Career Progression Research Race for Opportunity

mobilising business for good

Career Progression ResearchRace for Opportunity

A Brief OverviewSandra Kerr


Career Progression

Overview• Race to the Top revealed lack of BAME workers in management

positions.

• The employers highlighted concerns around differences – whether perceived or actual – in career progression between diverse ethnic minority groups.

• Research commissioned to determine whether and why there is a difference in the career progression rates of ethnic minorities.


Career Progression

Research Objective

To find out the differences between ethnicity groups to support employers to identify effective interventions to speed up progression inthe work place

Sample Frame (intended v achieved)

4

Ethnic Group Intended Sample Actual Achieved

White British n=200 n=206

Mixed Race n=200 n=201

Indian n=200 n=383

Pakistani n=200 n=195

Bangladeshi n=100 n=61

Chinese n=100 n=107

Caribbean n=225 n=222

African n=175 n=182

T O T A L n=1,400 n=1557


Career Progression

Key findings

• UK employees from a BAME background show high levels of ambition and motivation….

• Progression more important to BAME workers than white employees

– For example, more than 9 out of 10 employees from the Black African ethnic minority group described themselves as ambitious and stated career progression was important to them.


Career Progression

High Levels of ambition …….


Career Progression

Key findings– On average more than 1 in 3 BAME employees believe they need

to leave current employer to progress– African & Caribbean respondents were more likely to be looking

around and willing to leave their current organisation to progress– Despite less drive and ambition to progress white employees

have an average of 4 promotions compared to 2.5 for ethnic minority groups


Career Progression

Confidence in career progression rests in part on finding new jobs…


Barriers to Progression

Key findings• Perceived barriers to career advancement include:

– a shortage of promotion opportunities – demand for mentors and expanding professional networks– a lack of support or poor relationships with their manager– a lack of confidence in senior leaders interest in their progression



Managers present a new, less visible brake on ambition…..



Is senior management inspiring confidence…….


Belief in Organisation recognising talent?

• 50% of White and Chinese employees believe their organisation recognise talented individuals

• 46% Indian and Bangladeshi• 43% Mixed• 41% African• 37% of Pakistani employees believe this• 36% of Caribbean employees believe this


Great Relationship with Line Manager?

• 64% white men• 61% Indian employees• 59% Bangladeshi employees• 57% African and Chinese employees• 55% of white women• 53% mixed heritage and Caribbean employees

14

Good listening skills was the most common characteristic of a good line manager

White British Mixed Race Indian Pakistani

Bangladeshi Chinese Caribbean African

Honesty (85%)

Good listening skills (85%)

Easy to talk to (85%)

Fair (83%)

Honesty (83%)



Honesty (75%)

Motivational (74%)

Respect (79%)


Strong leadership (76%)

Honesty (84%)



Fair (84%)

Respect (81%)



Respect (91%)

Motivational (90%)


Strong leadership (88%)


Q31. Which of the following characteristics do you think makes a good line manager?

Base: n=1557 (W.British n=206, Mixed n=201, Indian n=383, Pakistani n=195, Bangladeshi n=61, Chinese n=107, Caribbean n=222, African n=182)


Career Progression

Key findings

– ethnic minority groups cited racism as the most popular reason overall in response to the question:

– Why do you think you were overlooked for promotion?’

16

Respondents offered many thoughts as to why they had been overlooked for promotionQ8. Why do you think you were overlooked?


Career Progression

Key findings• Perceived barriers to career advancement include:

– BAME people more likely to use recruitment agencies but less than 50% of BAME workers believe they are treated fairly by recruitment agents when being put forward for roles

– While African, Bangladeshi and Caribbean respondents are highly likely to register with a recruitment agent, few believe they were treated fairly as a candidate

18

Q19. Have you ever registered with a recruitment agent? Q20. In your experience, do you believe that recruitment agents treat people from your ethnic background fairly when putting them forward for roles?

White British

Pakistani

Indian

Chinese

Caribbean

Bangladeshi

Mixed

African

52%

56%

58%

61%

66%

70%

70%

70%

54%

32%

39%

42%

27%

28%

50%

32%


Career Progression

Key findings– Women were less likely than males to have confidence in their

next career steps.– Those working in the public sector were much less likely to be

confident about their next career steps– Perceived barriers to career progression varied by ethnic minority

background


Career Progression

Key findings• Perceived barriers to progression varied by ethnic background

– Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani respondents were more critical of management and internal structures at their place of work

– African and Caribbean respondents felt that institutional discrimination was a leading factor that stopped them from progressing

– Chinese blamed their own lack of experience, skills and qualifications


Career Progression

Key findings• BAME workers know what they require from their workplace yet two-

thirds said their employer did not provide what they were looking for. • Most commonly cited factors for joining or staying with an

employer were: – the organisation values its workers; – there are fair pay arrangements with a bonus scheme; – appropriate training is available.


Career Progression

The value gap: how British workers feel unappreciated….


Pay

Low paid more prevalent among BAME workers…..


Pay

Proportion saying they felt underpaid……


Structural Support: Training

• Training programmes were more apparent amongst employees of larger organisations

– Interest in programmes which fast tracked to Senior Management reflected earlier attitudes to career progression

– Barriers were dominated by a level of apathy and lack of interest– However, those that were interested saw these sorts of

programmes as a real sign of progression, giving them confidence and recognition of their personal development


Structural Support Mechanisms

• Not everyone wants access to a mentor– Indian and African participants in particular were most interested– Pakistani and Bangladeshi less so

• Networking (professionally) was seen to be important, but perhaps not all got the opportunities they wanted– While Indian and African respondents were very interested, they

had very limited confidence– Particularly alarming for African respondents, who had constantly

indicated belief in their own abilities


Career Progression

Demand for mentors not being met….


Key Recommendations

Recommendation No.1:

• More than a third of workers want a mentor, but do not have access to one. We believe the RfO Board Mentoring Circles approach offers a good practice role model for organisations seeking to introduce mentoring initiatives in the workplace.


Key Recommendations


• An ‘active’ sponsor approach is something businesses should consider as a valuable tool alongside their mentoring activities. The role a sponsor can play is to introduce individuals to different networks and actively promote the individual’s skills and talents within their sphere of influence to open doors and facilitate progression.


Key Recommendations


• Feeling valued, proper pay and adequate training are the three basic demands shared by workers from all backgrounds. Employers must re-double their efforts to ensure that the rewards and training support in their organisations meet those needs. These changes are both simple and low-cost which makes them easy areas to focus on in these financially straitened times.


Key Recommendations


• Race for Opportunity has developed a Bridging the Value Gap toolkit with simple steps for senior leaders, line managers and individual employees to adopt in order to bring about a culture of value and respect throughout a businesses’ hierarchy.


Key Recommendations


• There is a need to engage with the recruitment industry head-on, in the light of our findings on casual racial discrimination when dealing with ethnic minority clients. Regardless of whether these attitudes are conscious or unconscious, every individual must be assessed on merit, not race. All employers should review their own internal recruitment and promotion processes for transparency and fairness.


Career Progression

FACILITATOR: Dr Victoria Showunmi, Head of Faculty Philanthropy Development, Institute of Education, University of London

PANEL MEMBERS:Ben Castell, Partner, Ernst & Young LLP Advisory Services

Surinder Sharma, National Director for Equality and Human Rights, Department of Health

Carmen Watson, Managing Director, Pertemps People Management

Michelle Fullerton, Regional Diversity and Inclusion Specialist Europe andCEEMEA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Career Progression Research Race for Opportunity

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