HR Magazine - BITC unveils top employers for gender and race

Business in the Community (BITC) has published its annual unranked lists of the top 10 private and public sector employers for gender and racial equality.

Management consultancy company Accenture entered the private sector rankings for both gender and race for the first time this year. In the public sector the Ministry of Justice did the same.

Overall, 114 organisations were benchmarked – 87 from the private sector and 27 from the public sector. Areas assessed included progression and leadership, performance and appraisal, and bullying and harassment.

BITC's Opportunity Now director Kathryn Nawrockyi, pictured, told HR magazine there are examples of "great practice" among the organisations benchmarked, but expressed concern over certain areas, particularly the "stubborn" gender pay gap.

"One in five employers still have not conducted an equal pay audit," she said. "We hope that organisations will be spurred into action and look at their pay data."

The research also revealed that the number of women in management positions has slightly decreased, despite the overall number of women in the workforce going up.

Nawrockyi puts this down to female employees moving from the public sector to the private sector, but taking roles at lower grades, leading to them being "underemployed".

"The research shows that women are more likely to get stuck in low-paid roles, as they are less likely to be identified as high-potential, so it's imperative companies look at their career progression," she added.

Other findings include Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women are the least likely to hold executive or non-executive directorships, although BAME women are more likely to be promoted than BAME men at all levels.

BITC Race for Opportunity director Sandra Kerr said the benchmarking exercise highlights the actions employers need to take to ensure they are fit for "an ethnically diverse future".

"Public targets, transparency on progression criteria, equality-proofed competencies for progression, and greater support for line managers are what I want to see continued progress on for 2015," she continued.

Full list of top organisations

Top 10 private sector organisations for gender:

· Accenture (new entry for 2014)

· BT

· Capgemini UK

· DHL Supply Chain

· Enterprise Rent-A-Car

· EY

· National Grid

· Nationwide Building Society

· PwC

· Royal Bank of Scotland