There is a huge gap between the success of the Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage cohort in law firms compared to the average candidate. Rare Recruitment shares recommendations for building an inclusive culture regardless of sector.

Rare Recruitment studied the experience of British Bangladeshis and Pakistanis in City Law. Findings are captured in a new report, which seeks to identify the challenges faced in the workplace and provide solutions to ensure fulfilling careers for all.

Key concerns

Our interviewees raised concerns related to socioeconomic status, religion and role models:

• Candidates view their experiences as people of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage as linked closely with their socioeconomic status and religion.

• Socioeconomic status was the topic that was brought up first by the majority of interviewees. They discussed the impact that a lack of social capital had on their ability to access law firms and compete with their better connected counterparts on vacation schemes.

• The positive impact of diversity outreach programmes was clear. The majority of candidates expressed a desire to see more activity targeted towards Bangladeshi and Pakistani candidates specifically.

• Religion was the topic that was talked about the most by interviewees, with regular references to navigating drinking culture, being asked to attend pubs and bars as part of formal work events, and a concern about being perceived negatively as a result of praying during the working day.

• This combination of barriers related to socioeconomic status and religion results in a double disadvantage, with Bangladeshi and Pakistani candidates who lack social capital struggling to build it once within law firms due to work socials often being exclusionary.

• The lack of Bangladeshi and Pakistani role models at law firms was clear, with interviewees often putting in hours of work to identify and contact role models who shared their ethnic heritage.

Recommendations for an inclusive workplace

Based on our findings, Rare recommends that employers take the following actions to create an inclusive and fair environment for employees of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage, as well as those employees affected by similar barriers and challenges:

1. Host formal work social events in venues that are not pubs or bars and that serve food that can be eaten by people who observe a Halal diet.

2. Build formal work social events around activities that are inclusive and not solely focused on alcohol.

3. Put in place clear policies on accommodations for religious prayer and fasting during the working day. Ensure managers and supervisors are briefed on these policies, provide an overview of the policies during inductions for new joiners and make clear statements about the policies annually.

4. Make clear statements during inductions for new joiners that people are permitted to pray when they need to and that their supervisors and managers are aware of this.

5. Brief supervisors and managers clearly on how to be inclusive of Muslim employees and interns, including advice on prayer, fasting and alcohol.

6. Review the accessibility, convenience and suitability of prayer and bathroom facilities.

7. Endeavour to include role models of Asian Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage on internships, or, if that is not possible, role models of Muslim heritage.

8. Reference Muslim networks and other religious heritage or belief networks as part of diversity talks, should such networks exist.

9. Provide support for the creation and promotion of a firm wide Muslim network and/or other religious heritage or belief networks where none exists.

10. Conduct data analysis to assess the representation of Bangladeshi and Pakistani candidates within your existing outreach programmes and application pools. If the data shows this group is underrepresented, consider establishing targeted outreach programmes and scholarships for Bangladeshi and Pakistani candidates.

11. Conduct grade-adjusted adverse impact analysis to monitor the fairness of your assessment process. If you identify adverse impact when controlling for prior attainment, review and update your assessment process and assessor training with the aim of removing this bias.

Supporting candidates from lower socioeconomic status groups

Given that employees of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage are more likely than average to be from lower socioeconomic status groups, we recommend that employers follow established best practice in regard to including candidates from lower socioeconomic status groups. This includes:

– Only offering paid internships (that is, not offering unpaid internships).
– Offering to cover the cost of travel expenses for insight events and work experience.
– Organising for train tickets to be paid for in advance in the case of lower socioeconomic status candidates. This will avoid them experiencing financial difficulty whilst awaiting reimbursement.
– Providing food at insight events and work experience events.
– Providing accommodation support for interns who are based in a different city to that of the office.
– Considering options for scholarships and grants to support interns from lower socioeconomic groups with the costs associated with completing a vacation scheme ahead of being paid (i.e. accommodation, travel, suitable work clothing, technology).

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