New research has revealed that the glass ceiling is practically ‘impenetrable’ for Black people working for some of the UK’s largest companies.
Figures released by inclusive recruitment specialist Ruebik and Operation Black Vote (OBV) demonstrate that just one out of 200 FTSE 100 Executive Directors are from Black communities. They are also 12-times less likely to be represented at top levels than the overall population.
Surprisingly, the problem in the UK is far worse than in the US, according to Ruebik and OBV. Black people in the UK are more than five-times less likely to be represented on boards – and less than eight-times as executives – compared to their US peers. In fact, just 9.2% of the blue-chip FTSE 100 board members are from the broader Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) community. Given that 13.8% of the UK’s population are from a minority ethnic background, these communities are underrepresented by one-third. Disparities are more extreme at the executive level with only 7% BAME representation.
MINORITY TALENT POOL
This situation is of huge concern given that most of the top companies are headquartered in London, where 40% of the population is BAME. This indicates that firms appear to be “ignoring a huge pool of minority talent that’s practically on their doorstep”, noted the study. If we take London as the base population, rather than the UK overall, minority communities could potentially hold more than 450 seats on FTSE boards, compared to the current 89.
Furthermore, there has been little progress towards having at least one ethnic minority representative on every FTSE 100 board by 2021, as recommended by the Parker Review Committee in 2017, and more recently by the CBI. An update in February 2020 found that 37% of those boards (31 out of 83 companies) still had no BAME representation, and many were likely to miss the government-backed target of having at least one board director of an ethnic minority background by 2021.
EXTREME UNDERREPRESENTATION
Those findings are reiterated by Ruebik/OBV’s research, which demonstrates that 34% of FTSE 100 boards still have no BAME representation. Their research also provides a more granular insight than the Parker Review, as it delves deeper into the extreme underrepresentation of Black people. Black people make up 3.3% of the population, yet only 1.5% of UK boards and 0.4% of executives are Black. Furthermore, Black women account for a tiny 0.1%. Black people are therefore 12-times less likely to be represented at the executive level, noted the study.
The biases that people from minority backgrounds face continually were exemplified by the comments in June by Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf when he said that the bank had trouble reaching its diversity goals because there “was not enough qualified minority talent”. The higher up the corporate ladder one goes, the less diverse, whiter and more male it becomes. “Not only is this inegalitarian”, argues Ruebik, “but companies are overlooking a vast untapped reserve of diverse skills that would otherwise enrich a business’ capabilities”.
ELEVATING BLACK TALENT
Given the stark statistics, Operation Black Vote’s Founder Lord Simon Woolley believes we need to radically rethink how we are involving and elevating Black talent. “This research paints a stark picture for the prospects of Black talent in the UK. The fact that you are at a significant disadvantage to succeed if you stay on home soil, means as a Black professional you are more likely to leave the country to get ahead,” he remarked. “Therefore, Britain is at great risk of haemorrhaging the very diverse talent and skills that are needed to help us through this deeply challenging time. We already send our movie stars to the US in order to succeed. We should learn from our mistakes to ensure business doesn’t continue following suit.”
While blue chips show a deficit of Black talent, they are also reliant on importing Black leaders from markets such as the US and South Africa, rather than nurturing the considerable domestic skills base drawn from local BAME communities, according to Ruebik/OBV. This shows that the existing recruitment model is broken.
INCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITIES
Ruebik’s CEO Christina Brooks believes there has never been a more opportune time for businesses to address these issues. “At a time when organisations are seeking to ‘build back better’, Ruebik offers a way to achieve this, centred around inclusive opportunity for all,” stated Brooks.
“We exist not because companies just need more diverse employees, but because companies are setting up diverse talent to fail by trying to attract and retain it in the same way as those who are systemically included. If you keep doing the same thing, drawing on the same narrow cohort of people, you will get the same results. And those results aren’t solving the problems that face today’s businesses.”
For more on the real reason behind the stark representation of Black leaders in corporate America, click here.
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