Research published in a Harvard Business school article shows that having gender diversity in the management team adds 2.5% in innovation revenue, whilst companies with diversity across six dimensions (migration, industry, career path, gender, education and age), add 19% higher innovation revenue.
It’s not just about diversity; companies should also note that being inclusive ensures a stable and motivated workforce.
Inclusion & Diversity specialist Mandy Rico comments “Diversity brings creativity and a range of thinking to your organization and inclusion shows that everyone feels that that they belong and can add value, irrespective of their background leading to less dissatisfaction and reduced churn, which is good for your business.”
Rico is from an immigrant family. “I’m the first person in my family to go to university, and the breadwinner of our family. When I had my daughter, I became more aware of how long it will take to achieve gender parity, which motivated me to work to make a difference.
“I have cooperated with organizations like the Market Research Society, to see how Inclusion, Diversity and Equality (IDE) are encapsulated in our sector. The idea of an inclusion index arose when I was working with clients to see how IDE could make an impact, so I worked with Kantar to develop an Inclusion Index as a company’s view on brand reputation should include not just what consumers but also how employees think of the brand.”
The Inclusion Index
Jonathan Hall, Managing Partner of the Kantar Sustainable Transformation Practice, comments “This has become a hugely urgent area for corporations, which has accelerated as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US. So, corporations are seeking benchmarks on how well they are doing compared with other organizations to convince senior management that more needs to be done and to justify investment. Kantar’s work is also in response to work by companies such as McKinsey and Deloitte that show the positive impact of IDE on commercial results as well as employee engagement and retention.
“We are moving into a more responsible era, so people as employees, consumers and citizens are demanding more of corporations and are looking for brands to address broader societal issues. This means moving from being a ‘donut brand’ which is built from the outside in, has extrinsic values, and risks having a hollow core, to a more wholesome brand that is built from the inside out, and has strong intrinsic values.
“Taking an in-depth look at IDE helps businesses engage diverse consumer and customer audiences and innovate and communicate on broad sustainable issues and specifically Inclusion in an authentic and credible way. This can create huge growth opportunities among under-valued segments to have an Index that focuses on organizations internally, where they stand on inclusivity and what foundations could be built on to develop a credible brand and organisation.”
Hall explains that his division draws on the Sustainability assets and expertise of the entire Kantar organisation. The areas of operation reflect the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and range from health and well-being and gender equality, through hunger and poverty alleviation to responsible consumption and production and climate change.
“We work across all areas through the lens of Kantar’s competencies. Inclusion falls within that space and we have a specific offer that helps clients identify and realise growth opportunities amongst diverse audiences. Kantar Inclusion incorporates Inclusion Insights, Marketing and Metrics – and the Inclusion Index fits within the Metrics pillar. “
Kantar Inclusion assets include Global Monitor, a 30-year-old syndicated survey that looks at values and attitudes across the world, including Diversity and Inclusion. It helps to understand major shifts over time, look for potential areas of opportunity for brands and think about how to approach those segments or themes that are under-valued and/or under-leveraged. Furthermore, Kantar’s Link database can analyse communications executions and build a normative database around the topic.
The most inclusive
The Inclusion Index questionnaire splits into five key areas, demographics, what actions a company is taking to address IDE, sentiment with regard to company culture, observed and experienced behaviours and additional questions that a client might want to include, for instance on COVID 19, working from home or health and wellness issues.
The result is an Inclusion Index across 14 countries, 24 industries and over 18,000 respondents, highlighting which industries and categories are performing relatively well or less well on a country-by country basis. It can be broken down to issues relating to gender, sexual identity, racial ethnicity, religion and disability.
The Inclusion Index by country
| Country | Inclusion Index (top is most inclusive) |
| Canada | 66% |
| US | 66% |
| Germany | 65% |
| Italy | 62% |
| Spain | 60% |
| Netherlands | 60% |
| Brazil | 60% |
| UK | 56% |
| France | 55% |
| Poland | 53% |
| Japan | 52% |
| Australia | 48% |
| Singapore | 45% |
| Mexico | 43% |
But not every dimension is constant within a country. Hall comments “The table shows the overall order but if you dig down on a country or industry basis by inclusion issues you will see variations within one market. For instance, if you look at the US, 17% of females felt they had been bullied or harassed in the last 12 months; that number rises to 22% from the perspective of race, 27% with regard to physical and mental disability, 33% on sexual orientation and 38% on religion.”
