The Maturity Matrix
A simple and effective toolkit to help organisations move the dial on their journey within the ethnicity and race agenda
© GAIL APPG / Investing in Ethnicity. Written by Simon Fillery & Sarah Garrett MBE | January 2023
This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its Committees. All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) are informal cross-party groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues that have no official status within Parliament. The views expressed in this report are those of the group.
This Report is a collaboration between the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Governance and Inclusive Leadership (GAIL) and authors Simon Fillery and Sarah Garrett MBE from the Investing in Ethnicity initiative, the UK’s leading initiative on this agenda, and part of SPM Group Ltd. The initiative provides the Secretariat to the GAIL APPG. Printing of this report was funded by SPM Group Ltd. Details of the Secretariat and the registrable benefits received by the group can be found on the official Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups: www.Parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/ Parliamentarycommissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-all-party-party-Parliamentary-groups/
All-Party Parliamentary Group
Governance and Inclusive Leadership
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Governance and Inclusive Leadership (GAIL) was founded in 2017 with the following objectives:
1. Promote inclusive leadership and governance in business
2. Identify and dismantle barriers prohibiting people from diverse ethnic backgrounds from achieving positions of power and influence throughout the UK
Officers:
Dawn Butler MP, Chair (Labour)
Baronness Verma, Vice Chair (Conservatives)
Anne McLaughlin MP, Vice Chair (SNP)
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, Officer (Labour)
Apsana Begum MP, Officer (Labour)
Marsha de Cordova MP, Officer (Labour)
Members:
Lord Taylor of Warwick (Member of House of Lords)
The Secretariat for the APPG is: SPM Group Ltd
To contact the APPG group email: general@gailappg.org.uk
For queries relating the Maturity Matrix, email: matrix@gailappg.org.uk
Report produced and printed by Investing in Ethnicity (part of SPM Group Ltd).
© GAIL APPG / Investing in Ethnicity
Foreword by the Chair
Dawn Butler MPChair of APPG for Governance and Inclusive Leadership
There is no better time to ensure businesses are investing in their company by investing in ethnicity and race.
One of the many reasons I was honoured to become an MP representing my country is because of the great legal strides we have made within equality and fairness. In recent years, however, there have been a higher number of reported cases of discrimination and racial hate crime incidents. Accountability puts organisations at the forefront of change in forging the way to standing up to discrimination and inequality of any kind, and I’m pleased to say this is already advancing.
A number of reports on the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) agenda were published in 2017, while significant activity within businesses continued to make improvements in working conditions for Black and Ethnic Minority staff. 2023 signals a great time to create more momentum towards challenging the inequalities, biases and behaviours that create an impact on this agenda. Organisations need not do this alone: By working together, we can achieve tangible, sustainable results.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Governance and Inclusive Leadership was formed with the aim of pressing for much-needed improvement on the race agenda within the workplace, and to ensure visible minorities were not unfairly prohibited from rising to positions of power and influence throughout the UK.
The Maturity Matrix is one of the first steps toward this and has been commissioned and devised based on feedback from professionals and businesses across the UK that are passionate about taking positive action. The Matrix has been successful and provides the necessary and important measures needed to help organisations.
As a former government minister, I know how important it is to provide leadership in this area and I am personally committed to making sure that the current government are also doing their part to stamp out inequality, not least with a focus on achieving pay parity by pushing for Ethnicity pay gap reporting, and action plans ensuring BAME employees have equal access to recruitment and career progression, therefore encouraging an increase in diversity at senior levels, which is currently severely lacking across all industries.
We all have a responsibility to ensure that everyone is treated fairly in the workplace. The Black and Ethnic Minority agenda has been overlooked for too long, damaging long term prospects of companies and employee relations, but armed with the right tools to engage others within organisations to do more, we can all make a sustainable difference.
Yours sincerely,
Dawn Butler MP Chair of the APPG on Governance and Inclusive LeadershipCase Study Lloyds Banking Group rank number one
Outstanding Employer Lloyds Banking Group, were awarded the top slot for all their work on the ethnicity agenda. Not only was the organisation the first FTSE 100 company to set ethnicity targets for senior roles, they have since identified gaps and set renewed targets, drilling down into the representation of their Black employees across all levels.
Samantha Owo, Race Action Plan Lead, Lloyds Banking Group, explains how the Matrix has provided an additional framework to review progress of their plan and identify areas that have shown proven success.
“The highest capital within a business is it’s people.”
Case Study
The Matrix has been a way for us to complete an internal audit against the key deliverables of our Race Action Plan. It has helped us focus and identify areas for improvement, and assess how we’re performing against other organisations.
We are committed to fixing racial inequality on many fronts to help build an inclusive society and create an organisation that reflects the society that we serve. We are investing in an organisation where our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues feel included, valued and able to realise their full potential.
Building a truly inclusive organisation also requires us to be an anti-racist organisation – one where all colleagues speak up, challenge, and act to take an active stance against racism and discrimination of any kind. Getting this right is at the heart of our purpose to Help Britain Prosper – a more inclusive society is a more prosperous society, and a diverse business is a better business.
We are seeing the benefits in inclusive design approaches, better ways of innovating and problem solving, and the focus on inclusion and diversity is threaded into all our processes and business activities. As a result we are retaining and attracting people with similar values and an inclusive mindset.
Leadership & Commitment
The leadership across the organisation are strong advocates for race equality, including our CEO and Chairman who speak openly to the organisation and board about why this is important, and hold regular listening sessions with colleagues to help them understand the challenges and barriers our colleagues can face.
As a result of this, we have seen a real drive to deliver on our commitments, alongside executives having inclusion and diversity goals included their own performance scorecards.
Data & Policy
Lloyds have published our Ethnicity Pay Gap for the past three years, which shows that we have an overall gap driven by under-representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues at senior levels; this further reinforces why our Race Action Plan is needed.
A critical step for us is to ensure we increase our voluntary colleague disclosure rates so we have accurate and robust data to draw upon. Our drive for improved data has paid off – with consistent and clear messaging on its importance to all colleagues. Also we’ve found line manager engagement is helpful in driving up colleague personal data disclosure as part of their regular colleague conversations.
Our Colleague Engagement Survey is critical for us as a measure of success to understand the impact of our various interventions and initiatives on our people’s sense of belonging within the organisation. It’s also important to look at the needs and representation across the different diverse groups and within different job families or roles, which helps us with more targeted strategy, and each part of our business has unique challenges.
“We set a public goal to help us address a critical need.”
“It is important to have a strong communication plan, and feed a ‘drum beat’ of activity.”
Culture
It’s important to have a strong communication plan, and feed a ‘drum beat’ of activity to take everyone on the journey to create an inclusive workplace.
Our entire Race Education Programme has delivered race education training for our executives, senior leaders, specialist people-facing teams, line managers and all colleagues developed in collaboration with external experts and consultants. The content reflects what line managers and colleagues have told us they need to have a better understanding of race and culture related issues and challenges, and we believe it is industry leading in scope and scale. We’ve now seen over our 72,000 colleagues complete the training.
Network Groups
Our Colleague Network Groups represent our colleagues’ voice, and are partners in helping drive our cultural transformation. They provide support, development and opportunities for colleagues to connect across a range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, with membership open to all.
The REACH (Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage) network has over 4,000 members and allies and hold regular events and mentoring workshops, giving visibility to role models to enable them to share experiences, and also highlighting key events in the year, such as Black History Month or South East and South Asian Heritage Month.
Employee Life Cycle
Improving senior representation has seen a combination of recruiting experienced hires and progressing internal talent. Our Talent Identification & Sponsorship Programmes have been successful in supporting the progression of Black senior managers into senior leadership roles and Black middle managers into senior management roles.
Our emerging talent programmes are also bringing more diverse talent to the organisation, which build our senior leadership pipelines for the future.
