Take action on 'blatant racism' in best paid professions

A charity has called on HR professionals to do more to tackle institutionalised racism in their workplaces in order to encourage more members of the UK’s ethnic minorities to apply for prestige jobs.
 

A report, which is due to be published tomorrow, has revealed that more than a quarter of people from ethnic minority groups feel that the best paid professions in areas such as law, banking, media and politics are closed to them due to ‘blatant’ racism. Other factors in the mix included a clear lack of role models and family disapproval.
 
The study, which was undertaken among 1,500 people from all major ethnic backgrounds, including the white population, was funded by the last government and put together by charity Business in the Community (BiC).
 
Sandra Kerr, national campaign director for BiC’s Race for Opportunity campaign, told the Daily Telegraph that businesses were failing to tackle the race issue as seriously as the gender one and called on organisations from all sectors to ramp up positive action in their recruitment activity.
 
“For business, there is much to be done in the areas of recruitment and progression in particular. HR directors can be driving forward this change by reviewing all marketing material, committing to diverse shortlists for all vacancies and promoting ethnic minority role models within their organisation,” she said.
 
The report, indicated that half of all respondents from ethnic minorities saw the police as biased against them, rising to 72% among Afro-Caribbean people. About 36% saw the armed forces as prejudiced, while three out of ten also disregarded politics and 16% the law as genuine career options because of such perceptions.
 
According to the Guardian, the report said: “Overall, it is clear that some of the best-paid professions in the UK are still seen as subtly hostile or openly racist towards ethnic minorities...It is disappointing that over so many decades of official initiatives...that a significant minority should see institutional racism across the board.”
 
As a result, nearly one in three people from ethnic minorities felt it was hard to get a job in the media, while under a quarter believed that the same applied to law, 22% to banking and 20% to politics.
 
To make matters worse, one fifth of ethnic minority respondents also said they had been subject to racially offensive comments at work, with people from a Chinese background being most hit (35%), followed by those of Pakistani heritage (25%).