Diversity in Commercial Real Estate: Industry Lags in Hiring and Promoting Diverse Talent: Report Finds Gender and Ethnicity Are Significant Barriers to Advancement
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 30, 2013 -- Racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to advance to senior management positions in the commercial real estate industry than their white peers, and within each ethnic or racial category, men fare better than their women peers. Those are the groundbreaking findings to be published in the August 2013 edition of the Commercial Real Estate Report, which analyzed EEOC employment data on the commercial real estate industry. White males have a 1 in 3 chance of advancing from mid-level to senior management, while white females have a 1 in 4 chance. The numbers are significantly worse for minorities, and especially for minority women. African American females have the least chance of advancement all the groups analyzed – less than 1 in 12.
The number of women and minorities in the commercial real estate industry is still relatively small, compared to the available pool of workers. The college educated population aged 25 to 64 is 39.5% white women, 36.7% white men, and 23.8% Black, Asian or Hispanic. By contrast, white men hold the overwhelming majority of executive (77.6%), managerial (68.9%), professional (58.5%) and technical (59.7%) jobs in the industry. The one job category where women predominate is in clerical workers, where 57.2% are white females, and where there are 3 to 4 times as many women as men in every ethnic category.
“The industry often characterizes the lack of women and minorities in senior positions as a pipeline issue,” comments the Report’s Publisher, Elaine Andersson. “But we focused on data about people already in the industry. Our research shows that the glass ceiling is hard to break through if you are a woman or a minority, and especially hard if you are both.”
According to the Report, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is increasingly focused on cases of systemic discrimination, including discriminatory barriers in recruitment, hiring, access to training and to advancement. The Report states that, “Where a constricted pipeline is not a barrier to entry, or where hiring patterns do not reflect the pool of candidates, and in all jobs with respect to advancement and compensation, employers need to implement procedures to assure they are, indeed, equal opportunity employers.” The Report characterizes the disparities in employment numbers as “a significant risk for employers and their shareholders.”
Publisher Andersson listed steps that the commercial real estate industry can take to level the playing field. “Companies can follow the NFL’s example, and adopt a Rooney Rule – a commitment to interview a diverse pool – for all positions from entry level to CEO. That would help increase the pipeline.” She noted that transformative leaders, mentoring, role models, and “leaning in” are all actions that can help change the commercial real estate industry, but recognizing and eliminating unconscious bias may be the hardest challenge. “A recent Ernst & Young study noted a rising tide of evidence on ‘the power and pervasive nature of unconscious bias,’ including a Yale study that found that regardless of the gender of the reviewer, ‘male’ applicants were judged to be worth on average $4,000 more a year.” Andersson concluded, “The recent reaction to Paula Dean indicates that most people abhor overt bias in the workplace. But our research reveals data that cannot be explained by factors other than biased hiring and advancement policies. In commercial real estate, numbers count. By researching and publishing data on employment, we will be able to baseline where we are as an industry, highlight those companies and programs that are effecting change, provide insight, and measure progress over time.”
The August 2013 edition of the Commercial Real Estate Diversity Report is attached to this release. On August 1 it will be distributed to the Report's 40,000 subscribers, and made available on the website http://www.crediversity.com.
Elaine Andersson, Commercial Real Estate Diversity Report, http://www.crediversity.com, +1 415 592 5913, [email protected]
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