We’ve been working with our recruitment teams to help us better reach Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic talent. We’ve implemented inclusive hiring guidance for all our hiring managers so they understand the behaviours needed and the tools available to them hire inclusively.
Race Action Plan Lead Lloyds Banking Group
“Improving senior representation is a combination of recruiting experienced hires and progressing internal talent.”Samantha Owo
Top 25 Organisations
Arcadis LLP
Arcardis are the world’s leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. They employ more than 29,000 people, in more than 70 countries, and are dedicated to improving quality of life for the communities that we serve, recognising that to do so they must reflect those communities.
BNY Mellon
BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment and wealth management and investment services in 35 countries. As of Sept. 30, 2022, BNY Mellon had $42.2 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.8 trillion in assets under management.
BP International Limited
bp want to be an energy company with purpose; one that is trusted by society, valued by shareholders, and motivating for everyone who works there. Their purpose is reimagining energy for people and our planet, helping the world reach net zero and improve people’s lives and increasing diversity, equity and inclusion for its workforce and customers is a core part of the company’s strategy.
British Telecommunications plc (BT Group)
The BT Group is one of the world’s leading communications services companies with a clear purpose: “We Connect for Good”. It leads by example, truly embracing diversity and inclusion, launching an Ethnicity Rapid Action Plan (ERAP) to boost ethnic diversity, encouraging and empowering women in tech, supporting LGBTQI communities and more.
Channel 4
Channel 4 exists to create change through entertainment. It represents unheard voices and challenges with purpose. Maria St Louis & Mandy Mayers founded and co-chair Channel 4’s staff led group The Collective, and are committed champions of equity, inclusion and positive change in the race and ethnicity space.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) is a global law firm with a longstanding track record of successfully supporting the world’s leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and Governments on ground-breaking and business-critical mandates. Leadership at Freshfields recognises that diversity and inclusion is also key to making us a stronger firm, with a diverse pool of talent, delivering better outcomes for our clients and enhancing the experience of colleagues in teams.
HSBC UK
HSBC UK serves around 14.5 million customers across the UK, supported by 32,000 colleagues. As a UK bank with strong connections to markets around the world, they understand the benefits that diversity brings to its customers, business and people. HSBC is proud of its inclusive and diverse culture, but also knows there is more to do. It has made a series of commitments to support more Black and other ethnically diverse colleagues to succeed, including at least doubling the number of Black employees in senior leadership globally by 2025.
KPMG LLP
KMPG is a professional services firm committed to creating an inclusive environment where all colleagues thrive and reach their full potential, whatever their identity or background. KPMG aims to have 20 per cent of its leaders (partners) from ethnic minority backgrounds and 5 per cent of leaders being of Black heritage by 2030.
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Banking Group is committed to building a fully inclusive environment, reflective of the society it serves, where all colleagues can fulfil their potential. Getting this right is at the heart of its purpose to Help Britain Prosper. They are proud to have been the first FTSE 100 company to set targets to increase ethnic diversity at senior levels and their ethnicity strategy is led from the top and supported by comprehensive plans to ensure it makes sustainable progress.
Legal & General Investment Management Limited (LGIM)
Legal & General strive to make inclusion, diversity and belonging part of their daily conversations and actions. They support diversity at every level – entry level, mid-career and leadership and have set new gender and ethnicity targets to aspire to, with relevant actions to achieve their vision for a more inclusive and diverse community to work for. L&G is committed to accelerating the pace of change as part of our strategy – this includes what they will achieve across their inclusion and diversity ambitions.
London South East Colleges
London South East Colleges has campuses across Bromley, Bexley, Greenwich and Orpington, providing high quality education and training to over 10,000 learners. They operate as a social enterprise; working at the heart of their communities to ensure everyone can fulfil their potential and achieve their career goals, whatever their age, background or ambition.
Macquarie Group Services
Macquarie Group is a diversified financial services group providing specialist, global expertise in areas such as infrastructure, energy and commodities. Macquarie has been an active investor in the UK for over 30 years, employing around 2,000 directly with a further 16,000 employed through the businesses they manage. They focus on innovation, careful risk management and delivering sustained long-term value for their clients, partners, investors, staff and the broader communities in which they operate.
Moody’s Shared Services
With more 13,000 employees in more than 40 countries, Moody’s believes that a workforce that represents an array of backgrounds and experiences, which help create an environment that maximises every employee’s contribution, widens the leadership pipeline and enhances the work, including the quality of opinions, products and services.
National Grid House
One of the largest listed utility companies in the world, with operations in the UK and the US, and 23,069 employees worldwide, National Grid lies at the heart of the transforming energy system, playing a vital role in connecting millions of people safely, reliably and efficiently to the energy they use. The power of its business lies in its people and they are dedicated to supporting employees’ ongoing development and wellbeing.
NatWest Bank
NatWest Group is a relationship bank for a digital world. They champion potential, breaking down barriers so the people, families, and business they serve in communities can thrive. They are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace and creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture. This is integral to fulfilling their purpose.
Network Rail
Network Rail owns, operates, and develops Britain’s railway infrastructure. They exist to get people and goods where they need to be and to support the country’s economic prosperity. Running a safe, reliable, and efficient railway serving customers and communities is what they’re all about. To do this it is essential to become a more open, diverse and inclusive organisation, harnessing the skills and expertise of all their people and attracting the best talent to help them have a safe, accessible railway for everyone.
Paramount Global
Paramount Global is home to the world’s most famed entertainment brands, including Paramount+, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET and Channel 5. Paramount’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is a movement, not a moment – it tackles racial representation head-on to drive business-wide change and make Paramount an inclusive destination for Black, Asian and minority ethnic talent.
Rolls-Royce Plc
Rolls-Royce pioneers cutting-edge technologies that deliver clean, safe and competitive solutions to meet our planet’s vital power needs. To meet the demands of a growing, more connected society, the power that matters must be sustainable power – this is their challenge. Their technology will play a fundamental role in enabling the transition to a low carbon global economy.
Smith+Nephew
Smith+Nephew is a portfolio medical technology company that exists to restore people’s bodies and their self-belief by using technology to take the limits off living. Founded in the UK, they now make a difference across the globe through their three franchises of Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine & ENT and Advanced Wound Management.
Stonewater
This leading social housing provider has a mission to deliver good quality, affordable homes to people who need them most, managing around 34,500 homes in England for more than 76,000 customers. Its talented 800+ employees continually work towards equality, diversity and inclusion, from recruitment and selection, through learning and development, appraisal and promotion, to retirement.
Tesco Stores Limited
Everyone’s welcome at Tesco. They’re creating an inclusive workplace that celebrates the cultures, personalities, and preferences of all their colleagues. It’s a place where everyone is treated fairly and with respect. Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of their values. Their colleague networks continue to underpin their strategy, offering colleague support whilst also acting as strategic business advisors: Armed Forces, Disability, LGBTQ+, Parents and Carers, Race and Ethnicity and Women at Tesco.
UBS
UBS convenes the global ecosystem for investing, where people and ideas are connected and opportunities brought to life, and provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as to private clients in Switzerland. UBS offers investment solutions, products and impactful thought leadership, is the leading global wealth manager, provides large-scale and diversified asset management, focused investment banking capabilities, and personal and corporate banking services in Switzerland.
University of Huddersfield
The University of Huddersfield offers students exceptional teaching, with access to some of the UK’s best learning facilities on one amazing campus at the heart of a vibrant community surrounded by beautiful Yorkshire countryside. It has triple proof of teaching excellence: their staff rank in the top three in England for the proportion who hold doctorates, who have higher degrees, and hold teaching qualifications* (*HESA 2022).
VMLY&R
VMLY&R is a global brand and customer experience agency that harnesses creativity, technology, and culture to create connected brands. VMLY&R is made up of more than 13,000 employees worldwide with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. The agency is behind award-winning campaigns for blue chip client partners including Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Ford, Intel, New Balance, Pfizer and Wendy’s.
