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Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are regarded as objectives of interest for European companies, but only 7% of organisations build a diverse and inclusive culture, according to a study conducted by EY Romania, released on Friday.
The conclusion is the result of EY's Europe-wide DEI Index, a study conducted in collaboration with FT-Longitude, which summarises the opinions of 900 top managers and executives and 900 non-executive employees in nine European countries (Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France and Germany).
"Although company management teams have made firm verbal commitments to DEI, and management seems confident of progress, the actual experience of non-management employees suggests otherwise. The research shows that efforts to improve diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace are still ongoing. This inconsistency represents a challenge for management to make organisational change fit their ambitious goals. The EY study provides valuable lessons from DEI leaders, offering practical steps to bridge this gap and supporting organisations in increasing the effectiveness of their DEI initiatives. Ultimately, what matters is the impact of DEI initiatives aimed at building a world that works better," says Ana-Maria Voicu Domsa, Partner, Global Compliance & Reporting, Diversity & Inclusion Lead, EY Romania.
Organisations in Europe continue to face challenges in achieving DEI goals and optimising their diversity culture. One reason could be that management teams are still not diverse enough: only 40% of managers surveyed said they are part of under-represented groups, while the percentage of non-management employees is 61%. Representation is even lower if we exclude women, for whom 16% of managers and 31% of female employees said they belong to an under-represented group.
"This lack of diversity among decision-makers introduces an overly optimistic perception of an organisation's DEI performance and therefore poses a risk of DEI de-prioritisation compared to other business priorities: organisations with more diverse management teams are more likely than non-diverse management teams to have taken steps to improve several aspects of diversity, including cultural diversity (41% vs. 36%), gender diversity (70% vs. 57%) and LGBTQIA+ diversity (27% vs. 22%)," says EY Romania.
On the other hand, non-management employees - who are more diverse than organisation leaders - show a noticeably lower perception of the organisation's DEI progress: less than half consider their company's performance on ethnic or cultural diversity (48%), LGBTQIA+ diversity (35%), socio-economic diversity (34%) to be "good", with even lower performance for disability diversity (29%). More importantly, they express concerns about the quality of their workplace experience: about 3 in 10 non-management employees surveyed have experienced discrimination or harassment and bullying and do not feel psychologically safe at work. Around one in five (17%) say they have witnessed harassment by their colleagues.
According to the quoted source, the EY Europe-wide DEI index shows the difference in perceptions about the evolution, whether the respondent belongs to an under-represented category or not: 55% of LGBTQIA+ employees give low scores to "the ability to act in their authentic personality at work," compared to 39% of other employees; only 35% of women have a sense of belonging at work, compared to 40% of men; 43% of ethnic and cultural minorities are not optimistic about their career opportunities, compared to 36% of other employees; only 25% of employees with a physical or mental disability have a sense of belonging at work, compared to 39% of other employees.
