Get on board with a boost in diversity

BUSINESSES need to improve diversity in the boardroom and on the factory floor in order to “build back better” and thrive post-pandemic, according to Race Equality Matters.

Tomorrow is the start of Britain’s first Race Equalityweek and the campaign group’s co-founder, Raj Tulsiani, said improving workplace diversity is both a moral and business necessity.

Tulsiani, who is head of recruitment group Green Park, said investors are increasingly seeking businesses with strong diversity and inclusion credentials. He added that more diversity would enlarge the talent pool available to employers and be more reflective of society as a whole.

“In the economic recovery, our drive to ‘get back to normal’ must acknowledge one simple truth. Before Covid-19, too many businesses had a poor balance of talent,” Tulsiani said.

Race Equality Matters said ethnic minorities graduates are twice as likely to be jobless than white ones, while 75 per cent of minority workers claim to have experienced racism.

Green Park found that ethnic minority representation on boards stands at 7.4 per cent, nearly half the proportion of people of colour in the wider population, which stands at 14 per cent.

Last year the Confederation of British Industry said the UK’S biggest companies should aim to have at least one black, Asian or minority board member. Legal & General Investment Management, the UK’S largest fund manager, said if FTSE 100 boards don’t meet the CBI’S target within 12 months it will vote against the reelection of their board members.