Whitbread Group PLC
Whitbread is the UK’s biggest hospitality company, which welcomes millions of guests each year into its Premier Inn hotels and restaurant brands including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre. Diversity and Inclusion sits under its Force for Good corporate social responsibility scheme which commits to creating equitable opportunities for teams and guests, with no barriers to entry and no limits to ambition.
Report: Matrix Findings
The data from the 2022 Matrix shows organisations are focused on Leadership & Commitment, Data and Employee Life Cycle more than ever. Marking a shift towards greater commitment from Leadership ensures accountability throughout organisations for greater maturity through the Investing in Ethnicity Maturity Matrix.
As organisations are developing their maturity there has been marked improvement across the all six areas of the Maturity Matrix.
Leadership & Commitment
Leadership & Commitment Completion Rate
The Leadership & Commitment category shows a sharp increase across all subcategories this year. Companies were beginning to use data in setting targets and reporting on an action plan, which has helped drive better organisational culture whilst helping build trust from ethnic minority colleagues within the business.
There were also increases in understanding, particularly through training (88%), reverse mentoring (76%) and executives are involved in listening sessions (88%), leading to better commitment and helping engagement within accountability. Over two-thirds of organisations include diversity and inclusion as a Key Performance Indicator at Board level.
95%
Leadership & Commitment Figures
Executive Sponsorship of ethnicity agenda in organisations continues, with marked increase from 88% to 95% of organisations identifying an Executive Sponsor to champion ethnicity throughout the organisation.
[Sub-category AA]
Organisations show an increase of 13% in ring fencing budget dedicated towards the ethnicity agenda, to 95% of all organisations. 83% have dedicated Diversity, Equity & Inclusion specialists who report directly to board.
[Sub-category AB]
Three-quarters of organisations externally report their ethnicity plan annually. From 53% in 2021 to 76% in 2022, representing a 23 percentage point increase. Organisations that are publicly reporting on the progress of their ethnicity plan to stakeholders has increased by just under a quarter, from 53% in 2021 to 76% in 2022.
[Sub-category AC]
82% of organisations have a dedicated inclusion or ethnicity task force made up of key stakeholders responsible for driving inclusion, showing organisational commitment to ensure strategies come to fruition. Ethnic representation at Executive Level has increased from 35% in 2021 to 59% in 2022. [Sub-category AD]
The biggest increase within Understanding was seen through Reverse Mentoring Programmes with leadership, seeing a 76% in 2022, compared to 56% in 2021. [Sub-category AE]
A 20% increase from 47% in 2021 to 66% 2022 of business leaders role modelling expected behaviour, and communicating learning and highlighting initiatives they are personally taking part in. [Sub-category AF]
Policy & Data
Policy & Data Completion Rate
Policy & Data has seen the sharpest increase across all categories, showing an overall increase of 16%. More companies have started the journey of collecting data, with 90% using Census Categories within their HR data capture. 85% of companies are using data internally to inform strategy, and over half are voluntarily publishing ethnicity pay gap data.
93%
Policy & Data Figures
6 in 10 organisation have a policy to include holidays for colleagues with different cultural background. Up 17% to 93% of Organisations are ensuring all HR polices are aligned with the Equality Act to include zero tolerance policy approach to harassment and bullying related to race or ethnicity. [Sub-category BA]
Organisations that are using HR data to analyse ethnically diverse representation of all levels to inform strategy has moved from 65% in 2021 to 85% in 2022. 78% of all organisations are using HR data to annually monitor hiring, progression and attrition of ethnically diverse employees at all levels of the business. [Subcategory BB]
Internal reporting has increased with 71% of organisations cross referencing breakdown by levels. This is an increase from 53% in 2021. 63% of organisations use data on ethnicity to monitor early careers. 54% are now publishing their Ethnicity Pay Gap figures, which is up by a quarter since 2021. [Sub-category BC]
Culture & Inclusion
Culture & Inclusion Completion Rate
Culture & Inclusion has seen visibility increase with all organisations reporting that they have sent at least one company-wide communication out this year which includes ethnicity news. Fourfifths include role model stories or similar on their internal communications.
In 2022, 54% of organisations reported at least half of the workforce completed Awareness training, with 44% of organisations reporting the same on Inclusion training, and 20% on Allyship training. The increase in training shows organisations are investing and giving all people the tools to actively become allies.
76%
Culture & Inclusion Figures
Three-quarters (76%) of organisations have introduced a check-point with their communications team to ensure that their communications strategy has an ethnicity lens. This is up from 56% in 2021. [Sub-category CA]
54% of organisations have included inclusion-related questions at the interview process in 2022, up from 47% in 2021. [Sub-category CB]
Allyship training has been introduced by just over half (54%) of organisations, with more organisations introducing basic awareness training (68%) and over three-quarters ensuring inclusion training has an ethnicity lens (76%). [Sub-category CC]
Network Group
Network Group Completion Rate
Network Groups have seen a healthy increase in completion rates this year and remains our most completed category, which is testiment to how network group involvement has evolved over the past few years.
Network Groups continue to work hard for their organisations in addition to their ‘day’ jobs. 71% of Organisations recognise network groups in their annual appraisals, 44% have days allocated to undertake Network Group work.
Nearly all of the organisations rely on Network Groups (95%) to hold events geared towards allies yet organisations have not taken on the responsibility to train their workforce in allyship with only 54% having allyship training offered to all staff.
95%
Network Group Figures
Almost all organisations have a network group (95%), however, only 43%, up from 32% in 2021, of organisations setting allocated days to manage the network for committee members. Four-fifths of organisations offer some form of training to support network group leads. [Sub-category DA]
Events that include professional training is marginally up to 65% in 2022 from 62%. Allyship events have increased to 95% in 2022 compared with 82% in 2021. [Sub-category DB]
More organisations are asking network groups to inform on strategy, policy and communications. 88% of organisations use Network Groups to consult on the organisation’s wider ethnicity strategy. 61% utilise network groups to consult on marketing and communications strategy. The network group also supports policy changes, which is down from 82% to 80% of organisations.
Employee Life Cycle
Employee Life Cycle Completion Rate
95%
Employee Life Cycle is up 12% to 51% completion overall. Organisations are focusing on using their data to anaylse different aspects of the Employee Life Cycle and measure how they stack up through an ethnicity lens. Markedly, organisations creating equity by identifying top ethnically diverse talent at all levels to support them through a career progression programme is up by a third to 59% of organisations.
Employee Life Cycle Figures
Attraction measures have seen an increase, which includes 95% of organisations using diverse imagery, up from 91% in 2021, and revising job advertising specification to be writen in plain English rose to 85% from 82% in 2021. [Sub-category EA]
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of organisations ensure diverse job panels. This has seen a large increase from 41% in 2021. [Sub-category EB]
56%
Employee Life Cycle Figures
Employers are working to ensure recruitment suppliers have a commitment to diversity, rising to 56% from 32% in 2021. 61% of organisation ensured a diverse long and short list from third-party recruiters for all senior roles. [Sub-category EC]
Three-quarters (76%) hold listening sessions to better understand lived experiences. 56% of organisations measure and report on ethnically diverse representation in redundancy or restructuring plans, an 18% increase from 2021 figures. [Sub-category ED]
39% of organisations monitor ethnically diverse talent on career progression, up from 26% in 2021. Organisations identifing ethnically diverse top talent and placing them on dedicated career or talent programmes rose to 59% from 38% in 2021. [Sub-category EE]
External Impact
External Impact Completion Rate
34%
In External Impact, organisations continue to communicate with external groups. However, organisations have shown a marked shift in focus towards taking the opportunity to ensure supply chain reflects their ethnic diversity, equity and inclusion values and monitoring spend in Ethnically diverse owned businesses.
