I'm sorry, you've made the wrong decision.
In your reflective activity, you should have covered all of these points:
- While it is important to talk to Tom about the remark, you should remind him that it is you who finds it inappropriate. The resident has asked you not to disclose what he told you, so you are breaching his trust by repeating what he told you to Tom. It is not the right way to disclose this information. However, you must speak to your line manager instead and tell her what has happened as you have a duty to report anything that affects the protection and well-being of people who use services.
- Your line manager needs to know what happened so that she can record it. There might have been other incidents like this. Telling her means that she can take action to address Tom’s behaviour and to improve awareness of equality and respect at work.
- In future you should act sooner and more effectively to deal with situations like this. A climate of respect in a care setting begins with the staff. When staff tell racist jokes it sends a message to residents that this is acceptable and may lead to further racist comments or jokes.
- You realise that jokes can cause harm to those they are directed at, or who overhear them, even if the person telling the joke claims no offense was meant.
- It can feel uncomfortable to challenge someone directly on a joke that they believe is harmless. Earlier on, you did challenge Tom so you have shown you have this important skill.
- You should learn more about the standards expected of social service workers and about the law on equality. The SSSC Code of Practice for Social Service Workers says that social service workers are expected to promote equal opportunities for people who use services and carers. You are expected to respect diversity and different cultures.
- The Equality Act (2010) is the law that protects people from unwanted behaviour that is directed at them because of their race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, age and so on. This law covers all workplaces. Challenging and reporting racist comments helps to uphold this law.
- You should do some further learning to make sure that you meet the standards expected of a social services worker. You should learn how to better deal with and challenge discrimination. You should understand the legal and work setting requirements on equality, diversity, discrimination and rights. Your line manager can help with this.
When you heard Tom telling the racist joke the right thing to do was to find an opportunity to tell him that it was inappropriate. You should then have told your line manager what happened. You can find out why this was the right thing to do here.
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