Promoting Diversity in Publishing
Earlier this year Sue Trafford, Oxford office manager at Inspired Selection, carried out a thorough and probing survey of UK book and journal publishers to find out how they were responding to the current, topical subject of cultural diversity within their companies.
As a result of work with Elise Dillsworth at DIPNet, and of their own quest to achieve accreditation in the diversity field from the c2e Commission, Inspired Selection were keen to promote the need for UK publishers to look at their workforce and ensure that their recruitment and internal promotion processes gave opportunity to those from different cultural backgrounds.
As previously reported in On Course, the survey conducted by the Arts Council in 2004, "In Full Colour", found that nearly 50% of people working in publishing felt they were working within a "white, middle-class ghetto".
The aim of Sue's survey was to see how companies were now addressing this issue, whether they had procedures in place to promote ethnic and cultural diversity, and whether they felt they needed any help and guidance in this matter.
The managers and teams within Inspired Selection were consulted as to what they wanted to find out from their clients on issues of diversity and equal opportunities. Questions were also included to explore further areas of concern that other organisations had raised, one in particular raised by DIPNet, that companies stated that they were "an equal opportunity employer", but had not shown to be directly addressing the issue of diversity.
The audit within Inspired Selection had also highlighted a shortfall in knowledge on their clients as to whether they had diversity policies. Questions such as: did they record information on issues such as race, age and sex on their employees? And, if so, did they collect and report on this data?
Inspired Selection had itself spent a great deal of time and money developing a system for capturing data on their pool of candidates, so they also needed to gain information as to whether equal opportunities statistics would be helpful or needed by their clients.
The survey questionnaire was emailed to selected UK publishers across varying sizes and types of publishing groups. The companies were selected to ensure a true representation of the industry and demographic mix. The higher than average response rate was an encouraging indicator of the importance that businesses are placing on Diversity and Equal Opportunity issues. The expected better return rate was seen from the larger companies with staff dedicated to the HR function.
Perhaps the most interesting finding of the survey was the amount of additional measures that were stated as being 'planned'. 5% of businesses reported that they were increasing their monitoring of Equal Opportunities (against an already healthy 50% who already did so) and some 30% planned to monitor some of the key areas of Diversity (gender, disability and ethnicity) in the future.
This increase in reporting could indicate that the legislation and the drive from the CIPD, and other organisations such as DIPNet, could be increasing the pressure to 'prove' that the selection and development of staff is unbiased across an ethnically and culturally diverse workforce.
It would appear, however, from the overall results that the UK publishing industry feels reasonably comfortable in its position regarding both issues, with a perception that some 60% believe that they are culturally diverse. This statement, when positioned against the 2007 DIPNet survey, indicating the alarmingly low numbers of ethnic workers employed in the industry, must surely highlight the chasm between the perceptions and reality of operating ethnically and culturally diverse businesses.
Overall, the survey has proved a valuable tool in helping Inspired Selection learn how they can assist their clients and work with them on this issue. It has helped them identify what procedures they can adopt to ensure they are working together with publishers, as well as providing a service that is invaluable to them in light of the legal and cultural changes that are taking place in the workforce.
Inspired Selection see this as an ongoing project and these issues and questions will continue to be raised each time they meet and talk to clients - ensuring they not only keep up-do-date with them and the recruitment issues they face, but also that they continue to promote diversity within the publishing industry.
If you are interested in receiving the full results of the survey please email Sue Trafford at Inspired Selection, sue@inspiredselection.co.uk.