External Impact Figures
Figures have almost doubled since 2021, showing a third of organisations are reviewing their suppliers to ensure highest ethncity diversity standards. 51% of organisations have updated their supplier code of conduct to reflect their commitment to ethnicity, diversity and inclusion. [Sub-category FA]
Four-fifths have a dedicated space on their external website, highlighting their ethnicity journey, with 85% using social media channels to help amplify messaging, which is up from 76% in 2021. [Sub-category FB]
The number of organisations supporting charities with an ethnicity focus has dropped from 76% in 2021 to 68% in 2022.
Matrix Contents
A) LEADERSHIP & COMMITMENT
Exec Sponsor Resourcing Visibility Strategy Understanding Accountability
B) POLICY & DATA Policy Data Reporting
C) CULTURE & INCLUSION Visibility Recruitment Understanding
D) NETWORK GROUP Strategy Events Engagement Business External
E) EMPLOYEE LIFE CYCLE Attraction Selection Recruitment Retention Progression
F) EXTERNAL IMPACT
Supply Chain Visibility Activities
Customers & Clients
1. Use the matrix for internal reference
Guidance Notes
The Maturity Matrix is broken down into six categories then further subcategories. The recommendations also have assigned levels of difficulty and ‘Tags’, which help us report back and analyse next steps by key areas.
Investing in Ethnicity was launched in 2016 in response to UK employers openly admitting that there wasn’t enough focus on the ethnicity agenda in the workplace, and that they needed more knowledge and guidance on best practice in order to progress.
We designed the Maturity Matrix with the backing of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Governance and Inclusive Leadership. Its purpose was to assess where organisations are within their ethnicity agenda journey and to give guidance on how to progress.
When we launched this tool, we intended for it to support companies in taking practical actions to promote change, and to improve outcomes for ethnic minority people. Through the Maturity Matrix, we’re proud to have seen organisations working collectively to find solutions to the structural barriers faced by minority ethnic people. We’ve seen a real commitment towards a truly modern and progressive Britain, with some outstanding organisations leading the way towards authentic change.
However, there is still much to do. The promises from CEOs across the country were overwhelmingly supportive of making a stand for racial equality and challenging racism. These public commitments showed that leaders at the top understand the need for real change.
As we continue to examine the UK’s relationship with racism and allyship - and in light of the Government’s 2021 Race Report - we encourage companies to focus on data collection and listening sessions. Transparent analysis of data and listening to your employees’ lived experiences is the most efficient way to truly understand your organisation and its culture. Collect, measure, action, implement, and then collect again!
Thank you to all the organisations who have participated in the Maturity Matrix and wider Investing in Ethnicity Initiative. It is through your input that we have been able to develop our recommendations for 2022. It’s clear that a lot can be achieved when organisations actively contribute to the conversation. As a country, we have a momentous opportunity for change. Now is the time to continue these investments in the ethnicity agenda in order to realise a more equitable society where everyone is afforded the opportunity to succeed.
Sarah Garrett MBE Founder and CEO Investingin Ethnicity
2. Submit the Matrix
3. Areas of comparison to average scores
Organisations have first audited their existing strategy and framework using the Matrix.
Submitting the Matrix will give you a report and accreditation, if you reach a certain level. Members will receive a full report with comparisons, listing areas of success and next steps. The Top 10 Employers will be listed as part of the Ethnicity Awards.
Deadline: 30 June 2023
We compare your scoring based on Level and Tags. The Level gives organisations an indication of where to start on their journey and if recommendations are more involved. Tags give those filling in the Matrix more information on the area of the recommendation. If you are using the online version, then you can search recommendations by ‘Tag’.
Scoring and Submission
All questions are allocated a point and form yes or no answers. There will also be the opportunity to include if this is a planned action.
We do ask for further information within the following areas:
- Proof of transparency through action plans, annual reporting and Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting.
- Confirming disclosure rates
- Any other information on impact you can provide for each section (optional).
Spot check evidence:
We do not ask for evidence for submissions as we want the process to be time-efficient, however, we may spot check your submission and ask for case studies to be submitted.
Report:
All submissions will receive a basic report giving overall category and sub-catogory scores in comparison to overall averages. Members receive a full report. If you would like a full report, please enquire about becomming a member.
Weighted Points
Weighted scoring for each recommendation was introduced in 2022 to give a better reflection on how your organisation is benchmarking against our other organisations (average scores).
Weighted scores are determined based on a mixture of the following for each recommendation:
Impact: This score is based on the impact the associated recommendation would create. Higher impact scores will have a greater relevance in driving organisation change within the ethnicity agenda.
Resources and difficulty: The scoring for this is determined by how much resource and the difficulty in getting sign off on the associated recommendation.
A. Leadership & Commitment
AA1 / Exec Sponsor
AA2 / Exec Sponsor
AA3 / Exec Sponsor
Identify an Exec Sponsor to champion ethnicity throughout the organisation.
The Exec Sponsor must have spoken on the ethnicity agenda at an internal event at least once in the previous 12 months.
The Exec Sponsor meets with the chairs/leaders of the multicultural network at least once a quarter.
The Exec Sponsor needs to be a visible and engaged Executive Committee member. It is recommended that they report directly to the CEO who should be prepared to use their influence to mobilise resources and remove barriers.
This should form a basic part of the role of the Exec Sponsor. It could be any type of event, but the sponsor will need to talk about the commitment to the agenda.
It is important to involve the Exec Sponsor in strategy and outline clear areas of support
AB1 / Resourcing
AB2 / Resourcing
Establish a ring-fenced budget set annually to support diversity and inclusion work, with a dedicated budget for ethnicity strategy.
Employ dedicated permanent Inclusion and Diversity Experts with a specific ethnicity accountability.
AB3 / Resourcing
The dedicated individual or team should report directly to Executive leadership, board or the CEO.
The agenda needs to have appropriate dedicated resources to drive change.
In order to drive change in medium and larger organisations you will need dedicated headcount to champion, organise and support your plan.
As the inclusion strategy forms an integral part of the business strategy, aligning the dedicated headcount to report either to the CEO or the HR Executive leader will help to drive change.
AC1 / Visibility
The CEO or Exec Sponsor should make at least one annual statement committing the organisation to making progress and highlighting strategy and progress so far.
This could form part of a wider communication, but should specify ethnicity work. It should highlight any progress or changes in the previous year.
AC2 / Visibility
Quarterly communications should be sent to all colleagues from the Exec Sponsor or suitable Board representative updating on progress around the ethnicity agenda.
AC3 / Visibility
Publicly report on progress of the ethnicity plan annually to external stakeholders. Findings should be included in the annual report and on external website.
Ensure that your annual report includes ethnic representation across the firm.
AC4 / Visibility
AC5 / Visibility
Ensure that your annual report includes a breakdown of Board, Executive Committee, Senior management, early careers and other groups of internal grades.
To continue to demonstrate commitment to the agenda, the organisation should consistently feedback on their actions and commitments. This could form part of a wider communication, but should specify ethnicity work.
The report needs to be based on your existing ethnicity strategy and action plan and report on progress.
The public report uses ethnicity data capture to help identify areas in which to implement strategy. Publishing data can include a comparison to local working age population.
Where possible, it is advisable to break down your data in ethnic groups according to the census categories.
AC6 / Visibility
Ensure that your annual report includes a breakdown of hiring, promotion and attrition rates for general population, and a break down of ethnic groups across the organisation.
AD1 / Strategy
Have an ethnicity inclusion strategy plan, with aspirational targets on representation, that is reported on annually and is owned/sponsored by Board, CEO, Executive Committee or equivalent leadership groups.
The inclusion strategy can span many different diversity aspects, but it will need to have a stream of work focused on ethnicity. It should align and support your organisation’s strategy. It should include measures or KPIs that can be reported on. It could include: aspirations to improve representation; completing training; improving trends from surveys; improving hiring, retention, attrition or aspects of talent management.
AD2 / Strategy
Have a longer term strategy that covers a three-year period.
