Employers urged to review race and ethnicity commitments

Employers across the UK should review previous commitments on race and ethnicity diversity and check if they’ve made the progress they expected and, in some cases, that they’ve promised. That is the central message from diversity and inclusion specialist Shuabe Shabudin in his analysis piece for Out-Law. 

He says the difficulties faced by those from minority ethnic backgrounds have not lessened and companies that fail to address it risk reputational damage. He says in a tight employment market where there is a race for talent, tackling inequality in the workplace is essential to allow firms to recruit the very best candidates and to retain their best employees.
On promises made, he says: ‘A company’s prior commitment to diversity and inclusion goals do not go unnoticed by its workforce. Promises that are not subsequently delivered can damage staff engagement and impact on trust in the employment relationship more widely.’

So, let’s hear more on this. Earlier Shuabe joined me by video-link to discuss his article. I put it to Shuabe that, essentially, what he’s saying is that firms need to hold themselves to account because, if they don’t, others will and will do so in a very public way:

Shuabe Shabudin: “It’s a great summary, Joe, and I think there was a lot of good work that was done by many, many employers, many organisations, in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder. But I think for a number of reasons, perhaps, for example, the impact of the pandemic, maybe even the war on Ukraine, cost of living crisis, all of these kinds of reasons that have, perhaps, shifted employers’ focus away from the good work that was being done. I think also, some of us need to be a bit honest with ourselves that we may well have just thought that the problem was fixed, you know, that things had been solved. So now, I think. there's a huge, huge, need for employers to just do a bit of a review, to sit back, take stock and, particularly where statements were made, or where promises were made, to just check whether or not there has been the progress made against those that they were anticipating.”

Joe Glavina: “I see that you mention how it’s a tight employment market, there’s a race for talent, and a feeling that prospective employees out there are looking closely to see what employers do and don't do. Is that right?” 

Shuabe Shabudin: “Very much so, very much. So, I think for a while we've had a war on talent, it is quite aggressive, depending on sector and level at which you are recruiting, and I think what we've really seen over the last few years is organisations being held to account. So, whether or not it's being done internally, whether or not the board themselves are holding themselves to account for things that may or may have been said or promised, job seekers will be doing that and I think where we do have such a tight job market where there is such a race for talent, it's very, very important for employers to be clear that they have done what they said they were going to do. So, it's really about being genuine, and I think that genuineness is something that job seekers are really, really looking for in employers now.”

Joe Glavina: “Just thinking about some practical steps for HR to be taking. What actions might HR take now, or at least consider taking now?” 

Shuabe Shabudin: “Yes, so it's really about an assessment, you know, a base level assessment. So, where there were promises made, it's about being able to chart whether there has been any progress. I'm a great believer in data. Data is really, really important, and what I'm sometimes asked by clients is well how do I get the data? And what I often say is, you've already got it. You know, it may not be that it's held in a system, it's held on your workday or on our personnel files, but it could be held by certain key stakeholders, by key individuals, within the organisation, or maybe even just a pulse survey of the employees. Then when you've got that information, when you've got that baseline, it's then about feeding that into perhaps some kind of a maturity assessment, a D&I maturity assessment, and that's something that my colleagues in Brook Graham do very, very often with clients as a starting point because only once you know where you are, can you then work out where you want to get. Similarly, only once you know where you are, can you work out how far you may have got from the promises that you made. So, it's about having that information, using that information, data is only as good as what you do with it, and then from that, being able to either chart where you've got to, or put in place initiatives that are going to then just press reset and just change the dial.”

Joe Glavina: “Final question, Shuabe. As you know the government has just published some new guidance on ethnicity pay gap reporting. Does that apply to this conversation?” 

Shuabe Shabudin: “Yes, it does very much so, and I think it's an extension of the concept of having this kind of D&I maturity assessment. Ethnicity pay gap reporting is incredibly important to understand how the work is for those from minority ethnic backgrounds, and whilst it may not yet be mandatory, I'm pretty confident that it will be. So, for employers to, again, show that they're an employer of choice, I think it would be very, very worthwhile for them to undertake such an ethnicity pay gap report. It is something that we at Pinsent Masons have already done, as well and, as I say, it's a way to address the very likely issues that there will be being suffered by people from minority ethnic backgrounds. So, in just the first quarter of this year there's been far too many reports from large organisations who have come out and released information about the mistreatment that there is for people based on their race, their ethnicity or their religion. So, ethnicity pay gap reporting as a concept is very important and also just understanding where the issues may be that are being faced by people from minority ethnic backgrounds.”

Shuabe has written about this in some detail in his analysis piece for Out-Law. That’s: ‘Employers must review progress on race and ethnicity commitments’, and we’ve put a link to it in the transcript of this programme. We’ve also included a link to the government’s new guidance for employers on ethnicity pay gap reporting which was published last week.  

LINKS
- Link to Out-Law analysis: ‘Employers must review progress on race and ethnicity commitments’
- Link to Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting guidance for employers