COMP NEWS – Recent surveys are showing an increasingly wide gap in UK companies between black employee retention and retention of workers from other ethnic and racial backgrounds.
Whatever British firms are doing to attract and retain Black talent, it’s not enough.
Some 46% of Black professionals in the UK say they plan to stay with their employer for only two years or less, versus 34% of White professionals, according to a survey published last week by New York-based nonprofit Coqual. For Black female professionals, the figure was 52%. The findings show that efforts to improve diversity in recruitment are wasted if firms can’t then inspire confidence in career development and provide an inclusive working environment.
The increased desire to leave among black professionals stems from perceived inequities regarding promotions, performance evaluations, and compensation, according to one survey.
The higher propensity to leave was in part explained by a sharp differential in perceptions of fairness in promotions, performance evaluations, hiring and pay, Coqual found. Nearly two-fifths of Black professionals said their company’s processes were “not at all” or only “slightly” fair, versus only about one-fifth of White professionals. Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, was one of the sponsors of the research.
The risk of an exodus of black talent is a two-fold problem for organizations.
Attrition risks being self-perpetuating. If Black professionals leave, they won’t be represented in the executive leadership unless the firm can make lateral hires. In turn, that sends a message to potential new joiners that there’s a glass ceiling if you don’t look like the current team at the top. The most recent study of the UK FTSE-100 index of blue-chip firms by London consultancy Green Park found no Black chairs, chief executives or chief financial officers among its constituents.
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