AD3 / Strategy
Have a dedicated inclusion committee or ethnicity task force with a clear remit on progressing ethnicity, made up of key stakeholders who are responsible for driving inclusion.
If currently under-represented, make a commitment for a percentage increase in ethnic representation overall.
AD4a / Strategy
A multi-year approach of diversity measures needs to be outlined to change culture and create and embed sustainable change.
The committee should be made up of internal stakeholders, those in leadership roles and those whose roles involve progressing the ethnicity agenda and implementing strategy.
If the organisation is under-represented in ethnic diversity, the organisation should commit to year-on-year improvement, with the CEO and Executive Committee responsible for progress. If representation is unknown, please tick ‘no’. If you do not have a problem with ethnic representation, please tick ‘completed’.
AD4b / Strategy
If currently under-represented, make a commitment for a percentage increase in ethnic representation on the Board.
AD4c / Strategy
If currently under-represented, make a commitment for a percentage increase in ethnic representation in Executive Committee or equivalent.
AD4d / Strategy
If currently under-represented, make a commitment for a percentage increase in ethnic representation in senior management.
AD4e / Strategy
If currently under-represented, make a commitment for a percentage increase in ethnic representation across all levels, including middle management and early careers.
HR data should be used to help to identify gaps. At a minimum you should compare representation of different ethnic groupings to that within similar businesses and at different levels within your business.
Alternatively ensure that representation is reflective of your local working population.
AF1 /
Give exec and senior teams the opportunity to hear lived experiences - initiate listening groups.
Have a reverse and reciprocal mentoring programme or similar programme in place.
Ensure that senior executive teams have access to ethnicity inclusion training, either integrated into existing programmes or a stand-alone programme.
To improve understanding for individuals in senior management, listening groups are facilitated sessions where ethnically diverse colleagues will share their experiences. (Code: ED4)
To improve understanding for individuals in senior management, ethnically diverse colleagues will share their experiences in regular 1:1 mentoring sessions.
The executive teams must have a good understanding of inclusion, systemic and institutional barrier and bias in relation to ethnicity. Training should include practical tips and examples to use in day-to-day decision making.
AF2 / Accountability
Include diversity and inclusion as a key performance indicator (KPI): All senior business leaders should have clear diversity and inclusion objectives included in their annual appraisal.
Include direct accountability for making progress towards improving ethnicity representation for their business.
AF3 / Accountability
The measure will need to be aligned to the overall diversity strategy. It should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based). It should also be taken into account when considering any remuneration as a factor.
If the team is under-represented in ethnic diversity, each leader should commit to improving representation in their team year-on-year or have an individual target.
Business leaders must cascade their own inclusion commitments to business lines. These should cover specific ethnicity commitments. To demonstrate that the internal support is shared across the executive team, it should not fall just to the Exec Sponsor or HR to talk about ethnicity. It should be a shared commitment.
AF4 / Accountability
Business leaders must role model expected behaviour, communicate expectations and discuss how they are learning more by highlighting programmes and initiatives they are taking part in.
B. Policy & Data
BA1 / Policy
BA2 / Policy
BA3a / Policy
Ensure that ALL your HR Policies are audited to align to the Equality Act and include a zero-tolerance policy approach to harassment and bullying related to race or ethnicity.
Have explicit examples of racist behaviour and microaggressions in the bullying/harassment policy or FAQs.
Reviewing your HR policies on an annual basis will help you to adapt language and be reflective of a changing environment for inclusion.
The examples should give managers good guidance on what harassment and bullying looks like when it is not explicit in language or action.
BA4 /
BA5 / Policy
BA6 / Policy
BA7 / Policy
Make training available for line managers which covers the bullying and harassment policy, including how it relates to culture, racism and ethnicity. Line managers need to understand how to protect people within the organisation from bullying and harassing behaviour.
...50% have completed.
Have the procedure for reporting grievances clearly outlined and accessible.
Ensure that colleagues are aware of how to report confidential complaints or grievances and ensure it is clearly detailed what the next steps would be.
Have a feedback mechanism for all colleagues regarding policies to identify any issues for colleagues with different ethnicities.
Frequently monitor Employee Relations information regarding disciplinary cases. Compare the proportion cases involving ethnically diverse employees to nonethnically diverse in your organisation. You may consider also including Performance Improvement Plans in this analysis.
Have a policy to allow holidays for colleagues from different religious/cultural backgrounds.
Policies can sometimes cause unforeseen problems. Having a clear and well signposted feedback mechanism will allow you to react. This could be an email inbox or through a helpdesk, for example.
Put a process in place to ensure transparency of the disciplinary process. If the percentage of ethnic minority employees involved in the disciplinary process is higher than the overall average for all employees, then investigate the causes.
Colleagues should be able to request culturally significant holidays as leave without hindrance from line managers. They may need to use holiday to cover the days, or exchange UK recognised holidays – if the organisation allows.
BB1 / Data
Include Census categories in your HR data capture.
Use HR data to analyse ethnically diverse representation at all levels and this use to inform strategy.
BB2 / Data
Have a detailed comms plan aimed at increasing disclosure rates, which will communicate the need for data.
BB3 / Data
Ensure your categories align to the Census 2021.
HR data should be used to help to identify gaps. At a minimum you should compare representation of different ethnic groupings to that within similar businesses and at different levels within your business.
Consistent communications and explaining why data is important is imperative to aid good disclosure rates. It is recommended that disclosure rates should be over 70%, achieved by using a consistent comms campaign.
BB4 / Data
Ensure that HR reports and data are seen by the Exec Sponsor, Executive Committee and Board at least annually.
BB5 / Data
Use HR data to annually monitor hiring, progression and attrition of ethnically diverse employees at all levels of the business. Use data to inform strategy.
The reporting should include as much detail as possible; our annual reporting guidance gives thorough detail on what should, and can, be included.
HR data should be used to help to identify gaps. At a minimum you should compare representation of different ethnic groupings to that within similar businesses and at different levels within your business.
BC1 / Reporting
BC2 / Reporting
BC3 / Reporting
BC4 / Reporting
The HR report to internal stakeholders includes detailed breakdown by individual ethnic group across the organisation.
The HR report should cross reference a breakdown by levels: Board, Executive Committee, senior management, early careers and other groups of internal grades.
The HR report should cross reference a break-down of early careers.
The HR report should cross reference a break-down of hiring, promotion and attrition rates vs general population.
BC5 / Reporting
The HR report should cross reference a break-down of hiring, promotion and attrition rates vs general population for senior management and other groups of internal grades.
Utilise ethnicity pay gap data to inform and support equal pay for equal work and address anomalies.
BC6 / Reporting
Reporting should break down overall representation of ethnic groupings across all levels and departments/businesses. Where possible break down the ethnic heritage groupings to identify if there are differences in experience for specific ethnicities.
The report should help feedback on measures and inform of any action plan progress or implementation of measures.
BC7 / Reporting
BC8 / Reporting
Break down the pay gap reporting by ethnic heritage groups and share in detail.
Publish your Ethnicity Pay Gap, aligning data with clear commitments to improve figures where necessary.
All roles should be paid equally for equal work by law – this report may help to identify areas for you to address. It should split your population by ethnic groupings, as a minimum by white and ethnic minorities.
Where possible, break down the ethnic heritage groupings to identify if there are differences in experience for specific ethnicities.
Publishing your Ethnicity Pay Gap, alongside gender statistics, helps transparency, particularly when accompanied by an action plan based on strategy.
C. Culture & Inclusion
CA1 / Visibility
Profile stories and case studies on your intranet that include your ethnically diverse employees as role models.
CA2 / Visibility
CA3a / Visibility
CA3b / Visibility
Profile stories and case studies on your intranet that include your ethnically diverse employees as intersectional role models.
Send one organisation-wide communication that includes ethnicity news within a 12-month timeframe.
Send a quarterly organisationwide communication that includes ethnicity news.
