The Brokerage The Overlooked Advantage - Flipbook - Page 6
Other industries such as architecture, the media and accountancy also do particularly badly when
it comes to these disparities, as do the very top roles across all industries – CEOs.[5]
These statistics reveal a problem with access to professions by working class people but to
compound matters there is also a working class pay gap for professional jobs, averaging £6k per
year with the largest inequalities found in law and finance [6]. To make matters worse, where
class intersects with gender and ethnicity, the disparities compound with respective pay gaps,
multiplying together, so that a working-class black woman might earn even less than the
combined pay gaps experienced by a working class white woman or a black woman whose
parents had better paid jobs.
Addressing the problem
As part of a broader, systemic strategy to address these unequal outcomes, it is vital
organisations develop the ability to recognise and properly test for the strengths working class
young people have, even if they developed those strengths in circumstances that are unfamiliar.
If not, young people will continue to be unjustly denied opportunities to have fulfilling
professional careers and become socially mobile. And, employers will continue to lose out on
talent that would enrich their organisation with diverse skills, experiences and mindsets.
This report seeks to help employers navigate the challenges of optimising their early
careers recruitment practices so that they can be equally accessed by
underrepresented talent from working class backgrounds and young people of colour.
The next chapter describes the strengths emerging from young people’s experience of inequality,
drawing on the existing literature, interviews with seven alumni of The Brokerage, as well as five
organisations with first-hand experience of the potential that The Brokerage candidates bring
(quotes are anonymised).
The final section lays out the steps employers should take to act on the imbalance of
representation of young people from working class backgrounds and minoritised ethnic groups in
professional jobs. This includes developing organisational empathy, being able to effectively
assess skills and experiences during recruitment, as well as developing cultures that make
young people feel like they belong. The recommendations are informed by literature on what
works, as well as outputs from focus groups with young people and employers working with The
Brokerage.
Our hope is that by paying close attention to the dynamics of recruiting and retaining young
people from underrepresented backgrounds, employers can create environments for them to
talk openly about their experiences and feel that they are valued. Such a richer and more human
recruitment process benefits both underrepresented young people and employers.
[5] Freidman, S, Laurison, D (2019). The Class Ceiling.
[6] Freidman, S, Laurison, D (2019). The Class Ceiling.
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