Workplace diversity

The average office or business looks very different to the way it did a century or even a generation ago. Where once in the western world white men predominated, women and members of ethnic minorities now enrich the mix of almost every workplace.

In most developed countries, the 1960s and 1970s brought equal pay and broader anti-discrimination legislation designed to ensure men and women received the same remuneration for performing the same tasks.

These legal obligations have allowed businesses to play their part in the valuable human endeavour of ensuring no one’s potential should be wasted due solely to their gender or colour of skin.

But offering equal opportunities can also have enormous commercial benefits. The most successful businesses tend to be those that understand the societal shifts that are defining the early part of the 21st century.

The identification in recent years of the “pink pound” – the market for goods and services in demand from the gay population – is a case in point. Moves to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation have led to larger numbers of openly gay, lesbian and transgender employees whose expertise can be tapped.

In practice, however, women and some ethnic minorities are failing to secure an equal share of the top jobs in most workplaces. The disparity is striking given that women increasingly perform better than their male counterparts at every stage of academic life.

There is no single explanation for this, but evidence of a widening gap in employment rates as women get older suggests motherhood, combined with the shortage of affordable childcare, is significant. Those who leave jobs to raise a family struggle to regain their place on the career ladder. Research published by the European Commission shows the gender employment gap peaks at 15 percentage points for those aged between 55 and 64. However, women’s failure to capture a proportionate share of the career spoils might also reflect their different choices and priorities.

That most of those making senior appointments in the developed world tend to be white men can also make it harder for those who do not fit the ­prevailing mould. The human tendency to relate to those similar to ourselves can lead to appointments that ­reinforce, rather than challenge, the status quo.

Sarah Neville