Research associations such as MRS, the ARF, ESOMAR and QRCA have been launching initiatives to address inclusivity within the sector. What is the extent of the problem? The Kantar Index shows that Marketing/PR/Advertising/MR emerged as the joint top most inclusive sector globally alongside Charity/Not-for-Profit, with an Index of 65%, closely followed by Professional Services at 62%.
But this doesn’t mean the sector can rest on its laurels. Hall notes ”Just by looking at two of the negative behaviours experienced across industries, we can see that in the last 12 months, at least 25% of employees have been made to feel uncomfortable in their work environment, and over 15% of employees feel that they have been bullied within their organisation.”
Global responses to questions measuring inclusion
Here are the sobering statistics when measuring across companies and countries:
- 80% of employees have observed some discrimination in their current company.
- 60% of employees have faced obstacles in their career progression, which they believe are due to who they are (ie gender/race/ethnicity, religion/sexuality/social mobility/health etc.).
- 60% of employees do not feel empowered to call out this behaviour to senior management or HR.
- 18% of employees who have taken parental leave believe that this has impacted their careers. This increases to 24% when you concentrate on females.
- 28% of employees feel left out at work when engaging in work activities or socially.
- 27% of employees believe that nepotism is alive and kicking in their organisation.
Source: Kantar
Should companies have quotas?
No quotas, according to Rico. “I don’t believe we should hire just to tick a box but we should hire for passion as you can train for skills. If you do that, you will get a more diverse team. I believe we must have a more diverse group of leaders as most organizations have a very similar group of individuals at the top. Having diverse senior representation brings a more creative range of thought into the boardroom and if you see people like yourself in a senior role, you are more likely to feel it is achievable.”
“I would love to see people getting positions because of their competences not just one of their characteristics, but once they are in, they should be supported.”
Rico also advocates approaching recruitment differently as research agencies need a broad mix of talent but might not be promoting what they do to connect with a diverse pool of people. One answer would be to extend the reach in recruitment advertising and networking, to cast the net wider to attract different groups of people.
According to Rico “We need to adapt our job adverts to ensure they are gender neutral and describe what people have to do, rather than qualifications. For some roles, like data analysts, we could hire people who might not have the full range of skills and train them up, or attract people from other sectors. Recruiting agencies should introduce more diverse people into the shortlist. We could work with blind CVs to avoid associations with gender or ethnicity, and have a diverse mix of age, gender and ethnicity on interviewing panels, particularly when recruiting for more senior roles.”
Career development is also important. “We need to consider how we develop people, and not assume everyone is like us. If you gauge how we assess high performers, do they tend to be very similar and if so, what does that mean for others who performed less well? Are only high performers given additional training? These elements impact performance and retention.”
How to improve your IDE
According to Hall “the first step towards improving a company’s IDE is to understand where you stand as an organization, relative to your peers both within and outside of your industry, and across the world. You can then engage with your employee audiences and have an ongoing and open conversation to help people see and feel that the culture is genuinely inclusive. Then it’s thinking about how the organization goes to market, with what sorts of product and services, and communicating in a way that demonstrates that it is serious from a commercial perspective about being inclusive with its customers and consumers.“
Meanwhile Rico takes the Green Cross Code, which teaches children stop, look and listen before crossing the road, as a template for improving IDE:
“Stop means don’t be afraid to review past work and re-evaluate what could have been done differently for an advertisement, communication or proposal, to be more diverse or inclusive.
“Look at the senior team and who is working with clients. If you have a diverse group, it’s not just about bringing people into the room, but also inviting them to be part of the conversation.
“Listen to everyone in the organization. Let your team know how well you have listened because if an employee is telling you that they are anxious or worried you need to show them the steps you will take to make a more inclusive organization.“
And on a more personal level, we can start by working on our own attitudes as LinkedIn Learning has courses on topics ranging from how to communicate about culturally sensitive issues to confronting bias, to help us think more deeply about inclusive behavior.
