SYSTEMIC DISADVANTAGES have been found among black employees who are less likely to receive pay rises in comparison to their white colleagues, according to new research.

Published by recruitment consultancy Robert Walters, the report revealed that 42% of black professionals are deemed not eligible even after a negotiation.

Black women were found to be the worse off in this circumstance with a figure of 63%.

The number of black professionals not receiving pay increases is double that of their white peers. White professionals are also less likely to feel deterred by negotiating pay with their employers. 

The ethnicity pay gap has narrowed in England and Wales since 2012, but black, Asian and some minority ethnic people still consistently earn less than their white counterparts.

According to data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2020, the median hourly pay gap between white workers and black African workers is 13%.

The gap between white workers and people identifying as “other Black/African/Caribbean background” is 5%, and between white and Black Caribbean it is 4%.

For white and Black African, the gap is 15%. 

The largest ethnicity pay gap was discovered to exist between white and Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers.

According to the Robert Walters report, four times the number of Bangladeshi and Pakistani professionals are not aware of how to negotiate pay increases when compared to counterparts from other ethnicities – a lack of trust with managers was the leading cause for the gap.

The report also found a lack of trust between black professionals and white managers, while the figures were higher for black women.

Over a third of respondents actively distrust their management and senior leadership to “do what is right” for them. A further 28% of black workers feel that their voice continues to be the least valued within their organisation.

According to Mary-Anne Stephenson, chief executive of the Women’s Budget Group, “if we are seeing minority ethnic women being less successful in salary negotiations, that’s not because they are not asking in the right way, it’s because whatever way they ask they are disadvantaged. We need to recognise it’s systemic. It can’t be about people needing to lean in, or be more confident or better negotiators.”