Although 'ethnic minorities' form 14% of the UK population, and it is expected to rise to 21% by 2051, only 1.5% of the 1,087 directors of FTSE 100 companies are non-white UK citizen and fifty-three companies have no ethnic minority directors at all. Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith investigated the ceilings faced in the professional world by people of 'black' and minority 'ethnic' backgrounds.
The main claims of Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith's report were- (I) GDP could increase by up to 1.3 per cent a year if workers from BME backgrounds progressed at the same rate as their white colleagues, (ii) businesses with more than 50 employees urged to publish breakdown of workforce by race and pay band, and (iii) New Business Diversity and Inclusion Group announced to make sure government and industry work more closely to improve representation, inclusiveness and opportunities in the workplace.
The review also found employment rates for people from BME backgrounds are 12% lower than their white counterparts at 62.8%, with just 6% reaching top level management positions. People from BME backgrounds are also more likely to work in lower paid and lower skilled jobs despite being more likely to have a degree, the report reveals. In a series of recommendations, the review calls for large employers should lead the way in tackling barriers to BME progression, calling on companies with more than 50 employees to (i) publish a breakdown of their workforce by race and pay band, (ii) draw up five-year aspirational diversity targets, and (iii) nominate a board member to deliver on these targets.
The Government also announced that a Business Diversity and Inclusion Group will be set up and chaired by Business Minister Margot James. The group will also bring together the leaders of three industry-led diversity reviews- Baroness McGregor-Smith, Sir Philip Hampton and Dame Helen Alexander (who are leading a review aimed at increasing female leadership in FTSE companies), and Sir John Parker, who recently concluded a consultation on recommendations to increase BME representation in the boardroom. Also invited to participate were organisations such as Confederation of British Industry,Institute of Directors, BITC, Financial Reporting Council, and Equality and Human Rights Commission.
As part of the recommendations, Business in the Community (BITC) agreed to publish an annual list of Best 100 Employers to celebrate success and highlight best practice. Sandra Kerr, Race Equality Director at BITC, said, “As this review clearly shows, harnessing the very best of BME talent is the only way forward that makes sense for employers”. Baroness McGregor Smith's review also found that 15.3% of BME workers would like to work more hours compared to 11.5% of white workers. Almost 500 individuals and companies responded to Baroness McGregor-Smith’s call for evidence, including a host of FTSE 100 companies.
However, in a report by Financial Times on 11th February this year, Sir John Parker was quoted as saying, “It’s a challenge to find the skill sets in some of the diverse candidates to match what we actually want, and in some cases you don’t always get what you want but you work with it and develop those people”, and according to him, this process involves “a lot of heavy induction and a lot of heavy teach-ins”. Evidently, even in the diversity inclusion programmes, it is the narrative of 'Otherness' that dominate the skill set of ethnic minority professionals. Reflexively- there is incompetency and 'ethnic' incompetency.
The reality today is not far from the version of racism that is shown in the film Hidden Figures, a recent release that deals with the racism and sexism in workplaces, as prestigious as NASA, in 1960s. Dr. Chrystal Lobo, a lecturer at a London university, said, “Bigotry manifests itself today in forms that people are unable to pinpoint. It is almost impossible to articulate this everyday discrimination”.
This calls for a need to view 'ethnic minorities' not merely as uncontested repositories of political and economic value, but as members of a common society. The conditioning of generations in accepting with continual gratefulness anything that is remotely validating their contribution, has led to a scenario where equality is still a distant dream. The difficulty, as is also evident in Ruby McGregor-Smith's report, is the denial in which organisations and the administration are living in. The institutional incompetence to deal with subtleties of everyday racism is deep rooted. Is this recognised by any organisation as a failure? Is diversity in workplaces a sham, owing to blatant illusions of equal-opportunity?
Anitha Karkera, a resident of the UK since 25 years, pointed out, “Even the ministers and officials who head the BITC are not from ethnic communities. How is the system supposed to address a problem they have not had a 'lived' experience of?” This raises pertinent questions on the steps that the government has taken to tackle this burning issue. She further says, “It is in these difficult times that we all need to come together, irrespective of the so-called segregations, and work towards a holistic progressive society.” Among universities, government offices, businesses, there is a scepticism towards anyone who raises the issue of workplace discrimination- they are often accused of playing victim in a fair society. Are we in a better world today, or is it only growing more complicated to make the privileged class understand that the centuries' old oppression has just changed its mask?
