Research from the Black Talent Charter in collaboration with Bain & Company, has shown that, despite ongoing efforts to diversify, the highest-paid sectors of British business remain white dominated professions. The finance and the professional sectors, which include consulting, accounting, law and finance, have annual salaries of between £40-100k, and yet they employ less than half the percentage (2%) of the Black British working population (4.4%). This employment gap is a systemic problem that has resisted efforts to move the dial within business.
This research is a stark warning that the commitments made in 2020 are yet to translate into systemic change. If firms continue with ‘business as usual’ in their approach towards Black talent, we know that the situation we face will worsen. Data from the 2021 Census indicated that it would take approximately 50 years before British business accurately reflects the Black working population. Data taken from just one year later, in 2022, shows that this gap may have widened to almost 70 years. This means that if firms do not radically change their approach and methods towards attracting and retaining the best of Black talent, then we will have to wait beyond many of our lifetimes before British business is representative of our society.
Read the full report here.
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