CIPD research shows benefits of diversity are not being promoted

A new book, Managing Diversity and the Business Case, based on CIPD research shows that diversity management in the UK remains superficial at best, with the majority of employers just fulfilling their legal obligations. Sixty-eight per cent of those surveyed rank legal pressure as the most important motivation for implementing diversity policies and practices.

With the Equality Bill due before Parliament in December, evidence gathered by the CIPD shows only a minority are embedding diversity into their business strategy. The vast majority (71%) do not build diversity objectives into business goals and only 30% even have a budget for diversity management.

The findings also suggest that when a diversity strategy is implemented, organisations are not embedding it throughout the business and are instead using it mainly for recruitment and retention. Sixty per cent currently implement a diversity strategy purely for recruitment and retention purposes, while other drivers identified – such as marketing, product development and customer relations – are not being given the attention needed for managing diversity to fully enhance business performance.

For those organisations that do take diversity seriously, effort is put into measuring it in order to receive quantifiable feedback that makes clear the link between diversity management, customer satisfaction and business performance. The findings show that the majority (72%) use employee attitude surveys to drive diversity progress into mainstream activities.

Managing Diversity and the Business Case can be ordered from:
http://www.cipd.co.uk/Bookstore/