Ignoring marginalised labour sees recruiters wasting talent amid skills shortage
Giving more focus to people from marginalised groups – both in the recruitment process as well as the employment period – could provide UK’s economy with a much-welcome boost to the labour market. This is according to a study by non profit institution ReGenerate, created with support of Board Intelligence, Clarasys and Q5.
While mechanisation and automation have been spoken of as creating a glut of human resources – due to what is euphemistically referred to as a ‘realignment’ of labour leaving swathes of people out of work, and desperate for a job – many other factors continue to mean that recruiting is difficult for bosses in the UK. An ageing population means fewer young workers are joining the workforce than pensioners are exiting it, while a lethal pandemic has killed thousands of workers, and left millions more suffering long-term conditions which make a return to work impossible. Meanwhile, the impact of Brexit, and a government determined to drive down immigration, has made spare skilled labour even scarcer.
Amid all this, UK employers have long been warned that they face a talent shortfall in the millions by 2030, if they do not find ways to change their behaviour. Indeed, over the last year, the country has already experienced record-breaking vacancies, which currently stand at 1.1 million – and this has left many businesses still struggling to fill gaps in their teams.
A new study from ReGenerate, a charity aimed at supporting ethical business decisions in the UK, suggests this is a key opportunity to boost inclusivity in the workplace. By doing so, not only could they make a better environment for workers of all kinds by doing so; they could also present themselves as ethical employers – attracting customers who are increasingly invested in firms that aim to do the right thing – and open themselves up to take in talent which has traditionally been marginalised, making it easier to recruit even in a ‘tight market’.
The issues facing marginalised groups
ReGenerate undertook a study of the UK’s labour market, with the support of a number of advisory partners. The group included representatives from Youth Futures Foundation; ARC Forum; Business in the Community; Business Disability Forum; Timpson; Clu; Greenworkx; GoodMaps; Severn Trent; Greggs; Board Intelligence; Beam; as well as consultants Sam Maguire from Clarasys, and Claire Hamlin from Q5.
With their help, ReGenerate examined the attitudes of a target population of 500 people across the UK. The respondents were involved in recruitment, including hiring managers, recruiters, HR and senior managers.
What the researchers found was that despite a skills shortage impacting most respondents, most still exhibited a reluctance to consider certain elements of the labour pool for roles at their firm. Even when there was majority consensus that a demographic would fit well at firms, and a believe firms should be working to recruit them, most firms had not actively encouraged job applications from them.
For example, 87% of employers believed ethnic minority groups – who have been ‘marginalised’ in the workforce for decades by way of cloaked and overt racism, and therefore are often disproportionately under-represented in skilled work in the UK – would fit within their company. A further 58% believed their organisation ought to take steps to encourage recruitment from candidates from such a background. But just 25% had actually put those good intentions into action.
These numbers were replicated across a number of groups for which discrimination is perhaps less of a mainstream sensibility than it once was in the UK. Single parents, people with disabilities, and people with caring responsibilities were all believed by more than 70% of HR professionals to be a ‘fit’ within their organisation, and action to bring them in subsequently hovered around one-in-five companies.
But this fell substantially when it came to groups which have fewer defenders in mainstream politics and the media. Refugees, for example, continue to be demonised to the extent the government remains comfortable to try and deport them to countries where human rights abuses remain rife – such as Rwanda – and public broadcasters suspend leading presenters for speaking out against such behaviour. Oddly enough, only 66% of HR professionals see refugees as a ‘fit’ at their firm, and only 12% have actively tried to encourage them to apply for roles there. This falls further for the homeless – only 10% of firms have tried recruiting the demographic actively – and people with criminal records (the only group where a 51% majority of HR professionals felt comfortable admitting the demographic was not a ‘fit’ at their company) at the same level.
These attitudes may well be holding companies back in their daily functions, too. Of the most successful ‘thriving’ firms the study polled, 89% believed diversity was an asset for any organisation – in contrast to just 61% of struggling firms. An 88% majority of thriving firms said organisations should be encouraged to recruit from diverse backgrounds, compared to half of struggling firms. Meanwhile, 50% of struggling firms had found it more difficult to recruit in the last year, compared to 37% of thriving firms.
While some recruiters continue to complain that a war for talent is preventing them from filling roles, then, it is worth considering what is meant by this. Is there a shortage in talent, or in the forms of talent they are traditional comfortable interacting with? How is this inflexibility hurting their organisation, or seeing them miss opportunities? And if they are genuinely interested in moving to improve their intake, what are the barriers they will have to overcome, to tap into talent pools they have historically neglected?
Single parents
According to ReGenerate, single parents are twice as likely to be unemployed or underemployed as multi-parent households. This unemployment is typically longer-term for single parents – and the group was also disproportionately hit by the pandemic – when the number of unemployed for over a year rose from 28% to 32%, compared to 23% of couple parents, which was unchanged from before lockdown.
One of the leading causes of this is a lack of flexible working opportunities. Traditional working patterns which refuse workers flexible schedules make it harder for single parents to take on certain roles or responsibilities. At the same time, the high cost of childcare often results in single parents being forced to leave work and become full-time carers instead. Meanwhile, single parents are on average younger than most job features, so also face some challenges that are associated with younger people.
Young people – particularly those facing discrimination
In 2023, 11.3% of young people aged between 16 and 24 (14% from multiple ethnic backgrounds, 13% from Pakistani and 25% from Bangladeshi backgrounds) were not in education, employment or training. Those in work are more likely to be on zero-hours contracts compared to older staff, so in a marketplace disproportionately looking to take advantage of them, it may not come as a surprise that 60% of the young people not in training or employment were not actively seeking work.
