Companies must make data public on the internal distribution of ethnic minorities by salary band, write Wasim Ahmed and Wasim Rehma

Ahmed, Wasim

Rehman, Wasim

English

LSE Research Online

Brands	support	#BlackLivesMatter	on	social	media,but	what’s	missing?The	Black	Lives	Matter	movement	(BLM)	was	first	established	in	the	summer	of	2013	and	resurfaced	in	2020	afterthe	killing	of	George	Floyd	in	police	custody.	Protests	took	place	across	the	United	States	bringing	further	attentionto	issues	of	inequality	across	the	American	criminal	justice	system.	Social	media	was	used	around	the	world	toshow	solidarity	with	the	movement.Companies	were	active	participants	in	this	social	media	wave	of	support	for	BLM.	Nike	launched	a	‘For	Once,	Don’tDo	It’	slogan,	playing	on	their	famous	‘Just	Do	It’	tagline,	and	the	#Solidaritea	hashtag	was	launched	by	tea	brands.News	articles	highlighted	how	certain	brands	had	very	strong	responses	to	BLM,	including	leading	companies	suchas	Google,	Netflix,	Walmart,	Nascar,	PwC,	Nike,	Ben	and	Jerry’s,	IBM,	PayPal,	AirBnB,	PepsiCo,	and	the	QuakerOats	Company,	among	others.Data	released	by	Twitter	showed	that	there	were	390	million	tweets	sent	from	25	May	to	15	June,	and	2020	hasseen	the	largest	peak	of	tweets	related	to	BLM	ever	recorded.	As	brands	actively	engaged	on	social	media,	wewere	interested	in	examining	what	organisations	have	been	doing	in	order	to	support	initiatives	around	diversity	inthe	workplace	and	what	more	can	be	done.Are	board	compositions	enough?A	recent	project	named	‘True	Colours’	set	up	an	Instagram	page	in	which	logos	of	companies	were	adjusted	basedon	a	whiteness	filter	using	public	data	on	the	ethnic	makeup	of	the	executives	in	the	organisation.	This	highlightedthat	many	big	companies	still	have	a	diversity	issue	in	their	senior	ranks.	In	the	United	Kingdom,	for	instance,	theParker	Review	Committee,	chaired	by	Sir	John	Parker,	also	set	out	to	examine	the	ethnic	diversity	of	UK	boards.However,	a	board	of	directors	for	a	mid/large	corporate	often	plays	a	limited	role	in	the	day-to-day	management	ofthe	company.	A	board	of	directors’	main	responsibility	is	to	represent	the	interests	of	the	shareholders	and	they	areselected	by	shareholder	vote.	As	such,	they	do	not	necessarily	reflect	the	company’s	diversity	and	meritocraticprocesses.In	a	similar	manner,	looking	purely	at	statistics	by	number	of	employees	from	different	ethnic	groups	is	not	detailedenough	to	present	a	conclusion.	For	example,	Rio	Tinto,	a	large	mining	company	with	significant	interests	in	Africa,may	have	a	large	proportion	of	black	employees	but	those	are	likely	to	be	at	the	lowest	pay	grade.	A	better	practiseis	to	understand	the	percentage	breakdown	of	ethnic	minorities	at	an	organisation	by	their	salary	band.	What	is	the	best	way	of	doing	it?LSE Business Review: Brands support #BlackLivesMatter on social media, but what’s missing? Page 1 of 2		Date originally posted: 2020-10-30Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/10/30/brands-support-blacklivesmatter-on-social-media-but-whats-missing/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/Going	forward,	to	track	organisations	and	hold	them	accountable	for	their	diversity	and	inclusion	initiatives,	it	wouldbe	beneficial	for	the	public	to	have	access	to	this	data.	This	would	make	it	possible	to	track	the	diversity	ofemployees	across	the	whole	organisation.A	report	by	Just	Capital	found	that	only	4%	(around	32	companies)	from	the	Russel	1000	shared	detailed	data	onworkers’	gender	and	ethnicity	by	their	occupation.	However,	in	the	U.S.	there	is	a	requirement	for	companies	withmore	than	100	employees	to	report	diversity	and	inclusion	data	in	a	report	called	the	The	Employer	InformationReport	which	is	otherwise	known	as	the	EEO1	report.	However,	as	of	July	2020		out	of	a	100	of	the	largest	U.S.companies	by	market	value,	only	15	made	their	EEO-1	diversity	data	available	to	the	public.	EEO1	reporting	to	thegovernment	is	mandatory,	but	not	to	the	public.The	EEO	1	report	itself	seems	to	be	evolving.	A	proposal	for	a	component	1	and	component	2	was	suspended.	In2019,	certain	employers	were	also	required	to	report	hours	worked	and	pay	data	to	the	EEOC,	referred	to	ascomponent	2	data.	As	of	this	writing,	the	reporting	of	component	2	data	has	been	suspended.EEO1	reporting	in	the	U.S.	appears	to	contrast	with	the	UK,	where	gender	pay	statistics	must	be	made	public	bylaw	for	companies	with	more	than	250	employees.	However,	there	is	no	requirement	for	ethnic	data	to	be	releasedto	the	public.	Citing	the	Colour	of	Power	Index,	The	Guardian	reported	that	only	4.7%	of	top	roles	in	the	UnitedKingdom	are	filled	by	non-White	individuals.	This	index	uses	publicly	available	data	and	is	limited	to	only	seniorroles.	Similarly	to	the	U.S.,	the	UK	government	could	also	request	organisations	to	release	ethnic	data	byoccupation	as	is	the	case	with	gender	pay	statistics.	Releasing	this	information	to	the	public	would	make	it	possibleto	see	whether	progress	is	being	made	across	ethnicities	and	occupations.Our	future	work	will	look	to	analyse	social	media	data	to	identify	brands	making	the	most	noise	on	social	media	andto	examine	the	types	of	actions	being	undertaken.♣♣♣Notes:This	blog	post	expresses	the	views	of	its	author(s),	not	the	position	of	LSE	Business	Review	or	the	LondonSchool	of	Economics.Featured	image	by	Clay	Banks	on	UnsplashWhen	you	leave	a	comment,	you’re	agreeing	to	our	Comment	PolicyWasim	Ahmed	is	a	lecturer	in	digital	business	with	a	specialism	in	social	media	research	in	thedepartment	of	marketing,	operations	and	systems	at	Newcastle	University.	He	completed	his	PhD	atthe	University	of	Sheffield.	He	is	a	regular	contributor	to	LSE’s	Impact	Blog	and	The	Conversation.He	has	published	multiple	peer-reviewed	outputs	and	delivered	many	talks	about	his	research	aroundthe	world.	His	research	has	also	appeared	within	print	and	broadcast	media.Wasim	Rehman	is	a	PhD	student	at	Imperial	College	London	and	is	an	activephilanthropist	serving	as	a	governor	of	a	school	and	as	a	trustee	of	various	charities.He	previously	studied	at	the	faculty	of	mathematics	at	the	University	of	Cambridge	andwent	on	to	pursue	a	career	in	finance.			LSE Business Review: Brands support #BlackLivesMatter on social media, but what’s missing? Page 2 of 2		Date originally posted: 2020-10-30Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/10/30/brands-support-blacklivesmatter-on-social-media-but-whats-missing/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/

Brands support #blacklivesmatter on social media, but what’s missing?

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/107218/1/businessreview_2020_10_30_brands_support_blacklivesmatter_on_social.pdf

Brands support #blacklivesmatter on social media, but what’s missing?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

LSE Research Online