Transcript

SHAUNNA LATCHMAN

My name’s Shaunna. I’m the Comms Executive here at the OU in Wales, mostly supporting internal communications, with a real focus on mental health and wellbeing. I’ve not been here very long. I’ve actually been here since the beginning of the year. So it’s been a lot of change.

And it’s been quite cool, actually, because when I joined, we were still doing the hybrid working, more so that we were working at home. And now, we’ve shifted into home and office. And if I’m completely honest, it’s been a brilliant experience here at the OU in Wales, which I can’t really say for previous working environments.

I’ve been in higher education for like, six, seven years now, and in my previous role, obviously, we went into lockdown during 2020, and it was a bit of a culture shock for everyone. But as a Black woman, I felt that there were certain experiences that were very unique to Black and Brown communities. And that was quite an adjustment, I feel, at that time.

Just because everyone’s in the same boat, but then, because of the colour of your skin, you feel like there are certain elements that not everybody else will understand. At the time, there was a lot of coverage about the impact it would have on Black and Brown communities because of their socioeconomic backgrounds. So you already had this pandemic, and then you had this thing that was like, because of the colour of your skin, you might be even more affected.

And the headlines were really sort of scaremongery, so without doing the reading, you kind of came to assumptions on your own. And then, obviously, once you understood the reasoning for these headlines, you kind of took a breath. And then you fast forward, and then we had the horrific incident of George Floyd’s murder, and, again, you’re forced to face your background and the colour of your skin, and then you’re forced to have conversations that you don’t necessarily want to have in a professional environment.

Because, unfortunately, at that time, I was one of the only Black people within my team and within my department, and I was constantly faced with having to explain the emotion behind what was happening around the world, how it was affecting me, how it would affect my potential colleagues, because there weren’t a lot of people in my office that looked like me. And you just want to do the diligent thing of being supportive to your colleagues and answering the questions because people are now curious and they want to know, but there was a very thin line between curiosity and ignorance. So again, you’re faced with the very real fear of being in a pandemic, and then, also, the emotional turmoil of what’s happening around the world.

And I can’t explain it, but it was like my body was just drained constantly. Because you’re thinking about your family members, you’re thinking about how you look and how that impacts your experience, and that is part of your everyday experience as a Black person, but you kind of put that to one side because you’ve got a job to do, because you want to be perceived as ‘normal’. You want to be perceived as being like everybody else. You don’t want to be reminded that you are Black, because you know that, and you know your experiences are different.

But that particular time frame was incredibly stressful. And unfortunately, the organisation I was in was not supportive. And that made me feel quite depressed, quite low, quite isolated, and really disappointed, if I’m completely honest.

And then, eventually, I found the job here at the OU in Wales, and the difference in the way I am approached, the difference in the way that I’ve been treated, it’s huge. And that’s not to say that my colleagues in my previous organisation weren’t lovely people, they were. It was more so that management didn’t know how to handle the situation and didn’t know how to support me as a Black person, and that was incredibly disappointing.

But here at the OU in Wales is a completely different story. It feels very much inclusive and welcoming. And there are certain microaggressions that you experience as a Black person day-to-day that you just kind of deal with because you don’t want to have to explain things to everyone. But I never thought that I would be in an organisation where I can just be myself.

I’m not questioned about anything. I’m not made to feel uncomfortable. And when people approach me with curiosity, it’s with complete honest and open curiosity. It’s not done in a way that’s intrusive or accusatory, which has been a real refreshing experience for me.

Being in the OU has been like a palate cleanser, almost. Having worked in higher education for so long, I became so drained just with certain things that happened consistently, over and over again. And you become a bit disenchanted.

Initially, I came into this line of work to hopefully make a change, make an impact, and ideally, encourage more people that look like myself to either work in higher education or participate in higher education, especially because I don’t have any qualifications as far as higher education is concerned. The first time I realised how different the OU was when I joined in January and I was told, you’re going to be sent a bunch of equipment, and this is how you’ll use it.

