UK
employers are still failing to employ enough black and Asian managers,
particularly at senior level, according to research.
The
study, Race: Creating Business Value, benchmarked the organisations and found
while employers are increasingly tackling racial inequality in the workplace,
more needs to be done to address the lack of black and Asian role models.
The
report, by Race for Opportunity, surveyed 99 organisations – 56 from the private
sector and 43 from the public sector employing – 2.75 million staff.
Andrea
Callender, the report author, said: "There are definitely not enough black
and Asian managers at any level of UK plc.
"There
are only 44 ethnic minority individuals operating at the most senior level of
these organisations, and there are still no black or ethnic minority chief
executives, permanent secretaries or their equivalents."
Only
3.4 per cent of senior managers in the organisations surveyed are from ethnic
minorities, while the overall number at managerial level is 4.1 per cent.
However,
organisations are making a significant investment in promoting diversity with
86 per cent having a person at board level to champion race activities.
Lloyds
TSB ranked second in the list of diversity top performers. Andrew Wakelin,
senior manager (equal opportunities) at the bank, said diversity was an
important business issue.
"It
allows us to tap into a talent pool and customers feel that their needs are
better catered for," he said, adding that Lloyd TSB’s diversity programme
has seen both customer service and sales figures improve.
The
company now targets different universities to attract black and ethnic staff
and has translated recruitment literature so that community leaders and
families who are often instrumental in the career decisions of graduates can
get information.
As
a result 20 per cent of Lloyd TSB’s graduate intake is black or Asian.
Nationally, the percentage of non-white university graduates is 12 per cent.
By
Quentin Reade
