The majority, of 86%, of senior leaders (C-level or just below) in the UK and Ireland say their employer’s approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) impacts their plans to stay in a role, according to research from HR software and payroll solutions provider Zellis.

While the senior leaders who were surveyed reported that progress in DE&I has been made, the study of 2,000 people across the UK and Ireland found a ‘growing sense of frustration’ that organisations may not be achieving change at the speed and scale they want. A widening gap between ambition and action may be leading to an increasing risk to businesses of losing some of their most critical team members, the study added.

Most, or 80%, agree that organisations cannot make positive change on diversity and inclusion without employee input. However, 70% of employees who identify as a member at least one minority group agree with the statement ‘Employers are talking about DEI more than they are taking action.’

The research also showed the significance of DEI programmes on members of underrepresented groups, half (46%) of whom report having felt alienated or unwelcome in the workplace as a result of who they are. 

“This research shows that failure to make meaningful progress on diversity, equity and inclusion creates a serious risk of losing talent at all levels,” said John Petter, CEO of Zellis. “The emerging gap between words and action reinforces the need for companies to have a rigorous, evidence-based approach to DEI. The starting point for this is collecting diversity data systematically and at scale, which requires employees to feel confident enough to disclose their characteristics including gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disabilities. By understanding their workforce, organisations can begin to take real steps toward becoming more inclusive and fairer.”

Zaheer Ahmad, Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at healthcare firm Haleon, said, “You can sense a growing feeling of frustration on the frontline. Employees aren’t seeing the level of tangible action that they expect. Employers should be able to demonstrate year-on-year growth on their workforce diversity numbers but, in many cases, this just isn’t happening.”

“Diversity is important at every level of an organisation and employers should be transparent about where there are the biggest gaps,” Ahmad said. “Diversity at a mid-management level is crucial because that creates a more diverse future leadership pipeline – it enables organisations to get more people from minority groups into senior positions.”

The study noted that 68% of those who identify as a minority believe that their own organisation has made at least some level of progress in improving diversity and inclusion over the last three years, while 75% are optimistic for the future.

The research commissioned by Zellis surveyed 2,005 employees in the UK and Ireland over the course of September 2022. Respondents came from a range of sectors and included all levels of seniority, from junior workers through to C-level directors.