CA4 / Visibility
Include specialist information resources on race, ethnicity and culture to support ‘Just in Time’ learning for colleagues, customers and line managers.
Sharing stories of a variety of colleagues, their lives, career journeys and challenges helps to build more understanding and visibility of the different challenges presented by ethnicity.
Highlighting intersectional identities in story-telling will help understanding around the nuances and challenges of diverse populations that cross over diversity strands.
The communication needs to be accessible by or sent directly to all colleagues. It could be part of a wider communication, but should have direct references to ethnicity. This could include an update on your work, strategy or commitments to being ethnically diverse.
The resources need to be available to all colleagues to use when they need it. For example, this could be in the form of e-learning, signposting to articles or bespoke intranet pages. They should include information to help at specific points in time and materials around being culturally sensitive and the use of language.
CA5 / Visibility
Introduce a checkpoint or review to ensure all internal comms strategy has an ethnicity lens, and has been seen by the inclusion team or representatives.
This will help the organisation avoid making a misstep and could also be applied with a wider inclusion lens. It is particularly important if the comms team lacks diversity. It can be as simple as making sure that organisation-wide emails/ communications are shared with someone who is ethnically diverse.
CB1 / Recruitment
CB2 / Recruitment
Ensure inclusionrelated questions are posed to all potential managers in a standard interview.
Ensure inclusion-related questions are posed to all hires in a standard interview.
CB3 / Recruitment
Explicit commitment to ethnic inclusion included in all onboarding processes.
This will help to test potential managers’ views on diversity and inclusion, and discover how they would deal with relevant scenarios within a management role.
This will help to test the views on diversity and inclusion of every potential hire.
In all your onboarding materials and programmes, make sure that your commitment to ethnic diversity is clear. This could include sharing your strategy, information on network groups and highlighting any information you have shared externally.
CC1 / Understanding
Hold an internal event to start or carry on conversations on the ethnicity agenda that is open to ALL employees. It should reference the importance of allies.
CC2a / Understanding
Ensure management training programmes have inclusion embedded in to the modules, with specific reference to ethnicity.
CC2b / Understanding
CC3a / Understanding
Ensure managers walk away with specific commitments to challenge negative behaviours and support the ethnicity agenda.
Make awareness and action-based training on ethnicity available for all colleagues.
The event should encourage colleagues to have inclusive conversations and understand negative behaviours but should be designed to have wide appeal. This could be achieved by having a senior executive, guest expert or celebrity speaker. The invitation should make it clear that everyone is invited and state the importance of allies as part of the discussion.
Reviewing existing management training and embedding messages of inclusion, and specifically ethnic diversity, as part of the fabric of any general management course will help to embed it into the DNA of the organisation.
Managers having objectives for which they are held accountable by their line manager will help to embed change. These should ideally be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timebased) objectives
Provide training to help colleagues understand some of the sensitivities and to build confidence to talk about race and ethnicity, giving practical tools to help create action. This could be face-to-face or e-learning, but it must be available to all staff. It could form part of a wider training session. The aim is to make this training mandatory.
Make inclusion training with an ethnicity lens available for all colleagues.
Provide training to help colleagues understand what inclusion is and how to be ethnically inclusive. This could be face-to-face or e-learning, but it must be available to all staff. It can form part of a wider training session. The aim is to make this training mandatory.
Develop and make allyship training with ethnicity as a focus available for all colleagues.
Provide training to help colleagues understand what allyship is and how to be an ally to people who are ethnically different to them. This could be face-toface or e-learning, but it must be available to all staff. It can form part of a wider training session. It can also be part of a wider allyship programme, but must contains substantial portions with a lens on ethnicity (eg. include areas such as privilege, understanding microaggressions and tools to advance advocacy).
D. Network Group
DA1 / Strategy
Have an active multicultural/ ethnicity focused network group in place within your organisation.
Establish or have already an employee-led network or resource group with a focus on ethnicity. This may include being part of a multicultural group.
DA2 / Strategy
Appoint network chairs or leads and a leadership group with clear governance. Revise the committee to accommodate network growth and new deliverables.
Ensure that the network is led by employees, with a clear leadership structure and a leadership committee or group. Best practice would see the appointments advertised to all and applications encouraged as with any role.
DA3 / Strategy
The network should set ambitions/goals/deliverables in line with the organisation’s strategy and policies. If network terms are already established, then they should be reviewed annually.
DA4 / Strategy
DA5 / Strategy
Ensure that the multicultural network has its own operating budget.
Participation in the network’s committee should be recognised within annual appraisals.
DA6 / Strategy
A set number of days can be allocated to help committee members develop the network group.
Offer training to network group leads or committee members to develop skills.
DA7 / Strategy
Ensure the network has a clear mission statement, objectives and terms of reference. Make sure the network is as effective as possible by aligning to organisation goals and revisiting strategy to accommodate any changes. For example: going digital, working from home and wellbeing.
A dedicated budget will help the network to deliver on its ambitions.
Colleagues will be dedicating time outside of their day-today work for the benefit of the firm; this should be recognised in the appraisal process.
For a successful network group, the committee should be allowed to use a set allocation of days per month to help the success of the network group.
When appropriate, a skills audit of the leadership group and areas for improvement should be undertaken and addressed with a training programme. This could be done in conjunction with other network groups.
DA8 / Strategy
The network should run an annual survey to understand the needs and interests of its members.
This will ensure that the network continues to meet the needs of its members. The survey can also help improve understanding and give insights to the business.
DB1 / Events
DB2 / Events
DB3 / Events
Formulate a series of events which cover the main cultural holidays or ‘awareness days.’
Hold at least one network event aimed at allies within your organisation.
Develop a programme of events to help build awareness and understanding for allies within your network.
DB4 / Events
DB5 / Events
DB6 / Events
DB7 / Events
Hold at least one internal or external network event every 12 months with an Exec Sponsor.
The network should hold a professional development event for ethnically diverse members within a 12-month period.
Have a programme which supports career growth.
Ensure that where possible all appropriate events are intersectional and inclusive. Involve other employee network groups where possible.
Develop a calendar of events, which build awareness and celebrate diverse cultures and ethnic groups. Make the events open to the entire organisation.
Ensure the event helps build awareness and understanding. The series could be through workshops or by introducing speakers. Subject matter can help allies take action around bias, microaggressions, and better understand privilege, equity, systemic and institutional discrimination in the workplace.
The network sponsor should be visible in speaking about the importance of the agenda, but should also be encouraged to engage beyond a single event.
Career development events will help to develop colleagues. Examples include leadership workshops to aid career growth and/or skills development.
Career growth programmes help build colleague skills. Programmes can include skills development, mentoring, etc.
Any events held should be intersectional where appropriate and work with any other employee networks or resource groups to create maximum impact.
DC1 / Engagement
DC2 / Engagement
Have a communication plan in place. Share updates on ethnicity news with network members on a quarterly basis.
Have a strategy to engage potential and existing allies from the entire organisation.
Regular communications from the network on the appropriate platform should be shared. They could focus on the network aims and activities and progress against them, or on national days, current events, memorials, etc.
Have a comms plan on how to engage allies. Also develop a plan to aid awareness and understanding through communications.
DD1 / Business
The network should help support any business communications relating to ethnicity and the wider ethnicity agenda.
DD2 / Business
The network to be consulted by HR about relevant policy changes.
DD3 / Business
The network to give feedback on marketing campaigns, products or service development within the company.
DD4 / Business
The network to be consulted by HR about wider ethnicity strategy and give feedback.
The network group can utilise its reach to help with organisation communications on the ethnicity agenda, for example to help with the communication plan to aid data disclosure rates.
Engage the network to ensure diversity are thought within policies changes. The network can also give feedback on language and tone.
Engage the network to give feedback on the organisation’s external work with customers, clients and end users on campaigns, products or service developments. This ensures the organisation’s output is suitable to everyone’s needs.
