DIVING INTO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

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The front line is where most Americans enter the workforce, and it’s where the majority of the US workforce is concentrated. But while the front line is a key part of the US economy and a career starting point for many, it’s also an end point, especially for workers of color. Organizations can circumvent that stalemate by taking concrete steps to support their frontline workers. Also in this issue: the untapped potential of Latino economic power, and a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

SPOTLIGHT

The front line comprises about 70 percent of the entire US workforce, or 112 million workers. It’s also a segment of the workforce that has traditionally been disconnected from opportunities for advancement. A recent McKinsey report on race in the workplace that focuses specifically on the experiences of Asian, Black, and Latino workers finds that these employees of color are not moving up the career ladder. And while they are motivated to advance, they are missing out on opportunities to do so. The majority report a lack of career sponsors, and many say they do not feel a sense of belonging or inclusion at work. Workers of color are not being promoted to higher-paying jobs even if they are in entry-level roles that have an overrepresentation of workers of color (for example, security guards and light-truck drivers). Employers can support frontline workers of color by creating more opportunities for them to transition into higher-wage jobs and by helping them develop the skills they need to step into these new roles.

DATA DROP

Q&A

McKinsey senior partner Lareina Yee and partner Monne Williams worked with McKinsey associate partner Chris Copeland and other colleagues on the data that underpins this report. We sat down with Chris to ask him three questions about his work.  

1. What is your biggest takeaway from this report?

That Black and Latino frontline workers make on average 20 percent less than White frontline workers. This translates to about a quarter of a million dollars in lost lifetime earnings per person. That could be a mortgage. It could be your retirement. It could be the earnings that send your child to school for improved job opportunities. We also looked at the industry makeup of frontline workers of color and found that they tend to be overly represented in lower-wage frontline industries like arts, entertainment and recreation, and hospitality and food services. White frontline workers are overrepresented in higher-wage frontline industries like utilities, mining, and oil and gas extraction. Prior to joining McKinsey, I worked at a nuclear power plant and was the only Black person on the frontline team. So the data from this report rang true as far as my own personal experience goes. It was also fascinating to see what I’ve experienced being reflected in the report data.

2. Did anything in the results surprise you?

Originally, we were looking at how to move frontline workers into higher-paying roles and onto the corporate ladder. But in our company sample, we saw that just 4 percent of frontline workers were being promoted to the corporate level. And when we looked deeper into the data, we saw the much larger challenge: employees of color aren’t making the first step to frontline-manager roles. As an example, Black employees experience their first broken rung when moving from the hourly role to the hourly manager role, where their representation in these roles drops from 17 to 9 percent.

3. Are there any findings that particularly resonated with you?

We found that more than half of all frontline employees of color have at least one mentor in their workspace, very much in line with their White peers. But what I found pretty interesting is that these relationships aren’t translating into sponsorships. [Mentors help colleagues by sharing knowledge and advice. Sponsors use their positions of power to help colleagues advance.] Black and Latino frontline workers report the lowest levels of sponsorship, and the majority, nearly six in ten, have no sponsor at all. That stunts their career progress even though these employees want to move up. 

We looked at the gap between the desire for career advancement versus the opportunity for it across racial and ethnic groups. The largest was in Hispanic/Latino workers, about 30 percentage points, and Asian and Black workers weren’t too far behind, at 28 and 22 points, respectively. The gap was lowest for White workers, at about six percentage points. We also found that limited career development is one of the top reasons that Black and Hispanic/Latino workers plan to leave their companies. This is super important, and given the current conversations around the Great Resignation, it’s a crucial point for employers to pay attention to.

LISTEN IN

One in 200 Latinos opens a new business each month, the highest degree of entrepreneurship of any demographic group in the United States. That data point surprised—and delighted—McKinsey senior partner Lucy Pérez as she was working on a first-of-its-kind McKinsey report about the barriers to Latino economic power. “My dad was one of those Latinos opening new businesses,” Pérez says in an episode of The McKinsey Podcast on boosting Latino economic participation. “I was the first one in my dad’s family to go to college. That was possible because of the growth and opportunity my dad created for us through his business.” Pérez emphasizes that closing the gap in capital for Latino-owned companies can have substantive impact that results in a stronger US economy for all. 

CELEBRATING HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed in the United States from September 15 through October 15. This celebration of the contributions, cultures, and histories of Americans from the Caribbean, Central and South America, Mexico, and Spain began on September 15, 1968, as Hispanic Heritage Week. That date in September was chosen because it is the anniversary of independence for various Latin American countries, including Guatemala and Costa Rica; Mexico’s independence day occurs the next day, on September 16, followed by Chile’s, on September 18. The observance, expanded into a month by federal law in 1988, highlights Hispanic heritage through music, food, the visual arts, and the written and spoken word. Visit the US Library of Congress’s official National Hispanic Heritage Month website to learn more. And for audiophiles, ¿Quién Are We?—a Colorado Public Radio podcast that explores what it means to be Hispanic and Latino—is a fascinating listen that explores the core of human identity.

For McKinsey’s latest thinking on diversity, equity, and inclusion, visit our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion collection page.

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