Only 19% of respondents said they feel it is easy to get ahead and leadership positions are open to them, according to the CIPD’s report Managing diversity and the glass cliff.

The research found that more than half of the respondents feel they have to take risks to get ahead.

Dianah Worman, CIPD diversity adviser, says: “The ‘glass cliff’ is not specific to women but also affects those who do not meet the standard idea of a heterosexual, white male workforce.

“To attract and retain talent, employers need to be aware the impact negative experiences can have on people’s performance and take appropriate action to address them. There is growing evidence that a positive approach to diversity can bring real business benefits – these important messages together with guidance about how to make progress need to be communicated to employers and more work needs to be done to find practical interventions that fully engage workforce diversity.”