‘47% of employers don’t have a diversity and inclusion strategy or plan’

Just under half (47%) of employers don’t have an inclusion and diversity (I&D) strategy or action plan in place and a quarter (25%) said their I&D activities are entirely or mostly reactive, with interest in many issues, including gender diversity falling, according to a new report.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s Inclusion at Work 2022 report, in partnership with recruitment agency Reed, is based on a survey of over 2,000 UK senior decision-makers. It found that only around half of employers (48%) have either a stand-alone strategy or action plan on I&D or integrate I&D into their wider people strategy. However, among those that do have a plan, more than three-quarters of those (76%) evaluate the effectiveness of their plans.

A quarter of employers (25%) say their approach to I&D is entirely or mostly reactive. For example, in response to societal events like the Black Lives Matter protests or mandatory reporting requirements. Moreover, over a third (36%) of organisations aren’t planning to focus on any specific I&D areas over the next five years. Yet only 5% of organisations said they hadn’t focused on any I&D areas in the past five years so the CIPD says it shows a significant change.

The most common areas of I&D that employers have focused on in the past five years are mental health (29%), race/ethnicity (23%) and gender (21%). These remain the top three areas of focus for the next five years, but the percentages are notably smaller (21%,15% and 14% respectively). Only four-in-10 (38%) employers collect some form of equal opportunities monitoring data from employees and/or job applicants.

The CIPD says the research points to a need for organisations to take an evidence-based, proactive and strategic approach to I&D to better support individuals and improve business outcomes.

Jill Miller, senior diversity and inclusion policy adviser at the CIPD, says: “While there’s been greater attention and gradual progress on inclusion and diversity in recent years, there’s clearly still a long way to go to create truly inclusive and fair workplaces for all. We need to see real commitment from employers to understand and address the barriers particular groups face in access to work and to progression.

“Effective action to improve equality, diversity, and inclusion requires a systemic approach across the organisation. We urge employers to be proactive and have a clear strategy or action plan in place, tailored to the organisation and workforce needs. There are simple actions that employers can take to improve inclusion, regardless of organisation size or budget. For instance, a focus on inclusive recruitment, people management, development and leadership behaviour can really help create fairer workplaces with equality of opportunity.”

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