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Having a diverse range of managers and employees, from senior board level and throughout the organisation, has been proven time and again to be a major benefit to businesses – mainly because a diversity of thought, background and experience provides more innovation, but also, for B2C and B2B companies, because their customers are diverse.
However, the pandemic and ensuing economic downturn has shown to have further widened inequalities in the workplace, with the ONS reporting that the time required for parity had widened to 123 years (2021 reporting), and many employees of colour finally upping sticks for pastures new and less racist – or starting their own company.
In fact, according to the UN’s most recent report last year, “it will take 140 years for women to achieve equal representation in leadership positions in the workplace, and 40 years for the same to happen in national parliaments.”
That means that we can’t afford to take our foot of the pedal even for a second when it comes to doing the right thing by our women, marginalised queer groups and racial minorities.
With everyone battening down the coffer’s hatches, marketing activities as well as HR activities come under scrutiny or are done away with all together. It may be tempting to think of D&I activities as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a necessity during tough economic conditions, but, says Karen Holden, founder and employment lawyer at A City Law firm – doing this cedes dangerous ground to bigotry and can also bring a heap of legal trouble on our heads.
She shares her expert guidance below.
D&I can actually contribute to reducing costs and improving profitability for businesses.
Diversity and Inclusion and the economy
The last few years has been a difficult time for the UK economy and whilst some companies appear to of rapidly grown only time will tell whether this can still continue as we now see an economical change. Although the 2023 Budget seems to be less gloomy about this year’s prospects, there are still many challenges ahead.
There was no instant bounce back coming out of the lockdown and businesses and individuals are still struggling with costs, paying back the loans with rising interest, there have been supplier and consumer disruptions and also, we are now starting to see the redundancies.
