RfO Race to Progress: Breaking Down Barriers

Career progression should be based on merit. People from all backgrounds and walks of life should know that they will be able to progress in an organisation in line with their talents and commitment. Yet we know that the reality in the workplace is very different. Writes Sandra Kerr, National Director of the Race for Opportunity campaign Business in the Community

As Race for Opportunity showed as recently as 2009 in its report, Race to the Top , our British black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) workers are simply not gaining the share of management or senior level jobs that their population would justify. Understanding why this is the case will be a major step forward to ending this inequality.

That is why we commissioned the (Race to progress: breaking down barriers) research to explore the levels of ambition among British workers from a BAME background, to highlight the barriers that prevent them from achieving those ambitions and identify the support systems that are needed to enable them to progress. In other words, we asked workers what they wanted – and they told us.

The findings make for both exciting and disappointing reading at the same time. Exciting because they capture the level of motivation, and ambition that the current generation of British BAME workers possess. Disappointing both because of the invisible barriers that people say they face when seeking career progression and particularly because of the signs that overt racial discrimination lingers in the British workplace.

Work is an important element of people’s lives. As well as bringing in income, it can instill self-confidence and enable people to set and achieve personal goals in terms of career progression.

This report highlights the ways in which employers are failing to take advantage of the huge amount of ambition and motivation that BAME workers display. Of course, not everyone is motivated by the prospect of promotion. But there are some simple demands common to the vast majority of workers: feeling valued, relevant training, proper pay and a listening ear from their line manager. What also emerges is a strong demand for mentors, sponsors and role models to help navigate their career path. Our three recommendations are simple and mostly low-cost changes that employers can make which will result in a more engaged and productive workforce, improved business results and customer satisfaction and, in the medium term, deliver a good return on investment in the workforce.

A few of these recommendations will require some investment, but those such as mentoring, ‘active’ sponsorship and good line management will not. Indeed, good line management capability is a business imperative. Employers can do their bit towards achieving equality in the UK by ensuring that their employees can fulfil their ambitions in the workplace regardless of their ethnic background.

Race to progress: breaking down barriers report.