Whilst there is no legal requirement for employers to provide diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, a new study has found that 96% of businesses are planning to do so in the next 12 months.
A study of 218 organisations between June and July 2022 found that 84% of businesses have a strategy in place or a plan to introduce one. However, despite these well intended plans, the funding for such has been found to be inadequate.
The budgetary resources limit many employers in being able to fully deliver on their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Michael Carty, the benchmarking editor at XpertHR, says “How HR handles DEI can be a key differentiator for retaining current employees and attracting new ones”. These limitations on an employer could be having wider implications to an employer than they first realised.
Nine in ten respondents planned to embed the DEI into their recruitment processes and almost 72% said they made selection decisions based on an objective measure of the candidates ability and potential.
Zara Nau, MBE, chief executive and co-founder of Gapsquare said “Investing resources, as well as more time and thought into DEI strategies will help organisations create tangible differences in the workplace.”
HR professionals can utilise the data they already have access to highlight the need to for the initiative and more importantly the need for appropriate funding.
If you think your business requires a boost to its DEI workplace initiatives please do not hesitate to contact the employment team to see how they can help you.
