Too few UK employers monitor gender diversity

Less than half of UK firms do not monitor the gender profile of their entire workforce, and just over a quarter do not monitor gender diversity at all, according to a new report.

The report, published this week by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), assessed business leaders’ knowledge of gender equality initiatives.

Only 49% of respondents said that their companies were not monitoring the gender balance of all levels of the workforce. Meanwhile, 28% said that their companies were not making any efforts to monitor gender diversity.

The report was published this year to coincide with Lord Davies’ Women on Boards deadline, by which he had hoped all businesses would review their gender diversity targets and FTSE100 firms would allocate at least 25% of board positions to women.

Around 25% of the CIPD report's respondents were not aware of this target.

CIPD’s diversity advisor Dianah Worman said: "There has been progress which can be seen in the rising percentage of women on boards over the last few years towards the Lord Davies target.

"However, the gains in the main have been made in non-executive positions whereas the numbers for women in the top spot executive positions […] still only account for 8.4%"

She commented that greater awareness was key to accelerating the pace of change.

Nina Smith evaluates the effects of gender quotas, noting that while they succeed in balancing gender diversity, their effects on firm performance are mixed. She writes that gender diversity can improve decision-making processes and can encourage women at lower levels of the company to aim for higher positions.

However, in order to widen the pipeline of sufficiently experienced women progressing to senior positions, Smith asserts that policies should make greater efforts to improve opportunities and skill levels of women at lower levels in the company.

Read more here.

Related articles:
Gender quotas on boards of directors, by Nina Smith
Gender diversity in teams, by Ghazala Azmat
How should teams be formed and managed? by Hideo Owan