And I remember receiving this package, and everything that you would need, so a large screen, your laptop, headphones, everything that you would need to have the correct setup at home was there. It was all provided for me.

In my previous role, I had to source my own screen. I had to get my own keyboard. I had to physically go into the office to collect things. It felt very clear that the OU had learnt from the last two years, being in a pandemic, and the importance of having the correct working set up.

And there was no assumption that I had the means or the correct setup at home. It was almost like, do you have everything you need? If not, that’s fine. Don’t worry. Here’s a checklist. We’re sending all of this to you.

So, I’d say that my line manager is brilliant. We have our regular catch-ups every week, and we draw our usual checklist of what’s going on, and then there’s always space and time for me to talk about anything that’s bothering me. And there’s almost like it’s your stage now, whatever you want to talk about.

And because of the way he approaches things and because of his relaxed manner with me, I’ve not had any issues saying, I’m really frustrated about this thing, or, this irritated me. Can we look at this differently? He’s very open to hearing how I feel about something. And I think that’s really important, having a line manager that allows you to say how you feel, and then, actually listens and acts upon your concerns. That makes me feel more confident in the organisation as a whole.

So there’s a lot of people in our office, but you never feel like that because we have a rotation system here. So, for example, I’d be in Monday and Thursday, and then, there’s communication with the office manager to make sure that there’s parking available, to make sure that you have everything to your comfort. And then, also, when there are opportunities for us to come in on days that we don’t normally come in on, that’s encouraged as well to allow us to mingle with colleagues that we don’t often get to see. Being at home more often has offered a better work-life balance, and it feels as if they recognise that and want to encourage that support for their staff.

So there’s definitely an element of a two-way communication channel, whether that is from the regular updates from the director and her reinforcing the safety measures that they’ve put in place and that there are open channels for communication, or through actual line management and those people making sure that they are, again, listening to their staff and giving them the opportunity to feedback. With the mental health focus and wellbeing focus, it is important that we are listening to how people feel right now because there is still a pandemic, and there is still a lot of uncertainty and people are still having to make a lot of changes around childcare and caring responsibilities and commuting. So it does feel like we’re trying to bridge that gap to ensure that people feel supported at this particular time.

Here, I genuinely look forward to coming in because I feel safe. I feel that the office space is set up for free flow, for people to have enough space, for the sanitation areas all over. So that physical safety is there.

There’s a phrase, it’s called code switching, and it’s basically whereby someone from-- I think, originally, it was created to talk about people from multicultural communities or multilingual communities, so you switch between languages. And as time has gone on, it’s become a phrase that more describes people from various backgrounds who quite literally change their behaviour or monitor their behaviour within their environment to make sure that they come across as more palatable. And you don’t think about it. And I definitely didn’t think about it until I saw the phrase code switching, and I was like, oh, what’s that?

And I actually realised that when you’re in a professional environment as a Black person, you find yourself just making yourself quieter, more easily acceptable to your colleagues. And it’s not necessarily an active decision. Sometimes, it’s something that you’re taught from quite young, like, you have to just be quieter, calmer. You don’t want to come across as the certain phrases that are used to describe Black people in a discriminatory sense.

And then, when we moved into virtual working, that kind of veil, it disappears. Because now, everyone is welcomed into your home, just as you’re welcomed into everybody else’s home. And there are pieces of your culture all over your home because it’s your home. It’s your safe space.

And you don’t think about it and you don’t question it until someone on the other side of the camera says, oh, what’s that? What does that mean? Where is that from? Oh, I’ve never seen anything like that before.

And then, you’re having to explain your cultural differences, your background, your beliefs, things that you might not choose to discuss in a working environment, but you’re now forced to have people in your home. So, you’re now having to have these conversations. And in those moments, there are elements of ignorance that come through that you find yourself being like, well, I didn’t realise that this person had those preconceived notions about my culture, and now, I’m having to educate somebody on what it is to be Black.