Black and minority ethnic (BME) civil servants struggle much more than their white counterparts to reach senior position in Whitehall. Our research suggests this is due in part to the role of informal networking in boosting people’s careers.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that BME representation in the senior civil service is 7%, well below the 11% average for the rest of the civil service. In fact, BME representation drops at each grade from executive officer upwards.
To find out more about this worrying lack of progression, we interviewed 20 white and 20 BME managers in one central government department. Our research revealed a labyrinth of barriers facing managers before they reach senior positions, but it is clear that managers need two complementary strategies to climb the career ladder. .The first is formal, focused on achieving ratings of competence and passing promotion procedures. The second is informal – playing the game of workplace politics.
We found that while white managers were at ease with both methods, BME managers found the latter strategy far more challenging.
Like other organisations, the civil service has tended to devote most attention to formal networks in attempting to improve BME progression, adopting tools to improve fairness, such as unconscious bias training and blind sifting of application forms.
But our research highlights the need for greater acknowledgment of the role that informal processes play in career progression. These often require managers to traverse unregulated procedures, such as temporary promotions, which rely more heavily on informal workplace relationships. They involve gaining visibility and building reputation among members of more senior ranks.
“You have to get the jobs that have got a bit of an edge to them and then prove yourself. You need exposure really,” one manager told us. Yet, unlike their white colleagues, not only did BME managers find it more difficult to get their work noticed, but if they did achieve visibility, they also ran the risk of jeopardising their careers by being placed under greater scrutiny. “There is more chance that when you get it wrong it will be spotted more quickly,” said another manager.
Informal networks were seen as key to progressing within the civil service, but BME managers found it harder to access them or build relationships with colleagues who could provide important career opportunities. One BME manager explained how this works: “He [a colleague] got a job by getting a friend of his to ring the line manager and say what a good egg he was, and I just felt that that was wrong.”
Another quit his job because of these informal networks: “I actually got that fed up that I resigned, on the basis that there was an opportunity for temporary promotion and it had been fixed basically for somebody else to get the job. It wasn’t open and fair recruitment.”
Access to development opportunities, which can play an important role in fast-tracking a career,was another area of concern. White managers reported receiving this type of assistance via a range of informal developmental relationships.
“It’s networking within a wider family,” said one. “You get to know people and find out where to go for information, people whose judgement you trust, and then in turn play that role yourself for others and their careers.” In contrast, BME managers found it harder to form such ties and had to place more reliance on structured relationships and formal training that often focused on performance in their current role rather than developing networks and reputation.
It may be tempting for departments to deny the existence of workplace politics or assume that by formalising procedures its impact is reduced, but it can be highly damaging if ignored.
If employers really want to tackle BME career progression, they must consider supporting employees – through training, mentoring or sponsorship – in their efforts to develop themselves in informal as well as formal settings.
Madeleine Wyatt is a lecturer in human resources management at the University of Kent and Jo Silvester is a professor of psychology at Cass Business School. They are the authors of a study investigating the career experiences of black and minority ethnic leaders.
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