DECIBEL INVESTIGATION


ability. In an industry where profits are squeezed on all sides, diversity is low on the list of priorities. But this may be short-term thinking, as research by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising reveals (see The Brown Pound box). Orion chief executive Peter Roche admits that diversity has not been at the top of the company’s agenda. “It isn’t something that hits our radar at the moment.” Ethnic minorities make up between five and 10% of Orion’s workforce, at Roche’s own estimate, though he would like to see that figure grow. Time Warner c.e.o.David Young makes a similar admission. Young is investigating what Time Warner Books can do to attract a more culturally diverse range of people to the company. But, he says, many publishers are unable to implement extensive programmes, such as joining the university milk round, because of the costs involved. “It is clearly desirable to have one’s spread of staff as representative of the population as possible, but we aren’t always able to do that,” he says. The main obstacle cited by senior management against actively promoting diversity is resources. It is notable that the two pub- lishers conducting the most extensive review of their diversity policies are among the biggest in the UK: Random House and Penguin. Penguin leads the way with a project allied to a scheme run throughout parent company Pearson. As David Young observes, for managing directors of small to medium size enter- prises with between 90 and 200 staff, the resources needed to fund such projects are simply not available. Under-resourcing militates against proactive recruitment.


Work experience candidates are chosen from the myriad appli- cants who write off on spec.Work experience completed, they go to the front of the queue when vacancies arise. But a system that relies on candidates’ own awareness of publishing as a profes- sion, and their willingness to work unpaid, discriminates against those without either connections or money. It is self-perpetuating because it discriminates in favour of middle-class graduates with connections, the vast majority of whom are white.


The root of the problem For many, outdated recruitment policies are at the root of the lack of diversity, economic and cultural, in publishing. It is as much a class, as a race issue. “I don’t have any first-hand experience of cultural diversity in my company, since I work in a white, middle- class ghetto,” was the typical opinion of one respondent to the decibel survey.


It is a subject close to the heart of Alison Morrison, head of marketing and associate director at Walker Books, who is adamant she would not have entered the industry without help from an Arts Council traineeship aimed at promoting cul- tural diversity.Morrison is not a typical publishing type.Of mixed race,she went to a Portsmouth comprehensive school before read- ing African and Caribbean Studies at Kent University. Morrison answered an advertisement in the Guardian for one of two places on the scheme. The course involved two paid six-month place- ments at Jonathan Cape and Virago, as well as courses on time management and finance. “If it were not for that traineeship, I would not be in publishing,” Morrison says starkly. Not only did the scheme introduce her to a career she has excelled at, it enabled her to get her foot in the door when she could not afford to do unpaid work experience.“When I started work at 16 I had to work for money. I couldn’t work for free, I couldn’t afford to do that.” Like many minority ethnic people working in the business,


Morrison believes the best way to increase diversity will be for publishers to start talking to careers departments in schools and universities outside the Oxbridge sphere of influence. It is a point not lost on Penguin, and is at the heart of the company’s ground- breaking diversity project.


The project is coordinated across Pearson by diversity


manager Raphael Mokades. Schools and universities with a high percentage of minority ethnic students have been targeted


12 MARCH 2004 the brown pound


Businesses that fail to employ a culturally diverse workforce risk missing out on minority ethnic communities’ combined disposable wealth of £32bn, according to an advertising industry report. The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising report, Ethnic Diversity in the UK, identified the “brown pound” as a growing economic force in the UK. According to 2001 census data four million people, or 7.9%, of the UK population belongs to a minority ethnic community. In London the percentage of the population belonging to a minority ethnic community is 29%. In contrast, census data recorded a drop in the overall white population. Anijna Raheja, m.d. of Media Moguls, writes in the introduction to the IPA


report: “In the same way that there is a pink pound and a grey pound, there is without doubt a brown pound.”


Underlining the spending power of minority ethnic communities, the IPA report reveals:


•74% of South Asians have a mobile phone compared to 69% of the total UK population


•70% own a personal computer, as against 50% of the UK population


•There is an emerging Black Caribbean middle class that has a strong community network, strong religious principles and is committed to


improving education, employment and achievement within their community.


The advertising industry has responded to the figures by trebling the number of campaigns featuring minority ethnic actors. It is also seeking to increase the percentage of minority ethnic professionals working in the industry. At present only 4% of advertising staff come from an minority ethnic background, and 70% of those are in support roles such as IT.


by open days and for work experience The company has also actively encouraged minority ethnic applicants for its graduate trainee scheme. Last year half the applicants were Black or Asian and one of the two placements went to a minority ethnic applicant. Penguin has also instructed recruitment agencies to increase


the number of minority ethnic candidates fielded for vacancies. In addition, focus groups of staff have been run to find out exactly what people feel about equal opportunities at the com- pany. This will form the basis of its internal diversity policy aimed at dealing with cultural awareness.


“ A workforce


that mirrors the population, especially urban populations where the majority of books are sold, will be able to tap into the whole market


Helen Fraser ”


Business benefits It is the way forward if the industry is to become more diverse and better represent the population it serves: minority ethnic commu- nities account for 7.9% of the population of England and Wales and 29% of the population of London. “There are undoubted benefits to a business,” Penguin group m.d. Helen Fraser explains. “A workforce that mirrors the population, especially urban populations where the majority of books are sold, will be able to tap into the whole market,” she explains. Is there room to be optimistic? Certainly, says Fraser, one of


the women who broke through the glass ceiling to top management. And the trade will be the better for it, she adds: “When I got into publishing 32 years ago it was not diverse, but in a different way. Then it was full of middle-aged, white males. It has changed and become more gender diverse, and most people think that has been good for the industry. In a way this is the next piece of work we have to do to make ourselves more respon- sive to the market.”


IN FULL COLOUR 11


•57% have access to the internet at home, as opposed to 47% of the UK adult population


•Black Caribbean women are seen as more successful and have higher rates of self-employment than many other minority ethnic communities


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