2024 DEI report Practicus
Comparative analysis of protected characteristics amongst candidates placed by Practicus and the general population of the UK
Jon Webster
Marketing Director, Practicus
As a talent provider, it is essential for us to have an inclusive approach to talent with transparent reporting – ensuring the very best expertise for our clients.
It is an issue we care about and, clearly, it is of interest to the candidates we represent and increasingly our clients too.
Throughout the year, we survey the talent we place, whether into interim management or executive roles.
The survey covers protected characteristics such as Ethnicity, Age, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Disability and Religion/Beliefs.
We have used its findings for comparative analysis with the general population’s characteristics (Census 2021), and the results for 2024 are set out below based on our 2023 placements.
Contents
Ethnicity
| Ethnicity | UK Population | Practicus |
|---|---|---|
|
White |
81.7% |
72.5% |
|
Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Groups |
2.9% |
5.9% |
|
Asian or Asian British |
9.3% |
7.8% |
|
Black, African, Caribbean or Black British |
4.0% |
12.7% |
|
Other Ethnic Groups |
2.1% |
1.0% |
|
Prefer not to say |
0.0% |
0.0% |
The ethnicity of Practicus’s placements aligns well with the UK population and is, if anything, a little more diverse than the county as a whole. A particular area of note is the higher than average placements of Black, African, Caribbean and Black British candidates.
Age
| Age | UK Population | Practicus |
|---|---|---|
|
20 – 29 |
12.6% |
2.9% |
|
30 – 39 |
13.6% |
15.7% |
|
40 – 49 |
12.7% |
26.5% |
|
50 – 59 |
13.7% |
37.3% |
|
60 – 69 |
10.7% |
17.6% |
|
70+ |
13.6% |
0.0% |
Practicus candidates tend to skew older than the general population, with most being between 40 and 69. This is perhaps unsurprising given that our placements tend to be senior professionals, executives and interim managers.
Gender
| Gender | UK Population | Practicus |
|---|---|---|
|
Female |
47.83% |
48.0% |
|
Male |
45.87% |
50.5% |
|
Non-binary |
0.06% |
0.7% |
|
Transgender |
0.20% |
0.0% |
|
All other gender identities |
0.04% |
0.0% |
|
Prefer not to say |
6.00% |
0.7% |
The survey of Practicus candidates placed in 2023 is largely consistent with gender in the wider populace.
A note of caution is needed on minority gender identities, however. While the Practicus survey and the 2021 census all provide data on this area, it is hard to draw conclusions with the percentage point differences between the sources being less than 1%. Combined with the much smaller data sample sizes of the Practicus survey compared with the whole population census, the cumulative result is that the differences may not be statistically significant.
Sexual Orientation
| Sexual orientation | UK Population | Practicus |
|---|---|---|
|
Bi-Sexual |
1.28% |
2.0% |
|
Other |
0.34% |
0.0% |
|
Heterosexual |
89.37% |
93.1% |
|
Homosexual |
1.54% |
3.9% |
|
Prefer not to say |
7.47% |
1.0% |
Again, the Practicus survey is proportionate with the UK census and shows representative diversity in our placements.
It is worth noting that non-heterosexual orientations in our survey were higher than the level of incidence in the population but again we are dealing with smaller differences of less than two percentage points.
Additionally, it must be taken into account that responses on sexual orientation in the 2021 Census had one of the highest incidences of “Prefer not to say”, with 7.47% of people choosing that option. This compares to just 1% “prefer not to say” in the Practicus survey. This may account for the differences among minority orientations when compared with the Census data.
Disability
| Disability | UK Population | Practicus |
|---|---|---|
|
Don’t know |
– |
0.0% |
|
No |
80% |
89.2% |
|
Yes |
20% |
9.8% |
|
Prefer not to say |
– |
1.0% |
Incidence of disability amongst the interims placed by Practicus in 2023 was 9.8%, 10.2 percentage points lower than the country’s working age population.
The disabilities indicated in the Practicus survey by order of greatest frequency were:
- Reduced physical capacity
- Hearing impairment
- Learning disability
- Mental ill health
- Physical coordination difficulties
- Autism
- Progressive conditions
- IBS
- Long Covid
- Long-standing back complaints
* Please note: disabilities and difficulties are different. For completeness and full transparency, we have included all conditions indicated in responses to this question from our survey, whether they are classed as a disability or better described differently as a difficulty or other condition.
Religion and beliefs
| Religion | UK Population | Practicus |
|---|---|---|
|
Buddhist |
0.5% |
2.0% |
|
Christian |
46.2% |
40.2% |
|
Hindu |
1.7% |
2.9% |
|
Jewish |
0.5% |
2.9% |
|
Muslim |
6.5% |
3.9% |
|
Sikh |
0.9% |
2.0% |
|
Other religion |
0.6% |
4.9% |
|
No religion |
37.2% |
38.2% |
|
Prefer not to say |
6.0% |
2.8% |
We compared the results of the survey we commissioned of Practicus candidates with the 2021 Census data.
It revealed that religious beliefs amongst candidates placed by Practicus are highly diverse. The results track closely with religious beliefs in the population overall but with some small differences that may be due to sample size.
About the data sources used in this analysis
Practicus data source
The survey of Practicus 2023 placements had a 35.35% response rate by candidates. Data collection was anonymized to prevent profiling and other concerns highlighted by candidates and EDI experts in preparatory research. Tools were used to ensure individual responses cannot be extracted from the overall data set that Practicus received in order to prevent ‘jigsaw identification’.
General population data sourceS
For the general population data source, we used the recently released 2021 Census Data. While only taken every 10 years, the census provides a gold standard for data on the UK population, providing both the highest quality and most appropriate source of data for comparison for our purposes.
However, there is one exception. While the Census does cover disability, it does not provide equivalent data for comparison with our own survey. For this reason, we used the Department for Work and Pensions data that provides its disability dataset in a form that allows direct comparison. This dataset just covers the working-age population, which in many ways is more useful for analysis in the context of this report.
More on Executive Search
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MORE ON INTERIM MANAGERS
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Resources:
- What is an interim manager?
- Interim manager meaning
- What is an interim manager role?
- Interim management skills needed
- What benefits interim manager?
- ROI of an interim manager
- Executive interim management
- Interim Management Client Guide
- Interim Management Candidate Guide
- Interim management in a time of COVID-19
- IR35, what it means for Interim Managers
Looking to maximise the talent available to your organisation?
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Practicus has a strong commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). We have implemented policies and practices that promote EDI throughout our organisation, with a dedicated team to support it.
