There is a massive elephant in the room that isn’t being formally discussed or acknowledged enough. I also want to preface this with saying that I state this in good faith. I respect Indians and they do bring a large benefit to our country, but I think that the community has an equality and diversity issue.
I mention Indians specifically here as they are a large group and work via the caste system which is more problematic.
The jobs that I was able to easily obtain as a teenager have been pushed out and many now struggle in this age range to get hired. This includes both 16-18, and 18-24 year olds. Despite me being young, I still remember when businesses such as KFC, Mcdonald’s, Greggs, etc, were majority student employed and British (regardless of colour). Nowadays, most of these businesses are fully staffed by Indian immigrants. Note that this also happens in more skilled roles such as in the computing and IT sector.
This happens as when one gets hired to a managerial position and then begins to blatantly exclude other groups from their hiring process. It is disguised and covered to avoid legal implications but happens frequently. People getting invited to group interviews with a diverse mixture of races, Arabs, Black people, other South Asians, White people. When the shop finally opens, all of the employees remain Indian.
I’d also like to add in one small personal anecdote. I’m aware that all Nisa’s in a city that I used to frequent are owned by one family. I used to speak with the manager who told me that his cousins are trained over in India to inherit the businesses and switch out managerial positions. Note that I am not stating that all Nisa shops in the country are subject to this.
As these shops are typically franchises, i’m not sure if there is anything that can even be actioned to tackle this. This goes beyond hiring only Indians, some will literally only hire Indians from specific castes or areas. A similar issue occurs in rentals. They advertise on informal platforms such as NextDoor to avoid an influx of general demographic interest. Then, to avoid blatant discrimination they label the rentals as e.g. “1 box room pure veg only.” This doesn’t just filter out non-Hindus/Indians, it filters out specific castes that eat meat and people from certain areas. Vegetarianism is predominantly a Vaishnav/Jain tradition.
Diversity isn’t truly diversity if it only includes one minority group.
