Diversity of the HR population
There were 3,512 responses to the ethnicity question, 3,535 to the gender question and
3,494 to the sexual orientation question. (CIPD Membership Survey 2018)
Seniority based on gender
85% female
13% male
80% female
18% male
71% female
27% male
The gender identity question we asked shows 74% female, 24% male and 2% prefer not to say,
Seniority based on race
20% BAME
80% white
11% BAME
89% white
7% BAME
93% white
We classifi ed BAME as any of the non-white categories from the long list provided. Twelve per
cent of all members identify as non-white and 88% of members identify as white
Disability
9% of our
with less than 1% identifying as gender queer or non-binary
members consider
themselves to have a
disability. We do not
capture information on
the type or severity
of the disability
Strategic HR D&I within HR
Junior
Mid
Senior
Junior
Mid
Senior
Membership based on sexuality
Heterosexual or straight
Prefer not to say
Lesbian or gay
Bisexual
Pansexual
Asexual
Queer
89%
5.9%
3%
1.5%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
not being addressed it then creates a
leaky bucket,” comments Tulsiani. “So
you can hire people in but when you
look at the exit data you will find a
disproportionality in it.”
If the ‘Sallys of HR’ are dominating
junior roles then it could be argued that
senior leadership positions are the
domain of ‘Alan from accounts’. At
senior level it is common for male
leaders to join HR via other operational
roles such as accountancy or law –
functions that are male dominated
and valued the most by CEOs, claims
Douglas. Tulsiani says that affinity
bias is often at play here too with
male leaders still preferring to hire
other male leaders.
Horsburgh argues that if we’re to
counteract that bias and support HR
leaders from minority groups to break
through to senior roles, then we need to
make sure we’re exposing employees to
diversity at all stages of their careers.
Cornelius agrees and is passionate
about mentoring’s role in achieving
this: “Sponsorship and reverse
mentoring are absolutely missioncritical
if people are to raise their levels
of awareness and understanding.”
While diversity has certainly moved
up the corporate agenda, David
D’Souza, membership director at the
CIPD, has expressed concerns about
the quality of work being done in the
D&I space.
“Some organisations have made
good progress, but others have taken
approaches that attempt to make the
problem go away. They PR a response
to it rather than actually deal with the
root causes,” he says. “You need a co-
34 HR February 2020 hrmagazine.co.uk
/hrmagazine.co.uk