A survey of nearly three million people found that - of those at senior board level - only 44 were ethnic minorities. This represents just 3.4% of senior managers.

There were no black or other ethnic minority chief executives in the companies surveyed.

The report, carried out by the campaign group Business in the Community showed that of the 1.5 million people employed by financial institutions only 1.6% were from ethnic minorities.

But it said it had found that major employers were trying to tackle race equality in the work place.

What do you think? Are employers doing enough to ensure ethnic minorities are properly represented in the work place? What more can be done to ensure racial equality at work?

This Talking Point has now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

Nothing to do with race. Just a very powerful and select club who are careful to avoid allowing outsiders onto their safe little, board hopping, merry-go-round. Isn't it incredible that the failed executive of one company will suddenly appear as the newly appointed head of another company. These guys (and they are mostly guys)are sucking the life blood out of our industry.
Allan, UK

What percentage of board members in Britain went to comprehensive schools?

Anthony, Germany (UK)

So 3.4% of board members in Britain are from ethnic minorities. What is the average age of a board member? Let's say 55. What percentage of 55 year-olds belong to ethnic minorities and have spent 30 years working in a particular branch of industry at a high level? Not many! The younger the age group in the UK, the higher the percentage of ethnic minorities. These bogus debates about percentages are played out by people who either don't understand statistics or don't want to. What percentage of board members in Britain went to comprehensive schools?
Anthony, Germany (UK)

I work in a company that is anything but racist - and I don't believe we are unique. I am English, and my colleagues are Welsh, Danish, Finnish and Indian. Our boss is Danish, his boss is English (and black) and our CEO is Norwegian. My counterpart in Hong Kong is Chinese, his colleague is Australian and their boss is Belgian. We're all in the position we're in because we're good at what we do. No more than that.
Maria, UK

At a slight tangent, I've just read on your news page that the Macpherson inquiry, defined institutional racism to include "unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping". Well, you can cover just about anything with "unwitting, ignorant and thoughtless." To my mind that is an absurd extension of the concept of racism. Institutions are made up of people; no one person is fully informed, never ignorant, never thoughtless. The issue of racism is surely that some people - in my experience, a minority in the UK, much less than in many other countries - have and express an innate prejudice against people from other races. Taking steps to address this problem is one thing; spreading the problem to virtually the whole society by the Macpherson definition is another; what will it achieve?
Faustino, Australia (ex-pat UK)

I have worked in both large and small companies. I find that large companies do generally have more policies in place to make sure that employees, whatever their personal views, keep it to themselves and do not abuse other fellow employees because of their skin colour or ethnic origin.

Working in smaller companies I have seen and heard racism freely executed by employees without those racist individuals feeling in the least bit uncomfortable - the rest just laugh along - even though one member of staff present was from an ethnic minority (me). Where can one go to complain about this kind of behaviour in the work place when the MD is involved and to a large extent encourages it himself? I concluded that the only thing I could do was to leave. Start up a corner shop or take-away perhaps? Or just stick to working in large organisations in big cities?
Ian, UK

Different cultures gravitate towards different jobs

Caron, England

We must accept that different cultures gravitate towards different jobs, for example many corner shops are now run by Asians and working mothers prefer jobs that are within school hours. Hence we cannot expect races to be represented in jobs in exact accordance with their percentage in the population.
Caron, England

Britain is a country which still clings on to the idea of race. In fact, Britain is the only country in Europe where the notion of race still prevails in the media. Even in Germany the word is not used. As long as the British press insist on covertly propagating this pseudo-scientific doctrine, there is no hope for true equality between people in any society.
Andreas Dybwad, Norway

Andreas Dybwad, Norway, I think you should look at some of the recent elections in Europe and then tell us that there is no conception of race in the rest of Europe. I'm afraid as far as top positions in business and politics are concerned the UK and France are way ahead of the rest of Europe, just look at Paul Boateng, our first black cabinet minister, how many other European countries can boast that at the moment?
Mark Mackey, UK

Look at the under-representation of black people in government to see where business takes its lead from

RC, England

You only have to look at the under-representation of black people in government to see where business takes its lead from. Britain is still racist, though improved over the situation in the 80s and 90s. There is no real political will to improve the lot of black people in Britain, in the workplace or otherwise. The main parties perceive that there are votes in being seen to be a little racist.
RC, England

I don't think there is any conscious decision to be racist when employers need to pick the best person for the job, especially in a competitive marketplace. But because senior positions are more dependent on personal contacts, of course you are going to have someone there who can get along with others. And that will be someone who can identify more with other people because they are similar to them i.e. white.
Bilal Patel, London, UK

To Tom from Australia. How is it ever possible to know when equality has been achieved? The quotas instituted in the USA in my opinion have too many negatives associated with them. On the one hand the "majority" resent the double-standard used in hiring or admission to University. On the other hand, truly qualified minority candidates who've earned everything they have will always be looked down upon by the majority because it is assumed that affirmative action is the only reason they have that job. So in effect Americans don't look at each other as just Americans...but they look at each other in terms of which ethnic group they're from. Quotas just re-institutionalized race-based discrimination.
Pat, USA

