In late 2017, the government were investigating reports that EU nationals based in the UK were facing rejection and blocking when applying for jobs or trying to rent properties out. With illegal activity already surfacing to discriminate against EU and international citizens, there is an uncertainty as to how dramatically diversity will start to disappear in the workplace and in our culture.
A couple of months after the results were announced that the UK would be leaving the EU, the report for July revealed that the UK was experiencing the highest level of hate crimes. More than 100 racial hate crimes were reported in the few days after the referendum. If this continues, the UK will suffer with a bad reputation and ultimately, we will put off international candidates from choosing to work in the UK – not only affecting our diversity, but our economy as well.
However, there is some light to show that the UK is still becoming a more diverse country, with the UK General Election resulting in the UK officially having the most diverse parliament than ever before. If our parliament is diverse then we have hope that our country will fight to keep and improve diversity, especially striving for complete diversity in the workplace environment.
Put simply, if companies can make it their priority to maintain their EU and international workers and promote a diverse workforce as something of great importance to them, we can help maintain UK diversity, attract international workers and continue to reap the benefits of employing migrant workers.