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 June 2019. p. B9.