One of the key barriers facing young people is that they often have mental health needs which are not being met. Two-in-three young people who are economically inactive have mental health disorders, according to ReGenerate – something which still puts off some recruiters. Additionally, the impacts of the pandemic seem to have taken a toll, with 25.6% of those out of work or education saying they had long-term or temporary sicknesses; up from 20.5% before the pandemic.
Young people in or leaving care
The researchers state that 29% of school leavers in care are not to be in education, employment or training nine months after leaving school – compare to 7% of other school leavers. At the same time, just 6% of care leavers aged 19-21 go onto further education.
Many young people in care face instability around accommodation, and have few support networks to help them financially, so they more likely focus on fulfilling immediate needs when they do enter the workforce – such as food and housing. This means rather than planning a career pathway, they tend to fall into part-time or low-skilled jobs with little chance of progression. On average they earn £6,000 less than peers who have not grown up in care – and this can also lead them to desperate means of survival. Young people in care are 10 times more likely to go to prison by the time they are 24 than those growing up outside the care system.
Ex-offenders
Many offenders come from backgrounds which already disadvantage their potential for stable careers. Between 25% and 50% of offenders have been in care. On top of this, the vast majority of people who come into custodial settings have vulnerabilities and often complex needs, with some estimates suggestion nine in ten prisoners have at least one mental health or substance misuse problem. Making matters worse, just 25% of men and 20% of women leave prison into some form of employment – while only 17% of ex-offenders each year are in work within 12 months of leaving prison – adding to the likelihood of re-offending.
As noted earlier, more than half of employers would not consider recruiting applicants with a criminal record. They have negative preconceptions around trustworthiness and suitability for work – even though less than 10% of people with a criminal record go to prison, with many people having committed relatively minor, old offences. At the same time, personality disorders and mental health issues can see employers further exclude ex-offenders from vocational programmes, even when they offer them.
People with disabilities
Over the last decade, austerity cuts to social services which have enabled disabled people to be active in the community have taken a toll. In 2017, it was estimated that as many as 900 Motability vehicles were being removed from people each week, due to personal independence payment cuts. Now, disabled people are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people – 7.2% over 3.2% – while 8.9% of disabled people are moving out of work at nearly twice the rate of non-disabled people on 5.1%.
One in three disabled people still experience assumptions about their capabilities, with this prejudice impacting their perceived employability. Disabled people who are in employment are more likely to work in lower-skilled occupations or be self-employed. They are significantly less likely to be appointed as managers, directors or senior officials, often resulting in underemployment. Taking on this kind of work can actively leave disabled workers worse off, too. About 20% of those claiming disability benefits want to work, according to ReGenerate, but thanks to a lack of decent opportunities, only 2% go into employment every month.
Neurodiverse people
Disabilities with fewer physical signs have been historically overlooked, in education, in the home, and in the workplace. This legacy means neurodiverse people are at least eight times more likely to be unemployed than non-disabled people, and even as public discourse around the matter seems to be increasing, the proportion of adults with a learning disability in paid employment has actually fallen from 6% in 2014-2015 to around 5% in 2020-2021. According to ReGenerate, disabled people with learning difficulties or autism are the least likely to be in work of all disabled groups.
Key barriers include a lack of awareness relating to neurodiverse people’s distinct qualities, in contrast to the normative cues employers look for in the interview process that help them select candidates. For example, the growing use of ‘psychometric analytics’ and personality testing for recruitment – which aim to determine if a worker will ‘fit into’ a company’s culture, and how they will respond to their employer’s directions – often exclude neurodivergent candidates. And while between 15% and 20% of the UK population are estimated to be neurodivergent, many still experience discrimination. Over half of people with dyslexia report experiencing discrimination in interview processes, while 60% of those with ADHD report having lost jobs due to their neurodiversity.
Refugees
Depending on the region, up to 80% of the refugee population in the UK is unemployed. And only around half of asylum seekers eligible to work are able to find employment. When they do, a lack of support network, social security and local knowledge leaves them open to labour exploitation – while the UK’s increasingly hostile environment to immigration means refugees can be afraid to seek help from the justice system.
These beliefs are reinforced by the UK state leaving refugees without the right to work for extended periods of time. In some cases, a 2021 review found it took an average of 20 months for the Home Office to reach a decision on applications. At the same time, skilled refugees often find employers do not recognise their qualifications – while others had to flee their homes before they could complete their qualifications.
Currently or recently homeless
The impacts of years of spending cuts in the UK have also had a clear and lasting impact on homelessness, and sleeping rough. With fewer public support services, crumbling social and mental health facilities, and an increasingly punitive benefits system, an estimated 3,069 people spent the night sleeping rough in 2022 – an annual increase of 26%, and 74% higher than 2010, the year the statistics were first collected, which also marked the beginning of the austerity era.
When looking at the impact of homelessness on employment, ReGenerate concentrated on a legal definition of “a household without available and reasonable homes, including those experiencing rooflessness, houselessness or living in insecure or inadequate housing.” It found that 77% of homeless families in temporary accommodation were unemployed and only 5-10% of homeless people are in paid employment. While motivation to work among this population is high – ReGenerate finds that 77% of homeless people report wanting to work – stigma and awareness are huge barriers. A 40% chunk of employers said they were unaware it was even legal to hire someone experiencing homelessness, and shockingly also admitted they would likely terminate an employee’s contract if they became homeless.