Discrimination in the charity sector
The UK charity sector is perceived as being caring and inclusive, but does reality meet the perception? CharityJob’s latest research paper sought to investigate diversity and discrimination in the not-for-profit sector, with a particular focus on recruitment and the workplace. Their research covered both candidate and recruiter perspectives, investigating gender, disability, ethnicity, age, relationship status and skills. Among the report's findings are that the sector suffers from similar types of discrimination as the commercial sector with candidates impacted by issues of maternity leave and career breaks, disability, age, gender race and ethnicity.
A few of the findings are:
- Candidates most commonly discussed how their gender would negatively impact them as a result of having children, including the impact of maternity leave and career breaks.
- Most candidates (64%) felt that charity recruiters did not do enough to encourage those with disabilities to apply to their jobs.
- Age, gender, and ethnicity/race were the most commonly experienced forms of discrimination.
- The majority of recruiters said they felt confident in knowing the best practices for recruiting, with one in five saying they felt ‘very confident’.
- Recruiters most commonly perceived of diversity in terms of race and ethnicity (70%), with gender (30%) and mental and physical health (29%) also featuring.
- Three-quarters of recruiters (73%) said they looked for candidates outside of the charity sector when recruiting but a large number (24%) said they did so sometimes and 3% rarely.
Click here to download the CharityJob’s full report.
