At least half of UK’s Black staff affected by racial pay gap, new research finds

Almost half of Black workers in Britain (43 per cent) have personally experienced a pay gap because of their race or think this pay inequality exists in their current workplace, according to new polling data.

More than two in five Black staff members have grappled with this disparity in pay while, by contrast, over half (57 percent) of white workers think there is no ethnicity gap within their organisations, according to research by job insight company Glassdoor.

The in-depth analysis of over 290,000 responses to a survey of full-time employees at leading UK companies has further confirmed that Black employees are enduring workplace inequalities as the government refuses to implement mandatory pay reporting.

“Diversity and inclusion have been increasingly prioritised by employers in the last two years. And our list showcases a wide range of companies from multiple industries whose employees feel valued and included,” Glassdoor economist Lauren Thomas said of the research.

“However, it is clear that more still needs to be done before equality can be achieved in the workplace. Increased transparency around diversity and inclusion isn’t easy, but it is a powerful way to highlight progress and incentivise accountability. And while mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting is still in discussion, many companies, including Glassdoor, are voluntarily publishing their diversity and inclusion reports.

“Ultimately, company investments in diversity and inclusion efforts are both a social good and a critical part of a company’s workforce management strategy—a particularly salient consideration at a time when finding and retaining talent is so difficult.”

The majority of Black workers (66 percent) think their employer needs to do more to close the ethnicity pay gap within their company. But among white workers, this figure reduces to just 40 percent.

Meanwhile, over 1 in 2 Black workers (51 percent) think the ethnicity pay gap has widened in the last 2 years. In comparison, 29 percent of white employees believe the same. Almost six in ten Black employees (57 percent) believe the solution would be to increase pay transparency.

Black professionals currently hold less than 2 percent of the UK’s management and leadership positions, therefore representation is lacking at the helm of these organisations.

The government has been approached for comment on Glassdoor’s research.

Earlier this year, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes blasted her own party for its “lack of will” to tackle racial disparities after ministers refused to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting.

Ms Nokes, who’s also chairwoman of the Women and Equalities Committee, said there is “no excuse” for government inaction on the matter, as there is a “clear impetus” to report disparities.

Legislation was introduced in 2017 making it compulsory for companies with 250 or more employees to report their gender pay gap; however, there is currently no legal requirement to disclose pay data for workers of different ethnicities.

Other cross-party MPs have lobbied for legislation to make large companies publish data on their ethnicity pay gap in order to help crack down on workplace inequalities.

However, the government has rejected that call in May, citing “significant issues” relating to statistics as its primary reason not to adopt it.

Dianne Greyson, founder of the #EthnicityPayGap Campaign – an organisation founded to raise awareness of the gap and encourage the government to make ethnicity pay disparity reporting mandatory – also condemned the government’s “laissez-faire attitude” to tackling racial inequalities.

The decision not to implement the plan comes after analysis by Business In The Community (BITC), first reported by The Independent, found ethnicity pay gap data would not be widely published by companies in the UK until 2075 unless the government intervened.

More than 120,000 workers from minority ethnic backgrounds have left their jobs because of racism, according to a recent study from the Trade Union Congress (TUC).