Black, white, male, female, straight, homosexual, young, old, able and less-able bodied: a diverse workforce makes both moral and, increasingly, economic sense. The changing ethnicity and age of the UK population is forcing employers to look everywhere for talent. But that’s not to say that changing corporate culture holds all the answers.

“The environment where we recruit is changing,” says Ismail Amla, the human capital and diversity lead at Accenture. “According to statistics, by 2011 up to 25 per cent of our potential workforce will not be indigenous but from an ethnic background.” The company focuses a lot on networks that represent minority communities. Such networks play a part in training and retention, from inducting new staff and mentoring to championing causes that highlight diversity, such as International Women’s Day.

They’re also a useful recruitment tool: the Asian network has sponsored a stall at a graduate recruitment fair at Cambridge, Ismail says.

Members of the different networks take part in diversity training and are invited to tell managers what it’s like working at Accenture as a minority and what could make a positive difference.

PricewaterhouseCoopers uses networks to provide specific training, such as confidence building for women, says Sarah Churchman, the director of diversity. “It’s not just wine and chat. We have very clear business objectives for all our networks.” The professional services firm uses its analytical skills to track employment, promotion and retention trends to ensure that talking about diversity results in action.

The computing giant IBM takes a “feather and hammer” approach to diversity, says Elizabeth Loker, its head of workforce diversity and inclusion for the UK, Ireland and South Africa. The feather comes in the form of training, awareness building and internal communications to discuss diversity. Targets are used as the hammer to enforce diverse hiring and promotion practices.

Corporate culture reflects wider society, and while IBM compares favourably with others in the sector, it finds it tough to retain women despite flexible working arrangements. “We make every effort, but some [women] still find it difficult to have children and find a balance with their working lives,” she says. Social mores need to change. “If we don’t have equality at home. We won’t have equality in the workplace.”

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