Black History Month
What can employers do to attract and retain Black and ethnic minority graduates?
October is Black history month where there is an annual celebration of the history, achievements and contributions of Black people in the UK. For the entire month a wide range of events are held across the country celebrating African and Caribbean cultures and histories, including everything from food festivals to music and literacy workshops, educational seminars and lectures.
For employers, a diverse workforce can have a significantly positive impact on its success as a business. However, for many graduates from a Black ethnic background, it remains an uphill battle to secure graduate jobs, studies have shown that there is a significant issue in retaining these graduates.
So, how can employers support the recruitment and retention of employees from diverse ethnic backgrounds?
A survey carried out by Race at Work found that although job applicants from Caribbean (71%) and African (67%) backgrounds are more likely to use a recruitment agency than white people (47%), only 34% of Black candidates felt they are treated fairly by agencies, compared to 49% of white people.
The report makes several recommendations for improvements to be more inclusive, and this may be a useful checklist when reviewing your own recruitment practices:
· Review your entry requirements, focusing on potential achievement rather than which university or school the individual went to;
· Draft job specifications in plain English and provide an accurate reflection of essential and desirable skills to ensure applications from a wider set of individuals
· Ensure that, wherever possible, the selection and interview process is undertaken by more than one person, ideally including individuals from different backgrounds to help eliminate bias
· Seek opportunities to provide work experience to a more diverse group of individuals and stopping the practice of unpaid or unadvertised internships.
The challenge does not stop at the recruitment of these graduates, organisations also need to consider how they can retain this talent. The Institute of Student Employers reported that whilst 54% of employers have a strategy to attract Black candidates to their business, only 44% of employers track retention rates; and just 22% provide dedicated support during early careers.
Whist these organisations may attract a more diverse selection of graduates, in the transition from multi-ethnic universities, graduates described facing discrimination and harassment when moving into predominantly White workplaces. Black graduates also reported a poor representation of Black people in senior positions and felt that they had to work harder to achieve the same success as their White colleagues.
Clearly more work is required to support graduates of Black heritage in these organisations. It is not enough to attract this talent, employers need to review the ethnic make up of their staff and if Black employees are underrepresented in the organisation, it is beneficial to put a strategy in place to help with the retention of these graduates.
The report recommends the following practices could be put in place to assist with the retention issue:
· Involve people from black heritage backgrounds in making selection decisions and engage with these employees to review recruitment processes to ensure that they are not biased;
· Maximise the potential of hires from black heritage backgrounds, and recognise that changes to recruitment are not enough and that early careers support is needed by leaders;
· Call on all stakeholders to make more fundamental changes to ensure representation at all levels of their organisations and to lend their voices to wider campaigns for racial justice.
Fundamental changes to work and culture take time and they will not happen without leaders facing these challenges head on. The organisations that take a lead with effecting change will be the organisations that thrive through diversity of thought and leadership in the long term.