79% of dissatisfied employees say they’ve experienced an inclusion barrier

The FTSE 100 is ahead of the S&P 500 and TSX 60 in diversity and inclusion, according to exclusive research for the 30% Club Global Investor Group by Diversio. But a significant number of employees do not feel included at work.

Diversio scraped negative employee reviews of companies and analysed these reviews for content. Diversio found that 79% of negative reviews (ie dissatisfied employees) cited inclusion related issues as the reason for their dissatisfaction.

The FTSE 100’s overall score for diversity, inclusion, and commitment, Diversio’s key metrics for assessing Diversity & Inclusion (D&I), is 65.7 out of a possible 100. Such a score indicates that programming, inclusion, and diversity are closely linked and mutually reinforcing, with higher scores indicating successful D&I policies, practices, and implementation.

The overall scores, based on analysis of publicly available corporate policies and employee reviews, were 58.8 for the American S&P 500 and 55.1 for the Canadian TSX 60. A quarter of each company’s score looked at gender, racial and ethnic diversity at the board and executive level. Another quarter looked at D&I programmes and policies. While half of the score was calculated using anonymous feedback from employees about their experience. These “inclusion metrics” represent the biggest opportunity for improvement.

Inclusion findings
Inclusion barriers fell into six broad categories: inclusive culture, fair management, career development, workplace flexibility, workplace safety, and recruiting and hiring.

Top scoring companies across all KPIs include:

Pershing Square Holdings, Mondi, and Segro.

Among the 27-inclusion metrics Diversio analysed, inclusive culture and fair management were the most prominent among FTSE 100 companies. Commonly cited pain points cited included issues such as:

●     “Very old school management style, which is male, middle-age dominated”
●     “Domineering/bullying management styles tolerated. Highly political and full of silos”
●     “Profit driven with constant cost cutting at the expense of everything”
●     “Limited promotional opportunities from within. Average pay Culture in upper management.”
●     “Stressful work environment and hard to strike a work life balance.”

Diversity findings

On the plus side, the research found there has been progress on gender diversity at the board level across the indices, with female representation now at 40% for the FTSE 100. Gender diversity at the executive level sits much lower, at 26%.

Racial and ethnic diversity for the FTSE 100 companies have an average of 14% representation at the board level and 13% representation at the executive level.

Laura McGee, co-founder and CEO of Diversio, said: “The quickest way for low-scoring sectors and companies to improve is by surveying employees and implementing fundamental programmes and policies, including a DEI strategy with executive level accountability and transparent reporting. Survey data can help leaders understand company culture and any barriers that might be faced by under-represented groups.”

Ann Cairns, global chair of the 30% Club, said: “What the analysis means for companies is that it’s critical to track not just diversity but also inclusion. All companies should have fundamental DEI programmes and policies in place and need to listen to employees to identify pain points and create a smooth funnel to leadership.”

Table: How the three indices stack up against each other, data provided by Diversio.