The CLC has identified a persistent challenge in relation to career progression for women and participation overall by black and minority ethnic people.
Over recent years, surveys have found that about:
of the CLC-regulated workforce, but only around half of managers, are women.
black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) participation in the workforce, at around 9%, is slightly lower than expected given that 14% of the population of England and Wales identifies as BAME. (1*)
Diversity and inclusion policies have been shown to attract new employees. PwC completed a survey in 2017 and found that 54% of women and 45% of men said they researched whether a company had diversity and inclusion policies in place when deciding to accept a position with their most recent employer. When deciding to accept an offer, 61% of women and 48% of men said they assessed the diversity of the company’s leadership team. (*2)
A 2017 study by Women Abroad found that there was a direct link to employee retention and engagement with supporting employee networks for specific demographic groups (e.g gender, sexuality, ethnicity or religion). (*2)
You can stand out from competitors with diversity and inclusion policies. Research by McKinsey & Co found that businesses with a good balance of men and women are 15% more likely to outperform their competitors. This increased to 35% when employees were from a mix of ethnic backgrounds. (*3)
Your customers are diverse, and so a diverse workplace will best represent them.
According to LinkedIn’s Global Recruiting Trends 2018, when employers were surveyed:
said they focus on diversity to better represent their customers.
said another key reason was to improve company culture.
focussed on diversity to improve company performance. (*2)
It pays to have a diverse team. Research published in the Harvard Business Review in 2017 showed that cognitively diverse teams solve problems faster than teams of cognitively similar people. (*2)
Employees’ ability to innovate increases by 83% when they think their organisation is committed to and supportive of diversity and they feel included, a 2013 report by Deloitte found. (*2)
Diversity and inclusion in the workplace was also identified as a key driver of internal innovation and business growth, a study completed by Forbes found. (*4)