A new report which has been jointly published by the Society of Black Academics which is a Higher Education Policy Institute and GatenbySanderson has illustrated some alarming statistics about the state of different work places in the UK. The main finding of the study was that only 34% of back academics say their work place is inclusive. This is quite an alarming finding at a time when racial tensions around the country will be on alert due to the number of different riots there have been around the country caused by tensions between different ethnic groups.
At a time when we are aiming to be as inclusive as possible and provide a stable and level environment for people who may have had to leave their home countries due to war or other economic factors, different businesses should be aiming to create an environment which will help them to settle in and make the most of the opportunities that may be on offer to them.
The statistics also illustrated that just over a third of those who took part in the study believed they were being paid a fair wage for their role. At a time when the government is trying to make it compulsory for all businesses to pay their employees a living wage, this will only heighten the fact that many areas of society are still seen as an unfair setting for people who may come from different parts of the world and want to try gain employment here to achieve a better standard of living.
The report was conducted by the Society of Black Academics members – project manager, Dr Mercy Denedo (Durham University Business School), Dr Opeoluwa Aiyenitaju (Manchester Met University), Dr Bola Babajide (De Montfort University), Dr Ade Oyedijo (University of Leicester) and Steven Kator Iorfa – alongside Dr Becca Franssen, from GantenbySanderson, and Josh Freeman, from the Higher Education Policy Institute.
The researchers wanted to explore the experiences of black early-career academics in higher education, examining the challenges they faced, as well as exploring the effectiveness of various initiatives, programmes and recommendations put in place to overcome these challenges.
As part of the research, the different academics looked at the ways people from countries around the world could overcome the varying obstacles which they may see in their way during their journey to employment success. The UK is meant to be a fair country with little or no prejudice or discrimination so that people who want to make a better life for themselves can. There have been various laws and initiatives put in place to try and make it a level playing field for everyone.
These include having different pots of funding so that businesses can make the necessary adaptations to the work place to ensure that people who may be in more need or require a certain place to carry out a certain activity during the day can. This helps to promote equality in the work place and help those who need the support.
Though 68% of participants stated they had good relationships with their colleagues, this did not necessarily help boost job satisfaction – with only 49% of participants being content with their job role. It is likely here, the researchers say, that pay has an impact, as just 32% of participants believed they received a fair wage.
The greatest challenges that black early-career academics faced were found to be unconscious bias in the workplace, a lack of community for people similar to them, and a lack of clarity around progression and opportunity. About 52% of those surveyed felt there is a lack of clarity around progression opportunity and criteria.
”81% of black academics who responded to the survey agreed that they face challenges while 10% disagreed.”, says Mercy Denedo. “Despite the plethora of initiatives adopted by Higher Ed institutions, the evidence indicates that navigating the sector as a black academic “feels like flying blind”, without support, conspicuous but invisible for promotion, opportunities and pay.”
If you’d like to read the full report, you can find this at:
