Mohammed Ali, chief executive of the Bradford-based organisation QED – Britain's leading ethnic minority-focused education, employment and training provider – said firms needed to think about introducing positive discrimination to address the imbalance in their workforces.

He called upon associations such as Yorkshire's chambers of commerce to do more to promote diversity within the region – and for businesses to "translate their rhetoric into reality".

While Yorkshire's employment level currently stands at about 75 per cent, that drops to 45 per cent for ethnic minorities, and just 25 per cent for ethnic minority women.

Mr Ali said that 54,000 more Asians needed jobs in Yorkshire alone merely to address that 30 per cent gap.

He said that while his organisation was what it could to engage with the region's businesses and encourage them to employ ethnic minorities, he should not be fighting the battle alone.

A lot more can be done and should be done, not just by QED but by the private sector," he said.

"Businesses need to take a long look at who they employ and translate their rhetoric about having a diverse workforce into reality.

"They need to look at the hierarchy in their business, and if they do they will find all the ethnic minority workers are at the bottom.

"There is high inequality in Yorkshire and it's a huge issue. Unless everyone makes a concerted effort it might take several decades before we close the gap. That's why we need to think about positive discrimination."

Mr Ali said that while some businesses were fully won over to the idea of diversity in the workforce and some would never be, the vast majority were open to persuasion as long as they could see the benefit, which was where the trade associations should come in.

"Employing ethnic minorities will help businesses open up new potential markets, and also be seen to be doing good in their communities, making wider corporate gains," he said.

QED runs a series of programmes, including its new arrivals programme which has seen 500 incomers to the city gain jobs.

It also runs awareness training to teach 800 senior managers of large companies how to do business with ethnic minority communities and citizenship training to get Asian people engaged with the local political process.

"The main way to achieve community cohesion is through getting people into jobs, which forces them to integrate," said Mr Ali.

"Employment addresses a huge number of issues and brings benefits to both individuals and society."

Last night the policy director of the Yorkshire and Humber Chambers of Commerce, Nick Pontone, said: "Employing ethnic minorities works best when the business case shows it delivers real benefits to the business, its customers and employees.

"We can, and do, help by providing our members with information about supporting best practices, such as when we hear about really good things some employers in this region are doing with ethnic minority recruitment."


Company benefits from its diverse workforce

CASE STUDY
A LEADING Yorkshire business said yesterday that employing ethnic minorities does not just make business sense, it benefits the entire community as well.

Mike Hammond, head of corporate social responsibility and internal communications at Bradford and Bingley said: "There are clear business benefits as well as community benefits to recruiting from the widest pool of people.

"We believe it is very important that Bradford and Bingley reflects the communities in which we live and work and this means reflecting all aspects of diversity, including ethnicity. Having a diverse workforce helps us to serve our diverse base of customers better."

In order to achieve greater employment diversity Bradford and Bingley has worked closely with QED-UK, which provides education, employment and training.

Since the partnership began in 1993, Bradford and Bingley has supported the charity with donations in excess of £300,000.

This commitment has also been reflected in the number of ethnic minorities working in the company. Ten per cent of the total workforce are from ethnic minorities and they also occupy five per cent of management roles.

Mr Hammond emphasised the importance of recruiting from ethnic minorities in Yorkshire.

"I think this is important in any part of the country but in areas that have a highly diverse ethnic makeup, it becomes even more important that business and communities inter-act."