D&I within HR Strategic HR
February 2020 HR 33
suggest that 9% of its members have a
disability (against a national average of
19% of the working population).
Meghan Horsburgh, head of
diversity and inclusion at Sodexo UK&I
and its global disability leader, accepts
that the profession lacks diversity but
argues that HR shouldn’t be expected
to have immunity to a problem that
affects society as a whole.
“This isn’t HR specific. You
only need to look at politics at the
moment to see we’re not alone in
these challenges,” Horsburgh tells
HR magazine.
Nelarine Cornelius, professor of
organisation studies at Queen Mary
University of London and vice
president of the CIPD (membership
and professional development),
believes that HR’s problem is rooted
in its past. She notes that the old
‘personnel management’ style of HR
was very much administrative in
nature, and believes that HR still
struggles to shake that stereotype.
“The way that people migrated into
personnel management 30 years ago
was often from other administrative
roles. We are still seeing that,” explains
Cornelius. “It reflects the profile of
much administration around the
country, which is dominated by women
and in particular white women.”
Cornelius says that while HR has
worked hard to become a profession it
has been slower to change the way
people are trained.
“Many people from ethnic minority
communities would have oriented
towards professions like accounting or
law, because they were looking for a job
that gave them stability. Many in the
BAME community would not have
seen HR as a traditional profession,”
she adds.
The trouble for HR is that this lack of
diversity risks undermining its impact
on the wider organisation.
“HR has had a credibility problem
for as long as there’s been HR,” remarks
Josie Kinge, director of equality and
diversity and lecturer in HRM at
Norwich Business School, University of
East Anglia. “An effective HR function
will practise what it preaches in terms
of diversity. But it’s also about them
being honest – so if they’ve got a
diversity issue they need to
demonstrate that they are doing
something about it.”
Jane Hatton, founder and director
of disabled employment consultancy
Evenbreak, says that the HR profession
should not underestimate the value of
lived experience.
“HR departments whose teams
contain a diverse range of people will
have much greater internal intelligence
of the barriers faced by some groups of
people,” comments Hatton. “Diverse
members of the wider workforce will
have more confidence in HR if they see
themselves represented there. This gives
staff confidence to raise issues around
inclusion, and managers to ask advice
on the subject.”
It’s a view shared by Kate Williams,
head of private sector memberships at
Stonewall: “Having an HR team that
reflects the diverse communities a
business wants to engage with can
create a better understanding of the
challenges that
currently exist, along with identifying
ways to overcome these barriers.”
The same can be said for all
characteristics. Older members of the
HR profession have seen the job change
significantly in the past 20 years. That
experience and acquired knowledge
should be leveraged to find solutions
for complex problems. “It is not just
about having policies in place. We need
to make sure they translate into good
practice,” says Louise Ansari, director of
communications at the Centre for
Ageing Better.
But are we placing unfair
expectations on HR? Shakil Butt,
founder of HR Hero for Hire, thinks
that any accusations of hypocrisy
levelled at HR need to be seen in
context. “HR professionals create their
own reputation and that becomes a rod
that everyone beats us with,” says Butt.
While that may be true, the fact that
HR is responsible for driving D&I
within an organisation means that it is
bound to be scrutinised more intensely.
“We don’t need to have all of the
answers but we do need to be part of
the solution,” adds Horsburgh.
The solution cannot simply be about
creating greater access to the
profession. We need to also consider
whether we are fulfilling on the
promise of opportunity and inclusion
for underrepresented groups. While
20% of entry-level roles are occupied
by BAME HR professionals this drops
to just 7% at senior level. Similarly,
men may fill a mere 13% of junior roles
in the industry but this increases to
27% for all senior leadership positions.
The drop-off in BAME
representation comes as no surprise to
Butt. Even with eight years as the HR
and OD director of Islamic Relief along
with 25 years as an accountant, his
experience of interviewing for a new
role left him in no doubt that bias exists
at all levels of the profession.
“The message I was getting was very
clear. I was included to show there was
a diverse pool of candidates, but there
was a barrier to getting past that final
hurdle,” recalls Butt.
Raj Tulsiani, CEO of Green Park, says
that often the reality of HR as a career
is very different than the expectation.
“When BAME HR professionals go into
organisations and see that biases are
If HR can’t
walk the
talk then it
doesn’t have
the licence
to lecture
the rest
of the
organisation