Australia not a ‘class-less’ society

Fifty-eight per cent of employers favour candidates from elite universities, and class marginalised respondents reported experiencing higher levels of exclusion in the workplace due to their perceived class, new research has found.

The Diversity Council of Australia (DCA) released its Class Inclusion at Work report yesterday (15 October), including data from the responses of 1,400 Australian workers and diversity practitioners, providing a comprehensive picture of how social class impacts workplace inclusion in Australia.

According to the DCA, nearly all (93 per cent) of respondents said that one or more indicators determined someone’s social class – including income (76 per cent), formal education (70 per cent), school (59 per cent), occupation (69 per cent), suburb of residence (69 per cent), speech (59 per cent), and holidays (52 per cent).

DCA chief executive Catherine Hunter (pictured) said: “At a time of rising cost-of-living pressures, skills shortages and economic uncertainty, organisations that allow class to influence hiring not only entrench disadvantage, they risk overlooking valuable talent that can boost productivity and drive recovery.”

“This new report gives employers an evidence-based framework to understand and address class inequality in the workplace.”

Workplace experience

Its research revealed that class marginalised individuals experienced the highest rate of all three measures of exclusion in the workplace – a non-inclusive team (21.4 per cent), a non-inclusive manager (29.3 per cent), and a non-inclusive organisational culture (25.8 per cent).

The level of exclusion dropped for middle-class respondents and class privileged respondents progressively.

Middle-class respondents experienced a non-inclusive team at a rate of 8.7 per cent, a non-inclusive manager at a rate of 15.7 per cent, and a non-inclusive organisational climate at 13.6 per cent.

Class privileged respondents received the lowest rate of exclusion in the workplace compared to the other two “classes” in these three categories – a non-inclusive team (4.8 per cent), a non-inclusive manager (9.6 per cent), and a non-inclusive organisational culture (7.9 per cent).

Based on these findings, class marginalised workers are significantly less likely to feel included, often feeling pressure to “mask” their class to fit in, DCA said.

One class consultation survey respondent said: “There have been some occasions where I have witnessed a hiring manager say something derogatory about a candidate being ‘a bit rough for us’ intimating lower social class.”

Sandstone-bias

These findings also suggest a high level of preference among organisations for elite universities, in the hiring process.

According to its data, only 42 per cent of organisations rarely or never prefer elite universities, in contrast to 58 per cent who either always, often, or sometimes prefer applicants from elite universities.

Another class consultation survey respondent said: “I was told that I attended a ‘Country Hick’ university.”

Despite high levels of bias towards elite alma maters – e.g. University of Melbourne, Australian National University, University of Sydney, University of Queensland, University of Western Australia, University of Adelaide, Monash University, and UNSW Sydney – the DCA said, there is little evidence that university leads to better performance.

“The person with the best education is always picked in recruitment, and I don’t feel safe sticking my neck out to choose someone who doesn’t fit the mould,” a respondent working in recruitment said.

Views on class exclusion

Based on its research, class marginalised respondents had the most positive outlook on exclusion – 50 per cent said exclusion is not an issue in Australian organisations, 33.7 per cent said anyone can do well regardless of class background in Australia, and 46.9 per cent said Australia is a class-free society.

These rates also progressively decreased for middle-class and class privileged respondents.

The DCA found that 42.4 per cent of middle-class respondents said exclusion is not an issue in Australian organisations, 21.9 per cent said anyone can do well regardless of class background in Australia, and 28.7 per cent said Australia is a class-free society.

Additionally, it found that class privileged respondents had a less positive view on class exclusion – 36.2 per cent said exclusion is not an issue in Australian organisations, 19.6 per cent said anyone can do well regardless of class background in Australia, and 24 per cent said Australia is a class-free society.

Regardless of class, findings showed that three in four (79 per cent) of respondents agreed that more must be done by organisations to address social class exclusion.

Hunter said: “Your social class shouldn’t determine your career opportunities, yet our research shows class bias still impacts who gets ahead and who is left behind.”

Carlos Tse

Carlos Tse is a graduate journalist writing for Accountants Daily, HR Leader, Lawyers Weekly.