Every organisation and institution should reflect those that it serves or represents. Parliament would be a good place to start there should be at least 70 MPs from ethnic backgrounds. Why can't white people just put their aspirations on hold until equity has been established? After all, minorities have been thwarted for generations.
Tom, Australia

I can't understand why people think that it's up to employers to ensure racial equality. Surely the priority of employers is to ensure they have good people with the skills required in order to run their businesses properly and profitably? - regardless of race? The thing about racism is that it is simply not good for business. So why is there an outcry that businesses should do more? It is a business problem. If an individual has a problem with racist policies of a specific employer, why on earth would they want to work for that employer in the first place? And would you really want to work for a company which had been FORCED to employ you - rather than one which chose you for your skills and personal qualities?
Calum, UK

I work in the IT industry and at present my team is made up of South African, Irish, Caribbean-English, Indian-English and Italian with me being the only white-English man here.
Neil, UK

The good old boy network is alive and well in Britain and Europe. While the United States acknowledged and struggled to resolve its racial problem over the last few decades, Europe sanctimoniously criticised America while denying it had one of its own. The differences in the colour and diversity of top American corporations and top European corporations is striking. One more reason why Europe is falling so far behind the United States.
Mark, USA

The old boys' network is a barrier to all of us outside the club regardless of skin colour.
Peter D, UK

Positive discrimination is still discrimination.

Rahul, UK

If one says that race does not matter, by introducing quotas based on race you are saying that race does matter. A qualified white person will not have a hope because their ethnic background is not right. This is just as bad as the right wingers who discriminate against blacks and Asians. In my opinion positive discrimination is still discrimination.
Rahul, UK

How is our society ever going to be colour-blind unless we stop focusing on issues of race and start focusing on issues of character? Wasn't that Martin Luther King's dream? Affirmative action should take place in schools and universities to ensure all students have the same opportunities. When they get out in the real world, they should be on their own.
Rich, USA

Equality doesn't mean quotas it means everyone having the same opportunity. Whether you're black or white if you can do the job you have an equal chance of getting it. That's proper equality for all.
Stephen , South Wales

It seems that most employers bend over backwards to help those from ethnic minorities, but the race lobby insists that it isn't enough until races are represented in jobs in exact accordance with their exact percentage in the population. This is clearly an absurd proposition since ethnic minorities are not evenly spread throughout the country.
Gordon McStraun, UK

I have seen a growing number middle and lower management from ethnic minorities.

Simon, UK

I think it's just a matter of time before the statistics even out. I do work for banks in the city and I have seen a growing number middle and lower management from ethnic minorities. However, I wonder if these statistics reflect a true picture. After all, there are a lot of managers that are French, German, Japanese etc. Are these counted as ethnic or do they only count by colour?
Simon, UK

There should be only one criteria to decide who is promoted to the top jobs and that is whoever is best. I have worked for companies in the UK where they have introduced positive discrimination in favour of women and ethnic minorities. It does not work and merely causes resentment which means the business suffers.
John, France

Black and Asian people may not be represented in today's business world but many Indians are self employed. They are highly over represented in the richest people in the UK list and over represented in the university game as well. In fields such as medicine they are numerous. In years to come with the amount that are at university now they will a sizeable proportion of the degree educated work force. So far from being at the bottom of the ladder they are somewhere near the top. Black people are high achieving in sport and music. People are good at different things and having quotas and trying to manipulate nature is something we should not be doing.
Dwayne Johnson, UK

The employers are not doing nearly enough.

M M Zaman, UK

The employers are not doing nearly enough. The fact that first generation of African, Chinese and Indian-Britons are proportionately better educated than whites is simply not reflected in the managerial context. Qualified minorities need to be given a fair shot at senior positions, without resorting to the race-based quotas seen in America, which are often unfair to both whites and minorities.
M. M. Zaman, UK

I worked for Barclays Bank in Poole and I am sorry to say, of the whole time I worked there I saw one black person (over 7000 people work there). I also received harassment which was never fully dealt with. To say that this is just a race issue is probably too specific as there seems to be a general culture of money and power before people. How this is addressed and changed I have no idea.
Robin Stevens, UK

I thought as a nation we were moving away from this politically correct nonsense. I think the members of Business in the Community should go out and get real jobs. Perhaps they could join the large number of well educated and successful people from the Asian community who work as doctors, dentist or lawyers. Alternatively they could continue to complain at the under-representation of ethnic minorities in the Scottish fishing fleet!
James, UK

I notice that in any debate about issues related to race/racism, somebody will always say that "it's political correctness gone mad" or something similar. This to me is an attempt to sweep the issue under the carpet and pretend that there isn't a problem with racism. There clearly is a problem since I have experienced it first hand as an ethnic minority born and bred in this country. I grew up in a city where the majority was white, and now working in a company in which I see and hear racism fairly regularly! I think in the face of racism in the work place many ethnic minorities feel that they don't want to take this kind of abuse/discrimination and many turn to starting their own business instead.
Paul, UK

Good employers already know that it is in their own best interests to ensure recruitment and promotion are done entirely without regard to race. It's hard enough as it is to find talented employees, without limiting one's choice by frightening off talented candidates from ethnic minorities. Ultimately, the bad employers are more likely to go out of business and cease to be a problem, but I fear that it may take some time.
Adam, UK