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Over the past 30 years, a lot has changed for minority-ethnic groups in Britain. From MPs and bishops to judges and police chiefs, people from minority-ethnic backgrounds have made it to the top of their professions across the board. Until 2007, the leader of the House of Lords was a black woman, Baroness Valerie Amos, and Lakshmi Mittal, the Asian steel magnate, topped The Sunday Times Rich List for the third year running. Is this enough, or are further strides towards equality required?
Different ethnic groups, different employment patterns
There are some significant differences between minority-ethnic groups. For example, members of the Indian and Chinese communities are far more likely to be employed in managerial or professional occupations than Black-Africans, Black-Caribbeans and Bangladeshis.
Making a complaint to an employer
Since the introduction of Dispute Resolution Regulations in 2004, there are new compulsory procedures that all employers and employees must use in attempting to resolve grievances. Before using these procedures, you should attempt to resolve the dispute informally.
First, send a written statement of your grievance to your employer. Your employer must then arrange a meeting to discuss it. You have a right to be accompanied by a colleague or a trade union official.
If you are unhappy with your employer’s decision after this meeting, you must tell them you are going to appeal. They must arrange another meeting. If you do not appeal, but commence a claim in an employment tribunal, any compensation may be reduced by between 10% and 50%.
If the complaint is not resolved using the statutory grievance procedures, you can commence a claim under the Race Relations Act in an employment tribunal.
Job applicants who believe they’ve been discriminated against can also make a claim in an employment tribunal if their complaint is not settled out of court. Both applicants and employees can get support from the Commission for Equality and Human Rights.
Pakistani, Bangladeshi and black men have significantly higher unemployment rates than other ethnic groups. And while workers from an Indian background tend to be paid the same, if not more, than white workers, workers of Pakistani and Bangladeshi descent receive the lowest pay overall.
However considering ethnic minorities as a whole, it seems some change is still necessary. Figures from the Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force show that while the employment rate of the population as a whole is 74%, for ethnic minorities it is only 59%.
Under-representation at senior levels
The top levels of the corporate world are particularly hard for ethnic minorities to break into. A survey of 27 FTSE-100 companies commissioned by the Runnymede Trust, revealed that 5.4% of their employees were ethnic minorities, but that representation fell sharply with seniority (3.2% of junior and middle managers, 1% of senior managers).
Part of the problem may be differing levels of representation at the universities to which big businesses look to fulfil their recruitment needs. For example, 60% of London Metropolitan University students belong to ethnic minorities, compared with just 7% at Bristol.
However, actual or at least perceived workplace discrimination may play some part. The BBC Race Survey in 2002 found that one-third of black and Asian people think they have faced discrimination at work.
Work is being done to tackle this problem. The Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force was established in 2003 and set the objective that in ten years’ time, no-one should be disadvantaged in their employment prospects because of their ethnicity.
Good news for ethnic-minority graduates
Many graduate recruiters are also working to meet this objective and improve their performance in the diversity arena. Investment banking, for example, has traditionally been an area in which ethnic minorities have been under-represented. Sponsors for Educational Opportunity London (SEO London), which runs placement and mentoring schemes for students and graduates, was set up in response to this problem.
Barclays Capital is one company that offers summer placements through SEO London as part of its strategy to address the issues of equality and diversity. ’Our Global Diversity team works with the business to leverage diversity and raise awareness of diversity across the firm. Diversity is built into training, performance management and recruitment processes,’ says Michael Evans, Head of HR.
The teaching profession is another sector that is actively targeting minority-ethnic graduates. In March 2006, for example, the Cambridge Faculty of Education launched a recruitment drive to encourage ethnic minorities in the East of England to consider a career in teaching. Professional networks and mentoring schemes exist for a wide range of professions, from SET to law, and there are many sources of support for students, such as the website Black and Asian Grad.
Will these initiatives result in a higher proportion of ethnic minorities at senior levels of companies? Only time will tell. However, as a minority-ethnic student, you can make the most of these campaigns and schemes. And all graduates should benefit from a thriving graduate recruitment market. The number of graduate vacancies rose by 12.7% in 2007 and the median graduate starting salary was £23,500, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters. Whatever your background, the future looks bright.
