Employers could be forced to publicise their ethnic pay gap figures  

This was suggested, as last year an audit showed that there was a significant difference in promotion opportunities and pay among different ethnic minority groups.  

Upon this announcement, Theresa May said: “Every employee deserves the opportunity to progress and fulfil their potential in their chosen field, regardless of which background they are from, but too often ethnic minority employees feel they’re hitting a brick wall when it comes to career progression.”  

In this report, there were many key findings that were revealed, such as that unemployment among black, Asian and minority ethnic people was nearly double that of white British citizens. 

Other key findings that were included in this report, was that Asian, black and other ethnic groups were disproportionately likely to be on a low income, with just 1% of non-white police officers in senior roles. Within NHS England, this report found that 18% of white job applicants shortlisted were offered the job, in comparison to 11% of ethnic minorities 

Public services including the NHS, armed forces, schools and the police force will also be instructed to explain and plan how they intend to increase the balance of leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds.  

While declaring this new project, Theresa May went on to say “Our focus is now on making sure the UK’s organisations, boardrooms and senior management teams are truly reflective of the workplaces they manage, and the measures we are taking today will help employers identify the actions needed to create a fairer and more diverse workforce.” 

Angus McCarey, CEO, Hive Learning, whose company specialise in helping companies create inclusive cultures, commented saying, “The addition of ethnic pay gap reporting is very welcome as public benchmarks like this are critical for inspiring urgency around building a diverse workforce. But companies must take the lessons we’ve learned since the introduction of the gender pay gap and apply them to all aspects of diversity.”

He then went onto to discuss what organisations have to do to support diversity in their office, “We’re still seeing too many organisations focus exclusively on diversity, hard metrics and processes – forgetting about the need to build the inclusive culture required to support and reap the benefits of a diverse workforce.”  

There have already been many companies that have already signed up to this upon announcement, some of the UK’s best-known companies including accountancy firm KPMG and advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi as well as NHS England and the Civil Service. The consultation will run until January to allow businesses to share views on what information should be published. 

This event is intended to copy segments of the gender pay gap rules, aiming to use the similar number of 250 employees or above for mandatory reporting. 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission were very much in favour of this law, with the chairman, David Issac saying: “Extending mandatory reporting beyond gender will raise transparency about other inequalities in the workplace and give employers the insight they need to identify and remove barriers to ethnic minority staff joining and progressing to the highest level in their organisations.”