Evolving D&I Policies Explore New Ground

While many aspects of business have been halted or stalled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, progress on corporate diversity and inclusion (D&I) has not been one of them.

A Baker McKenzie global survey of corporate HR diversity leaders found that 67 percent believe D&I progress has not stalled, with 25 percent strongly believing that. In the minority, only 19 percent believe progress on D&I has abated in some way, while 14 percent were not committal.

“As the shock waves of the global pandemic were up-ending how business was conducted around the world, many D&I executives feared that much of the progress achieved over the past decade could unravel as companies dealt with the unprecedented crisis,” said Susan Eandi, partner and head of Baker McKenzie’s Global Employment and Labor Law Practice Group in North America. “It turns out that, for the vast majority of respondents, those fears never materialized. That’s a testament to the commitment of those leaders and their growing influence within their organizations during a time of historic social change in this country,” she added.

Interestingly, D&I appears to be pushed forward primarily by outside influence, rather than from within companies. When asked about catalysts that drive organizations to implement D&I policies, 62 percent of U.S. respondents to the Baker McKenzie survey said the motivation comes from customer demands. Globally, only 48 percent cited customer demand as a driver for change.

The survey also found that new policies are emerging beyond traditional D&I areas, such as:

• Neurodiversity. Three years ago, only 14 percent of U.S. respondents said they had a neurodiversity policy in place to better interact with and manage employees on the autism spectrum. Today, 63 percent do.
• Flexible work. In the United States, 46 percent of companies already had flex policies in place three years ago, beating the global average (which included the U.S. number) of 27 percent of companies. Now, only 7 percent of global companies—and 7 percent of U.S. businesses—have no such policy.
• Miscarriage. In the past year alone, 43 percent of U.S. companies have implemented policies that accommodate grieving workers.
• Adoption. Three years ago, only 28 percent of U.S. companies had policies around adoption. Today, 86 percent of companies have formal accommodations for their workforce.
• Domestic abuse. Eighty-two percent of the organizations surveyed have policies that address domestic abuse.
• Supplier diversity. Today, 88 percent of companies have supplier diversity policies in place. That’s up from 14 percent just three years ago.
• Transgender identity. Forty-one percent of U.S. respondents said their organization has instituted transgender-identity policies in the past 12 months.
• Menopause. Within the last year alone, 36 percent of U.S. companies have instituted menopause policies.

Like anything that demands a shift in thinking, progress in these areas remains relatively slow. Sixty-nine percent of the U.S. respondents said different legal requirements in multiple jurisdictions make it difficult to implement company policies consistently. Also, 60 percent of those respondents believe that different cultural expectations in some jurisdictions make it difficult to implement company policies consistently.

Still, any progress is progress, and awareness of D&I issues is certainly starting to permeate corporate HR and management decision-making.

From: BenefitsPRO