Most people tend to think of the workplace as a meritocracy: if people have the right skills and experience, work hard and perform well, they have the same opportunity to succeed. 

But socioeconomic background can shape people’s working lives in ways that are not easily visible – influencing who gets hired, who progresses, who feels they belong and ultimately who reaches senior positions.

In Australia, one in three children born into the lowest 20 per cent of income-earning families will still be in that group by adulthood. 

So what can NFP employers do to work out where those barriers are showing up in their workplaces, and how can they remove them?