HR should engage the network to ensure the oranisation’s wider ethnicity strategy is fit for purpose.
OUTSTANDING Understanding
DE1 / External
The network should collaborate on events with peers from other organisations.
Collaboration brings external knowledge into the organisation. This could be done through a third-party initiative.
DE2 / External
DE3 / External
DE4 / External
The network committee should meet and share understanding with peer mentors from other organisations’ network groups.
The network should open its activities and events externally where possible.
The network leads should speak at external conferences or events.
DE5 / External
The network should connect with a relevant charity (or charities) and help to build awareness and fundraise for their cause.
You should also share knowledge and understanding with other organisation that are not as far along in their ethnicity journey.
Opening up events to external attendees allows members to network with a wider audience. You must have held at least two events per year which are open to external guests.
Network leads or committee members represent their organisation by speaking at external opportunities and sharing their knowledge.
The network group should find ways to support relevant charities. There are many different commitments that could be signed up to, but this is a public commitment to support relevant external organisations or NGOs.
E. Employee Life Cycle
EA1 / Attraction
Ensure the imagery and language used within recruitment campaigns are reflective of ethnically diverse communities.
EA2 / Attraction
Revise wording on job specifications to ensure that plain English is used, to demonstrate an accurate reflection of the skills required.
EA3 / Attraction
Have a strategy to promote early career job opportunities to ethnically diverse communities, ie through job fairs, demographic-specific advertising or schools and universities with good ethnic proportional representation.
EA4 / Attraction
Promote jobs via ethnicity job boards or specialist recruiters who understand your goals around ethnic representation.
Your recruitment marketing should appeal to a diverse candidate pool. Imagery is important to help potential candidates see that your organisation is taking diverse representation seriously. Using your networks groups or diverse focus groups to sense check materials is a best practice.
The recruitment process needs to be accessible to a diverse candidate pool. Using language that is concise and easy to understand will help ensure that some candidates are not disadvantaged through the application process.
This will ensure that career opportunities are seen by the widest talent pool possible. Challenge yourselves every year to think about different ways to reach external talent pools. Engaging with your network group or hold a focus group with students to find out where they look for job opportunities.
These tools are a great way to be able to reach talent pools that you may not have considered previously and should be able to provide reporting and feedback to help you improve your processes.
EB1 / Selection
EB2 / Selection
EB3a / Selection
EB3b / Selection
EB3b / Selection
Ensure diverse recruitment panels for senior roles.
Ensure interview panels are ethnically diverse at all levels.
At least one person on the recruitment panel must have completed recruitment and selection training that included unconscious bias.
Ensure 50% of panel interviewers have undergone bias training.
Ensure 90% of in-house recruiters have undergone bias training.
Introduce and use blind CVs for all recruitment.
EB4 / Selection
If you are using a panel-based interview approach, ensure a diverse interview panel. Alternatively, every senior hire should have been interviewed by at least one ethnically diverse interviewer.
This should be measured and tracked internally. If you don't use interview panels, ensure that you are tracking the representation of candidates by ethnic group at all stages of recruitment.
Interviewers and the recruitment team should be able to understand the concept of bias and how to challenge it. They should be able to identify bias at every step of the process, from job design, through job description, through interviewing to hiring. They should be able to interrupt and address any issues. The aim is to work towards making this training mandatory.
The recruitment process needs to be accessible to a diverse candidate pool. You should remove as much identifying information as possible to remove bias from the process. Name, address, employment history, schooling, should all be removed, with a focus on the skills the candidate can bring to the role.
EC1 / Recruitment
Tracking candidate journeys into organisations can provide valuable insight into why ethnically diverse potential candidates are not converted into hires. Interventions can be put in place based on insights at the relevant stages of the recruitment process.
EC2 / Recruitment
Ensure that candidate pools are ethnically diverse for job opportunities at all levels.
EC3 / Recruitment
Actively ensure a diverse long and short list from headhunters and recruitment agencies for all senior recruitment positions.
BASIC Representation 49
BASIC Representation 40
Ensure all recruitment suppliers demonstrate a commitment to diverse representation and have taken bias awareness training.
EC4 / Recruitment
EC5 / Recruitment
Market Map to identify roles with most potential for ethnically diverse candidates and target them when they are available.
EC6 / Recruitment
EC7 / Recruitment
Develop an alumni programme for ethnically diverse former employees.
Include an update on recruitment activities to all colleagues at least annually and create a plan to address.
OUTSTANDING Bias 24
OUTSTANDING Representation 30
ADVANCED Comms Representation 24
ADVANCED Comms Understanding 28
ED1 / Retention
Identify areas within the business where there is underrepresentation and take action to address anomolies.
Measure and report on ethnically diverse representation in redundancy or restructuring plans.
Hold a series of focus groups or listening sessions to better understand the lived experiences of ethnically diverse employees. Use the outputs to inform your recruitment and retention strategy and back up areas where data is showing underrepresentation.
Ensure listening groups are hosted by executives.
Take action to address any issues of underrepresentation by encouraging and supporting diverse talent to engage with training and recruiting programmes.
Monitor whether marginalised groups are disproportionately included in any redundancy or restructuring plans.
In effect, this is a miniature culture audit. The groups should be open to all levels and feedback should be anonymous. They should help to identify the barriers to progression and any issues that exist. A report should be formed using findings from the groups, which should contribute to an action plan or overall strategy.
This will help the executive understand the issues and enable them to hear from colleagues directly.
EE1 / Progression
Produce detailed and transparent guidelines on how your organisation’s career ladder works, including pay, promotions and rewards, and make it available to all colleagues.
EE2 / Progression
Measure and report on representation on talent development programmes ensuring ethnically diverse representation.
EE3 / Progression
This allows all colleagues to understand the pathways to internal progression, how your system works and what they need to do to advance their career.
Monitor the diversity on talent and leadership programmes to ensure that representation is representative, this will strengthen your talent pipeline.
EE4a / Progression
Take action to address under-representation by implementing diversitybased training and recruiting programmes for line and hiring managers.
Identify ethnically diverse top talent at all levels, and place them on dedicated career or talent programmes.
Use data to understand where certain ethnic groups may be under-represented. Develop a plan and take action to address any issues using diversity-based training and recruiting programmes, which include aiding ethnicity progression.
Supporting talent at all levels to progress in an organisation is important. You should identify talent; this could be through a process of self-nomination or via business nomination. Once selected, the talented, ethnically diverse individuals should be supported with a variety of interventions that could include: sponsorship, mentoring, coaching, dedicated development sessions.
EE4b / Progression
Ensure that line managers are involved in the talent development process.
EE5 / Progression
Identify top ethnically diverse talent within senior and middle management and allocate a sponsor to aid career growth.
EE6 / Progression
Measure and report on ethnically diverse representation in succession plans.
Line managers are commonly cited by ethnically diverse employees as being a barrier to progression. Getting line managers involved in the talent development process will encourage better buy-in and engagement with the training process.
Research has shown that sponsorship is key to supporting diverse top talent to senior roles. The sponsor needs to be willing to use their influence to help the sponsee progress, acting as their advocate.
Monitor the diversity of your talent pipeline and ensure you have appropriate representation on your programmes.
EE7 / Progression
Monitor whether ethnically diverse talent on career programmes are actively progressing up the ladder.
Once colleagues have been in or are going through a talent programme, tracking their progress is key to ensuring the programme is effective. Is the programme having the right impact? If not, understand how you can adjust the programme to get it on track.
E. External Impact
FA1 / Supply Chain
Update or establish a supplier code of conduct to ensure that your supply chain has a strategy to support commitment to ethnic diversity and inclusion with suppliers.
FA2 / Supply Chain
FA3 / Supply Chain
FA4 / Supply Chain
Monitor and regularly review suppliers to ensure they have the highest diversity standards for ethnicity.
