Almost half, or 47%, of professionals across Malaysia said diversity policies are a barrier at their organisation while 53% said it was not, according to research from Hays.

When evaluating a job offer, 61% of professionals in Malaysia said a company’s diversity and inclusion policy/progress is ‘very important’ while 28% said it was ‘important’, 10% said it was moderately important and 1% said it was unimportant.

Tom Osborne, Managing Director of Hays Malaysia said, “Considering that almost all respondents in Malaysia said they found a company’s diversity and inclusion policies and progress important to some degree, with 61% saying it was ‘very important’ when evaluating a job offer, it is concerning to see that nearly half of respondents still believe diversity to be a barrier to career progression. Employers should continue to demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion not just by enacting policies, but ensuring they are communicated and adhered to.” 

Meanwhile, worldwide data from Hays showed that 47% of professionals they thought there wasn’t an issue with bias within their organisation. However, 26% said there was, and it’s not being addressed, whereas 16% said there was an issue with bias, but it was being addressed. The remaining 11% of respondents were unsure as to whether there was an issue with gender bias within their place of work.

Sandra Henke, Hays Group Head of People and Culture, said, “The existence of gender bias has been a feature in a number of organisations for some time and positive action has been taken to seek to address this. It’s pleasing to see that progress seems to be being made in that almost half of respondents consider there to be no issue with gender bias within their place of work. However, 42% of those surveyed thought that there was gender bias in their regions. All organisations need to ensure that they are not being complacent when it comes to identifying and addressing the impact of bias.”