Ethnic minority people more likely to leave jobs due to lack of flex

A third of Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse people have left or considered leaving a job due to lack of flexibility, according to new research from Business in the Community, The Prince’s Responsible Business Network and Ipsos UK.

It found that one in three (32%) Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse people have left or considered leaving a job due to a lack of flexibility compared with one in five (21%) white people.

The research also found that some groups were significantly more likely than others to have not applied for a job or promotion, or to have considered leaving or actually left a job, because of challenges combining paid work and care, including Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse people; those on lower incomes; and shift workers.

Overall, there were also differences in how supported workers felt with childcare responsibilities based on household income. One in two (50%) workers in households with incomes under £26,0000 per year felt supported by employers with their childcare, compared with three quarters (75%) of those from households earning £26,000 per year or more.

The research, based on a survey of 5,444 people across the UK, is part of BITC’s ‘Who Cares?’ campaign.

Hybrid working and the environment

Meanwhile, research from the University of Sussex Business School shows a permanent post-pandemic switch to hybrid working may do little to reduce carbon emissions as the majority of remote workers travel further each week than their office-based counterparts. It shows that, while regular remote workers travelled slightly less than non-teleworkers, irregular remote workers travelled significantly more.

The study finds that, prior to the pandemic, most remote workers in England travelled further each week than office-based workers – despite taking fewer trips. This was partly because remote workers tended to live further from their workplace than non-teleworkers, so had longer, if less frequent, commutes. In addition, remote workers engaged in more travel on the days when they worked from home – for example, by making extra trips to shops and cafes.

Bernardo Caldarola, of the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex Business School and lead author of the study, said: “Overall our study results suggest that, for the majority of remote workers in England, a combination of residential relocation, induced non-work travel and the influence on the travel patterns of other household members offset the benefits of fewer commutes.

“While we have found significant associations between remote working and travel patterns, we have not demonstrated a causal relationship. The differences in travel patterns between teleworkers and non-teleworkers may arise from unobserved differences between the two groups, rather than from teleworking per se and we need more research to explore this issue.

“The outcomes we observed are not inevitable. Public policy can encourage more sustainable residential and travel patterns and these in turn can enable teleworking to make a bigger contribution to reducing emissions. However, this will not happen on its own – it needs to be actively encouraged.”

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