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Home | News & events | Legal updates | Report urges construction industry to look closely at ethnic diversity
Report urges construction industry to look closely at ethnic diversity
05 August 2009
The Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published an inquiry report into why ethnic minority workers are under-represented in the construction industry, and what should be done to resolve the imbalance.
EHRC commissioner Kay Allen stated:
'Our report presents a call to action to the industry to address the causes of under-representation and the continuing discrimination taking place in parts of the industry.'
The scope of the inquiry was to:
- look at barriers to entry and retention of ethnic minority workers in the construction industry
- identify examples of good practice in encouraging ethnic diversity and the benefits derived from such good practice
- assess and analyse the impact of job losses in the current economic climate and to make appropriate recommendations.
The report acknowledges that the construction industry spans a number of sectors - from public to private; commercial to domestic; housebuilding to civil engineering; and that the context in which construction firms work influences employment and contracting practices.
Findings
- Consistent evidence about the lack of direct employment in some parts of the industry, with direct employment among the major contractors (with a few exceptions) usually being concentrated at managerial and senior levels. The workforce being described as ‘mobile, transient, nomadic and project-based'.
- Whilst outside of the scope of the inquiry, a significant number of witnesses reported under-representation of women. Such evidence on this point will ‘inform the EHRC's consideration of next steps in its work with the industry'.
- The accuracy of official statistics were questioned. However, the EHRC maintained it is clear that ethnic minorities remain significantly under-represented in the industry - the proportion of non-white ethnic minorities is currently 3.3%, compared with 7.9% of the total active population.
- A need was identified for a better understanding within the industry of the purpose of effective and consistent diversity monitoring. References are made to some good examples of effective monitoring already taking place, which the EHRC suggests should be adopted across the sector. The effective use of exit interviews and ongoing review of promotion practices were ways of identifying ways for it to understand why skilled workers are leaving.
Potential causes for disparities
Causes for the under-representation of ethnic minorities were attributed to:
- many and varied barriers to entering the industry
- image and perceptions of the industry
- lack of awareness about the range of opportunities available
- skills gaps
- lack of career progression and negative experiences at work
It was found that overt racism is still present in some parts of the industry, most commonly in the form of racist ‘banter'.
No conclusions were drawn about whether the recession is having a differential impact on the ethnic minorities within the industry.
However, the EHRC concluded that it is important for the construction industry to keep under review its practices on selecting for redundancy, or for laying people off who may not be ‘technically redundant'; and to ensure they are not having a disproportionate effect on ethnic minorities.
Recruitment and retention
The prevalence of ‘word of mouth' methods of recruitment of both individual workers and tendering and contracting was strongly criticised as a significant barrier to increasing diversity in the workforce.
The report acknowledged that such practices may well result in unlawful indirect discrimination, whereby a provision, criterion or practice is applied which disproportionately and adversely affects the ethnic minority. More open recruitment practices were called for to reduce this risk.
Next steps
The EHRC will now take steps to engage with industry organisations, stakeholders and government bodies to address the question underpinning the challenge to increase ethnic minority representation: "What makes change happen in the industry?"
The next phase of the EHRC's work will be to focus on specific issues outlined in the report, identifying how it can take a lead in tackling those challenges, and establishing a programme of action to deliver positive change. The report on this next phase is due to be published in January 2010.
What does this mean for the construction industry?
It appears that the EHRC will continue its ‘watching brief' on diversity in the sector.
So this might be a sensible time for businesses in it to review HR practices and consider how they might be improved, and to encourage diversity and good working practices.
Particular attention should be paid to recruitment, retention and termination processes, diversity monitoring, ‘banter' in the workplace, and the occurrence and handling of complaints of workplace racism/bullying/harassment.
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Louise Randall
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T: 03700 86 6911
I: +44 (0)1489 61 6911
E: louise.randall@shoosmiths.co.uk