Partner with suppliers to promote better ethnic diversity.
Track the percentage of supplier spend that is made with companies that are owned by ethnically diverse people.
FA5 / Supply Chain
Set targets or goals to monitor and if necessary, improve the percentage of your spend that is directed to ethnic-minority owned businesses.
Ensure that you have a code of conduct for all suppliers and that all new suppliers agree to it. At a minimum, the appropriate-sized suppliers should commit to having an inclusion and diversity plan that supports ethnic diversity in their organisations that they can share with you.
As part of the regular supplier reviews you should ask them to report on the progress they are making against their plans, annually, at a minimum. If they cannot, this should be treated as any other contract breach and steps should be taken to rectify.
Work with your suppliers to co-create positive action. This could be a communication campaign, having a joint event or training activity focused on ethnicity and race.
Look at where you are spending your money and use it to support businesses with ethnically diverse owners. Supporting these businesses gives back to underrepresented communities in a practical way.
Increasing the share of your spend to support businesses with ethnic-minority owners can help support these businesses and give back to under-represented communities in a practical way.
FB1 / Visibility
FB2 / Visibility
FB3 / Visibility
FB4 / Visibility
FB5 / Visibility
The senior sponsor should have spoken at an external event about ethnicity.
The CEO and other senior executives should have spoken or taken part in an external events about ethnicity.
Your social media channels should be used to highlight your support for ethnically diverse communities, awareness building, cultural celebrations, etc.
Have a dedicated space on your external website highlighting your organisation’s ethnicity journey and the wider inclusion agenda.
Work with your communications team on a press release which states your organisation’s commitment to ethnic diversity.
Demonstrating organisational and personal commitments to the community is important as an indicator of how seriously you are engaging with the ethnicity agenda.
Demonstrating organisational and personal commitments to the community is important as an indicator of how seriously you are engaging with the ethnicity agenda.
Use your influence to highlight the importance of culturally significant days for ethnically diverse communities.
The dedicated space can include relevant reports, action plans and your organisation’s commitment to progressing the ethnicity agenda.
Research has shown that media or PR stories are one of the most effective mediums to amplify an organisation’s commitment to diversity.
The organisation has publicly pledged or supported ethnically diverse commitments in the UK.
FC1 / Activities
There are many different commitments that could be signed up to – it could be from the government, regulator, an NGO or other sector body – but this is a public commitment to use the influence of the organisation to drive positive change
FC2 / Activities
FC3 / Activities
FC4 / Activities
Partner with charities that support ethnic minority communities in the UK. Your organisation should demonstrate your support for the community by partnering with a community project or charity that is focused on supporting ethnically diverse people.
Organisation has sponsored or supported an ethnically diverse conference or events.
Help and engage other organisations starting on their journey on creating organisational change.
Participate in or join a sector level group to drive change for ethnic diversity.
FC5 / Activities
FC6 / Activities
Engage with schools or school level initiatives to support work experience for ethnically diverse young people.
FC7 / Activities
FC8 / Activities
FC9 / Activities
Engage with schools or school level initiatives to support mentoring of school age ethnically diverse young people.
Engage with universities to support mentoring of ethnically diverse university students.
Engage with universities to support paid internships for ethnically diverse university students.
It is important to visibly demonstrate your support for the ethnicity agenda by supporting events in the community.
Helping other organisations that are not as far along in their ethnicity journey as you is a great way to help to progress the agenda.
If possible, use sector bodies, or work with national bodies to create change. This could be as easy as joining an existing ethnicity focused group or helping to set one up. Then focus on the issues that relate to your industry.
Give ethnically diverse young people in the community the help and support to be able to aspire to a wider range of opportunities by offering work experience placements.
Give ethnically diverse young people in the community help and support to aspire to a wider range of opportunities. Colleagues can volunteer to be mentors.
Give ethnically diverse young people at university help and support to aspire to a wider range of opportunities. Colleagues can volunteer to be mentors.
Give ethnically diverse young people at university the help and support to be able to aspire to a wider range of opportunities by offering paid internships
FD1 / Customer & Clients
Consult with ethnically diverse customers; and/ or service users; and/ or patients; and/or clients to ensure your products or services meet specific needs.
FD2 / Customer & Clients
Ensure all marketing and advertising materials contain a mix of ethnic representation.
FD3 / Customer & Clients
Customer; and/or service users; and/or patients; and/or client-facing colleagues should have undertaken some form of cultural and ethnic awareness training.
Where appropriate, use opportunities to engage with customers; and/ or service users; and/or patients; and/or clients to understand the specific needs of different communities, and use the insight to help improve your products, services or offering to fit these needs.
Where appropriate, use your marketing to customers; and/or service users; and/ or patients; and/or clients to make sure that you are reflecting the communities that you are serving.
Where appropriate, make sure that colleagues who are supporting your customers; and/or service users; and/or patients; and/or clients are appropriately trained to ensure that they can best meet the needs of ethnically diverse communities. This could form part of a wider training course.
FD4 / Customer & Clients
Customer; and/or service users; and/or patients; and/or client complaints should be monitored for cultural and ethnic trends.
Where appropriate, monitor complaints from customers, service users, patients and clients to inform of any specific issues or barriers which may need to be addressed based on the specific needs of different communities. Use the feedback to help improve your products, services or offering.
Customer; and/or service users; and/or patients; and/or clients usage of products and services should be monitored to understand trends.
Use marketing insights to analyse usage by ethnically diverse customers; and/ or service users; and/or patients; and/ or clients. These insights should inform your approach for future marketing.
The Matrix background
The Matrix was formulated in 2018 as part of the Investing in Ethnicity initiative from SPM Group, and a collaboration with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Governance and Inclusive Leadership. The APPG on GAIL established a common goal to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Dawn Butler MP chair of the APPG group has played a vital role in helping progress the Matrix. The APPG group has a progressive plan for 2018 that extends beyond taking evidence from organisations and employees to ensure the Matrix evolves. If you would like to get involved or give evidence please email: matrix@gailappg.org.uk.
Appendix a: Development of the Matrix
Action Group discussions: To determine the best method to progress the ethnicity agenda Action Group or round table discussions took place during 2016 and 2017 involving over 50 organisations. During these sessions it was decided that a time-efficient bench mark was necessary to help drive strategy. Review of the Matrix takes place every three years, which collate feedback on latest best practice successes, alongside continuous action group sessions with employers on key topics. The next cycle will be in 2024.
APPG Business Committee
Alongside MPs, the Business Committee will support sign off on the Matrix recommendations. In addition the committee will advice on areas that will benefit from business and Government collaboration to help drive change.
Appendix b: About the Investing in Ethnicity initiative
In July 2017, Investing in Ethnicity launched an ongoing campaign for CEOs and executives to pledge their support to the initiative. The campaign, supported by companies such as HSBC, Bank of England and Tesco, received press from media including The Times, City AM, The Independent and Huffington Post. The Investing in Ethnicity initiative now helps over 120 organisations through consultancy, round table discussions that share best practice and ally and inclusion workshops. The Investing in Ethnicity initiative also runs the annual Ethnicity Awards.
Organisations that have invested in this agenda and submitted the Matrix online will receive a report and feedback, and be recognised in national press as an Investing in Ethnicity Employer. The top organisations will be celebrated at the Ethnicity Awards.
Over the next year, the initiative will continue to offer the annual conference and additional support through its membership, offering resources, round table discussions, workshops, a future leaders conference and senior leadership breakfast sessions. With over 15 years’ experience working within diversity and inclusion, the Investing In Ethnicity team recognise the real challenges faced by organisations and business that want to make positive change happen and reduce inequalities and disparities in ethnicity, race and inclusion in the workplace. The company-based membership will help guide you through areas of the Matrix and also give you a full consultation to audit next steps based on your submission.
The initiative offers a wealth of support with additional tools available to support businesses in moving the agenda forward, please visit investinginethnicity.org for further information.