Our latest report into social mobility in the charity sector finds that people from a low socioeconomic background are underrepresented in paid charity roles, compared to the average in public and private sectors.
Despite a widespread awareness of a ‘diversity deficit’ in the sector, it is not prioritised as an issue that needs to be addressed, with diversity of socioeconomic background particularly neglected.
The report – written by Duncan Exley, author of ‘The End of Aspiration?’ – reviewed data from academics and government. Despite some examples of good practice, it identified a combination of factors that prevent or deter entry into paid roles in the charity sector and other third sector organisations. These include:
- Limited HR resources in individual charities and the sector; creating unclear, unstructured, and inconsistent practices of outreach, recruitment, and progression. This benefits those whose social circles include people in similar organisations or occupations who can acts as guides.
- Widespread lack of knowledge about the existence of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) guidance. What exists often neglects socioeconomic background and/or is presented as an additional task rather than as good practice across multiple HR functions, such as recruitment.
- As private-sector employers increasingly present themselves as value-driven, charities no longer have a monopoly on jobs that align with someone’s values.
- Young people have low awareness — and low understanding — of charity careers, but once charity careers and pathways were uncovered, interest increases.
- Young people often wouldn’t know where to start when looking for a job in the sector, with charity-role adverts not reaching them.
The report also makes recommendations for giving the sector access to a wider talent pool. This includes:
- A dedicated body to support and promote good HR practice in the charity sector.
- Guidance for HR functions in the sector that includes DEI good practice (rather than separating DEI guidance from HR guidance) and considers socioeconomic diversity and inclusion.
- Charity Commission should implement its diversity disclosure requirements, in which socioeconomic background should be included as an attribute to be recorded.
