Contrasting the practices of "high diversity performing" companies - determined by representation in senior positions, employee survey scores, turnover and promotion rates, and revenue growth in diverse markets – with "other" companies, "The Impact of Senior Leadership Commitment on Diversity and Inclusion" survey sheds light on factors that help explain the gap in diversity performance. One of the biggest differentiators is that CEOs of high diversity performing companies talk about diversity more frequently to their organizations, especially to their senior leadership teams. More than 60 percent of high diversity performer CEOs deliver three or more diversity messages per year to senior leaders in the company, in contrast to 34 percent of CEOs at other companies.
"Employers continue to face challenges creating, developing and optimizing the contributions from a workforce of diverse peoples, cultures and talents," said Michal Fineman, senior consultant, Global Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practice of ORC. "Our findings support the notion that CEO commitment and communication make a big difference in the success of a company's diversity initiative. But they also show that CEO support alone will not make change 'stick.' Stakeholders up, down and across the organization need to be engaged in diversity efforts, and these efforts need to be knit tightly into business processes."
Other noteworthy findings of the survey include:
- High diversity performing companies have more diverse Boards of Directors. On average, minorities held 22 percent of Board seats in high performing companies, compared to only 10 percent in other companies.
- The Board is more often directly involved in diversity efforts in high diversity performing companies. Nearly 60 percent of Boards of high diversity performing companies review the diversity of succession plans, compared to under 20 percent of Boards in other companies.
- CEOs in high diversity performing companies listen as well as speak about diversity. Nearly 57 percent of CEOs of high performing companies chair, advise or champion forums for two-way communication, such as employee networks, compared to 36 percent at other companies.
- Senior leaders in high diversity performing companies are held accountable for developing and mentoring diverse employees, making sure they are given visible assignments, improving the effectiveness of global teams, and increasing supplier diversity.
While the corporate value statements of many companies profess respect for employees, high performing companies explicitly declare their commitment to diversity and inclusion and publicly recognize managers that demonstrate that commitment. These companies integrate diversity and inclusion practices in key organizational practices such as training, succession planning, performance management and compensation.
"CEOs come and go, but diversity management, essentially, is a change management initiative," said survey co-author Mary Martinez, director of Workforce Management Consulting for ORC. "It only endures when it's baked into the way the company does business day-to-day."
