Case Study
“
am white, privileged, British,” says Paul Farrer, founder and chairman of Aspire, a leading recruitment agency specialising in digital media and marketing. The married father-of-three comes from a long line of solicitors. His late father was a senior partner at Farrer & Co, best known for being the Queen’s solicitors. Instead of following in his father’s footsteps, public school educated Farrer got a job at a recruitment agency, aged 23. Today he is at the top of his profession. It was the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that made Farrer aware of white privilege, he says. “The BBC and Sky documentaries and series on BLM were a humiliating recognition of my ignorance. Even living in Battersea, South-West London, in the early 1980s, which was very Afro Caribbean, it didn’t hit my radar that people faced so much discrimination. Brixton, Toxteth, St Paul’s rioters were viewed as troublemakers and criminals. Not people who were systematically discriminated against and abused by white privilege. I watched the BLM series as I wanted to understand what I was missing, why was there all this noise and I didn’t see it. Of course not, I’m white.” For true diversity to flourish we need to do more than just watch a few documentaries. Challenging bias in recruitment is a first crucial step, says Farrer. Aspire has become an APSCo (Association of Professional Staffing Companies) accredited inclusive employer. Farrer delivers two sessions and three hours of D&I training for all new starters as part of their induction. Commitment from the top is essential, he believes. He said: “A leader can create the structure, environment and investment to create the change, so in my view it starts at the top, but the change comes from everywhere and it is the employees who are empowered to create the culture that they will be engaged by.” Aspire has drawn up a new equal opportunities and diversities policy covering all employees, consultants,
I
26 RECRUITER
EMBEDDING
REAL-TIME DE&I IN ASPIRE
Challenging bias in recruitment is the first step to addressing white privilege and diversity issues, says Aspire’s founder Paul Farrer. Rachel Masker investigates
JUL/AUG 2022
CASE STUDY_Recruiter July August 2022_Recruiter.indd 26
29/06/2022 15:16