Closing the ethnicity progression gap: why leadership must act now

Author: Dr Marcelle Moncrieffe-Newman

Technology startups often pride themselves on being disruptive, future focused, and meritocratic, among other things.

Technology startups pride themselves on being disruptive, future focused, and meritocratic. Yet beneath the slick branding and flexible work cultures, many replicate the same ethnicity progression gaps that are present in more traditional sectors. Diverse talent may enter and progress to mid level, yet senior leadership remains overwhelmingly White. This is not a reflection of merit, but of power, discrimination and whose careers organisations choose to enable.

In my research for One Step Forward Two Steps Black, I examined the link between race and career progression. The findings were stark. Ethnically diverse professionals described their working lives as a form of psychological warfare: constant negative signalling, double standards, and an all pervasive Whiteness that was never named but always felt. Unequal pay, stalled progression, degrading treatment and the erosion of self confidence were not exceptions; they were patterns repeated across different organisations and sectors. This was not accidental. The evidence showed that racial barriers were systematic and deliberate enough to be replicated almost everywhere participants worked.

For startups, this should set alarm bells ringing. If you are building companies of the future using yesterday’s racial dynamics, you are baking inequity into your growth story. The “ethnicity career progression gap” is not just a moral failure; it is a strategic risk. It means you are under using talent, narrowing your leadership pool and exposing your brand to scrutiny from investors, customers and future employees who increasingly expect evidence of real inclusion, not just representation on your website.

So, what does a racially inclusive culture look like in practice, especially in fast moving, resource stretched startup environments?

From my work, six hallmarks stand out:

1. Commitment to anti racism, not just diversity: move beyond statements and events to an explicit anti racist framework, with a Race Equality Action Plan and a racial disparity audit of hiring, promotion, stretch roles, equity and exits

2. Centre lived experience, not just numbers: combine data with listening honestly to ethnically diverse employees’ experiences through founder listening sessions, independent facilitation and psychologically safe feedback channels

3. Create equitable employee experiences: recognise different starting points and barriers by using targeted development, reverse mentoring, sponsorship and fairer performance criteria so ‘high potential’ does not always look the same

4. Align inclusion with talent and succession: hard wire inclusion targets into hiring, promotion, succession planning and allocation of meaningful work, asking whether the senior bench reflects the markets and customers served

See Also

Why the smartest founders don’t work at the same pace all year

5. Build real expertise in equity and inclusion: treat equity and inclusion as specialist disciplines, investing in skilled people, training and advice on data, policy, culture change and conflict resolution

6. Monitor and close the ethnicity progression gap: measure progression by ethnicity, not just headcount, hold leaders to explicit objectives, and use monitoring data to redesign biased processes and criteria that favour those who ‘fit the mould’

For startup founders, the temptation is to postpone this work: “We’ll sort diversity out once we’ve scaled.” The reality is the opposite. The systems you design now, your hiring practices, equity allocation, performance reviews, informal networks and leadership behaviours, will shape who rises and who stalls for years to come. Closing the ethnicity progression gap is not a ‘nice to have’ once a business is successful; it is a defining feature of responsible, future proofed success. A bolder ambition is to build an organisation without that gap at all.

Leadership must act now, not because the optics demand it, but because your people, your products and your long term value depend on it.