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Visible Minorities in Just 3% of Top Jobs
17 October 2007
By Jen Gerson
Business Reporter
Everybody feels anger when the boss’s pet wins the promotion, but visible minorities are more likely to suffer the slight.
It’s human nature for senior management to fast-track employees who are similar to themselves – which is why workers who are non-Caucasian feel they are having a harder time breaking into the executive upper echelon.
Visible minorities working in professional organizations are more likely to think that who you know matters more than what you know, according to a study released today by Catalyst, a research firm that focuses on women in the workplace.
The report, “Career Advancement in Corporate Canada: A focus on visible minorities,” was the first study in which the group looked at how visible minorities perceive their workplace.
It is also one of the first to look at the advancement of professional visible minorities, rather than just those who are trying to break into the workforce.
The study, which interviewed 17,000 Caucasian and minority people working in 43 companies, found that 38 per cent of visible minorities believe that their organization promoted its employees fairly, versus 46 per cent of Caucasians.
The glass ceiling, it would appear, is lower for non-white men and women than it is for white women.
Though more than 20 per cent of the workforce will be visible minorities in the next decade, they hold only 3 per cent of all senior management positions, the report said. Women, who make up 46.9 per cent of the workforce, hold 15.1 per cent of corporate officer jobs, according to Catalyst.
White women report the highest levels of satisfaction in their career goals, including advancement and income.
It also found that visible minorities were less likely to find role models in their organization. They also felt they had received fewer development opportunities and high-profile assignments and said they were being held to a higher performance standard than their peers.
Also, 67 per cent of visible minorities said that they were included in informal networking compared to 76 per cent of Caucasians.
“This is a wake-up call for corporate Canada,” said Wendy Cukier, associate dean at the Diversity Institute, part of Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University. “While most companies have a stated commitment to diversity, they still have to walk the walk.”
As baby boomers age and retire, and the birth rate shrinks, Canada will come to rely on immigration for labour growth. As most immigrants are from visible minorities, companies must foster diverse workplaces in order to remain competitive, said Gord Nixon, president of the Royal Bank of Canada, one of the report’s sponsors.
The inequality that minorities face on the job doesn’t exist “because people are intentionally biased or are intentionally not developing programs to encourage equality in the workforce,” Nixon said. “It’s not because people are trying to promote people that they know, or because they’re biased against people they don’t know. It’s because it’s human nature that when people are comfortable with certain individuals, or they’re comfortable with certain groups of individuals that they have something in common with … it leads to that type of decision-making.”
The Catalyst report suggests that companies should track their employees rather than rely on quotas. They should also make diversity a priority, create mentoring programs and make sure that promotions are formal and transparent.
“You have to be quite focused about putting in place programs to break down the systemic barriers that are a part of human nature. It’s not bad human nature, it’s just human nature,” Nixon said.
That’s part of the solution, but Chinyere Eni, 30, an RBC branch manager – whose background includes a Nigerian father and a Cree mother, and who lost her left leg at the hip to bone cancer at the age of 8 – believes that minorities themselves have a responsibility to promote the way their differences make them more marketable.
“I don’t feel that me being all of these things is an extra box filled on a checklist,” she said.
“Going through a near-death experience at an early age has made me more empathetic,” she said. “People feel more comfortable talking to me.”
Source : TheStar.com
Keywords:diversity in the workplace diversity issues in the workforce women in the workplace Workplace Diversity workplace diversity management
Sphere It
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Most of the minority executives moved slower than white executives. A moderate pace is not bad in early career as long as it is accompanied by opportunities and assignments that positions you to build competence, credibility, and confidence.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:29 pm
People tend to hire other people who look like them. Without minorities at the executive level or minority mentors and high-level career training, you’re not going to get much movement for minorities.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:47 pm
The diversity-hiring guidelines that most large companies heed may help minorities get hired, but achieving success is up to them.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Managers of color need to think more strategically. They need to think about what they can do to reach that top level, including making social connections and getting more education, if they need it.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:10 am
It is important to choose an organization that suits your personality. It is your intrinsic love of the work that would make it easier for you to get up, confront the challenges, and stay in the game.