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Half of Irish organisations favour regulation to drive Diversity & Inclusion

Written by Robert McHugh, on 25th Apr 2018. Posted in General

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The gender composition of both boards and senior management in Ireland has not notably changed in the last year, with 26% women on boards and 32% representation in senior management. This is according to new research conducted by EY among more than 150 senior leaders across a range of indigenous, multinational and public sector organisations.

The report was published this morning at the EY Diversity & Inclusion InMotion Summit held in the Mansion House, Dublin, where Ireland’s leading experts in Diversity & Inclusion gathered. Speakers at the event included Vice Admiral Mark Mellett (Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces), Dr. Orlaigh Quinn (Secretary General of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation) and Her Excellency Anne Anderson (former Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, UN, EU, France, and Monaco).

Of those surveyed, almost half (49%) favour regulation as a driver for creating more diverse and inclusive organisations. Interestingly, in light of the lack of progress on gender diversity of boards, 91% of this group said they favour regulation to address the gender pay gap, and 79% said they favour regulation to address gender diversity of boards.

The report shows that investment in D&I is increasing, with significant changes versus last year. However, investment appears to be lacking in strategy, data analytics and diagnostic assessment. The proportion of organisations investing €1,000 per year or less in D&I has decreased from 36% in 2017 to 20% this year while the proportion of businesses investing €50,000 per year has also increased from 9% in 2017 to 15% in 2018.

Investment tends to be focused on events (77%) and sponsorship (42%). The research shows less than a fifth (19%) are investing in strategy development, a similar proportion (19%) in strategy implementation, and less than a third (31%) in data collection and analysis, while 16.7% are investing in diagnostics and benchmarking.

Organisations that have invested in a D&I diagnostic assessment are three times more likely to attribute higher sales revenue and profit margins to Diversity & Inclusion than those who haven’t carried out a diagnostic assessment (57% vs. 18%).

Speaking this week, Director of Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Service at EY Ireland, Olivia McEvoy said, "With gender pay gap legislation on the government agenda, it’s encouraging to see that many Irish businesses are supportive of the move. Organisations that begin preparing now and prioritising Diversity & Inclusion as a strategic imperative will reap benefits in the months and years to come. Diversity at board level is an issue, and it’s not improving."

She added, "It is clear from the findings that organisations in Ireland emphatically acknowledge Diversity & Inclusion as a business imperative. However, actual progress and work practices do not entirely reflect that view. This seems in part due to a failure to make the connection between Diversity & Inclusion and the bottom line."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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