Diversity, gender equality and inclusiveness pay off
More diversity, gender equality and inclusiveness equals better balanced and sustainable societies throughout. To contribute to this credo and to be credible as an organisation and in your work, you have to start with yourself. In IDI, leading by example on gender equality is one of our two strategic priorities of our Gender Strategy. We also know that diversity of thought and being inclusive results in better decision-making and performance. Studies show that employees working in companies that take equality and inclusiveness seriously are less likely to leave.[1]
We have come a long way on our gender journey in IDI, but we also know that there are always ways to improve. This is why we commissioned an external assessment to look into whether gender and diversity dimensions are adequately addressed in our human resources management, with a specific focus on recruitment and hiring, career progression, and salaries.
How did we assess?
An external expert on gender and diversity started the assessment in November 2021. This is timely as findings and recommendations can ultimately feed into developing IDI’s next Strategic Plan. The methodology used draws heavily on the International Labour Organization (ILO) Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) designed to support organisations’ approach to gender equality and adapted to include diversity issues. The assessment collected both objective and subjective data. More than 50 relevant documents were reviewed during a desk review in November. This was complemented by an online staff survey, interviews and workshops.
Findings and recommendations
Focusing on HR processes for recruiting and hiring, career progression and salaries, the assessment produced an internal report with the following findings:
IDI is perceived as a highly reputable employer and great place to work with a friendly environment and good work/life balance. IDI shows strong commitment and efforts to further improve gender and diversity dimensions in recruiting and hiring. Staff recognises IDI efforts to mainstream gender equality and diversity in the organisation. The assessment welcomes IDI’s ongoing work to develop a competency framework to support recruitment and career planning and efforts to avoid gender pay gaps.
Recommendations include among others a call for
- better defining and improving HR processes
- systematically bringing in a diversity lens in recruiting and analysing demographic information
- further defining job positions and responsibilities
- continuing efforts to have no pay gap
For further details of the findings and recommendations see the publicly available executive summary .
We will take up recommendations and work together with IDI staff to develop a tailor-made action plan for implementation.
For further information on our work and framework on gender and inclusiveness, please visit our Gender and Inclusiveness webpage.
[1] See for example: Muhammad Ali, Isabel Metz, Carol T. Kulik, Retaining a diverse workforce: the impact of gender-focused human resource management, Human Resources Management Journal, Volume 25, Issue 4, p. 580-599 and a report done by Catalyst that found companies with higher gender diversity management had 35% better return on equity: Catalyst, The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity, 2004, https://www.catalyst.org/research/the-bottom-line-connecting-corporate-performance-and-gender-diversity