Are UK Organisations Meeting Their EDI Commitments?

It may feel like Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) is a more recent addition to organisations, but it has been a key part of the corporate world since the 1960s. While EDI training has evolved over 60 years, its fundamental pillars have remained consistent throughout this time:

• Equality – ensuring everyone has the same opportunities and no-one is treated differently or discriminated against because of their personal characteristics;
• Diversity – recognising, valuing and taking account of people’s different backgrounds, knowledge, skills, and experiences;
• Inclusion – where people’s differences are seen as a benefit, and people feel safe to share them, without fear of discrimination, knowing that their opinions and ideals are valued. 

In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 updated the list of ‘protected characteristics’ to cover the broadening scope of EDI, cultural evolution and new diverse groups. These nine characteristics are:

• age;
• disability;
• gender reassignment;
• marital or civil partnership status;
• pregnancy and maternity;
• race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins);
• religion or belief (including lack of belief);
• sex;
• sexual orientation.

Why is EDI Important?

Building an understanding and respect of EDI is key to creating a society in which everyone feels valued. Although progress has been made recently in rights and recognition, there remains a significant journey ahead to achieve full equality. The focus of this article is more related to EDI in a corporate sense, rather than a societal one, and building an understanding of how organisations are doing on their own journeys.

Let’s face it, fostering an environment where EDI is valued is the right thing to do. However, from a corporate point of view, organisations have begun to realise that not only should they be active in EDI initiatives, but that there are huge potential benefits to doing so. These benefits include (but are not limited to) attracting the best and most talented people from the widest pool possible, increased productivity, improved employee retention, and above industry average financial returns, as reported by McKinsey in 2015.

To better understand how UK organisations are performing in this area, Hays conducted a survey of over 5,500 employees and employers through 2024. This built on research previously carried out in 2019, and provided a report card on the organisations’ progress.

The ‘As Is’ – The Good

So how are organisations in the UK doing? According to the report, it’s a mixed picture.

On a positive note, 42 percent of organisations have a dedicated EDI (or DE&I) resource, of which half consist of a full team dedicated to understanding, managing and developing EDI initiatives. Additionally, just under half (49 percent) of the organisations surveyed confirmed they were now capturing diversity data – an increase of 10 percent against 2019 – an element that is critical to building understanding of, and improving, diversity within their workforce.

The availability of flexible working arrangements was also highlighted as a key factor in creating more inclusive and diverse workplaces. This was seen as a positive by over three-quarters (79 percent) of respondents. These arrangements are usually associated with leaders or a C-Suite who are positively committed to EDI initiatives, highlighted in the survey by 80 percent of respondents.

The ‘As Is’ – The Must Do Better

While these measures are a good start, it’s certainly not all positive.

Considering diversity in talent acquisition and retention, over half of employees (54 percent) felt that a demographic characteristic would hinder their career progression in 2024, while over half of all respondents felt that they had been misled about organisational culture on EDI at the interview stage. These figures worsen when looking at individual demographics, with LGBTQ+ (71 percent), those who identify with a disability (71 percent) and those who identify as neurodivergent (70 percent) all appreciably higher than the average.

There has also been an increase (57 percent, up from 52 percent) of the number of respondents who believe identifying factors have lowered their chances of being offered a job. Although more organisations now have dedicated a EDI resource, over two-thirds without them have no plans to implement one soon.

The ‘To Be’

Despite significant improvements over the past five years, progress has not advanced as much as UK organisations would prefer. Bridging the gap between organisational aspirations and reality may be crucial to achieving meaningful, lasting change.

Many well-known organisations’ websites feature Equality, Diversity & Inclusion pages highlighting mission statements, values, initiatives, and occasionally awards. What is common to all the organisations is the strength of the language used to describe their approaches:

• “Commitment to advancing social equity”
• A commitment to “harnessing and increasing the diversity of our workforce”
• “I&D is woven into the fabric of everything we do”

The language feels aspirational rather than reflective of achievement, possibly acknowledging the significant journey still required for meaningful progress. This is far from a criticism, as there is as much for organisations to do as there is on an individual, national and international level. It is, however, time for organisations leaders to lead more strongly in this area.

The Path Ahead

Hays’ research can help in determining the next steps for organisations, by picking out the key areas where EDI has regressed in the past 5 years, or where it’s clear there is a significant gap. Organisations can explore several short-term options to enhance their EDI performance and implement innovative new initiatives for improvement.

• Establish EDI Goals – these don’t need to be targets for recruitment or retention, and don’t necessarily have a numerical figure for achievement. However, putting goals in place and linking them to key business activities will help organisations tie operations and EDI together.
• Provide Training – there are still employees in organisations without a clear understanding of what EDI is beyond the initial words. Training can help employees understand this more, enable them to examine their own behaviours and make changes themselves.
• Ensure Diversity in Recruitment – this can take the form of inclusive job adverts, anonymised recruitment and help to remove any unconscious bias in the process. This will provide a greater pool of talent, and help to bring new ideas and thinking into the organisation.

These options can help organisations progress toward a more inclusive approach and way of working, fostering meaningful change.

One final thing to bear in mind is that, in this area in particular, it is a collective responsibility to improve EDI performance, and there shouldn’t be any barriers to sharing best practice between organisations, industries and sectors. Silos will only serve to hinder progress, so it’s time to take active steps to remove them.

Do you work for an organisation that is nailing its EDI approach and initiatives? Why not share some of your thoughts in the comments below? In the next article in the series, we will be examining how EDI initiatives may be more challenging in more traditional industries, and what organisations in these industries need to be doing differently.