UK broadcaster Sky has pledged that one in five of its staff will be from a minority ethnic background by 2025, and it would recruit 1,500 black, Asian and minority ethnic(BAME) workers during the period.
Sky moves to reshape its 25,000-strong workforce in the UK and Ireland, partly in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, reported The Guardian.
The move follows research that found Sky’s workforce was not representative of the areas where it operates, including around its west London headquarters where 48 per cent of the population is BAME.
According to the report, the transformation will be most marked among Sky’s 300 senior managers, only three of whom are black, including the new chief talent, diversity and inclusion officer, Denise Peart.
A quarter of the broadcaster’s on-screen talent and 17 per cent of its comedy and drama writers are from minority ethnic backgrounds, while the proportion in senior production roles is 10 per cent.
“Introducing these targets acknowledges that we have more work to do in ensuring our black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues are fairly represented at all levels,” Peart told The Guardian.
“Our focus will be on making systemic changes to ensure that we recruit, retain, develop and progress these colleagues, whilst holding ourselves accountable for meeting these targets.”
Karan Bilimoria, president of the Confederation of British Industry, said: “Concerted company efforts to accelerate greater racial and ethnic participation – particularly at senior levels – are much needed across British business. What gets measured gets done. Setting stretching targets, as Sky have, alongside more measures to cultivate an inclusive company culture, will undoubtedly propel their progress forward faster.”
It is said that a fifth of Britons will be from minority ethnic backgrounds by 2031.
At the BBC, where 15 per cent of staff are BAME, shortlists for the highest-paid jobs must now include at least one minority ethnic candidate.
Lloyds is aiming for one in 10 of staff to be BAME, which is below the national figure of 14 per cent of the population, Natwest wants to boost the proportion of staff in senior roles who are black from 1 per cent to 3 per cent, close to the national proportion, and Ernst and Young is aiming for 20 per cent of its partners to be BAME by 2025.
The UK government is aiming for 13.2 per cent of new recruits to the senior civil service to be from a minority ethnic background by 2025, up from 5.6 per cent in recent years.
Damian Talbot