Still a long way to go on gender equality despite progress and good intentions says new report

Interesting new research in this week’s newsletter suggesting that despite progress and good intentions, gender equality in the workforce is still a long way off. The report says that while four in five organisations worldwide claim that improving diversity and inclusion (D&I) is important, yet less than half have a documented, multi-year strategy for achieving gender equality.

The Mercer report is not all doom and gloom and there are some bright showing forward momentum and progress with lasting impact says rates for hiring, promoting and retaining women are now comparable to rates for men, which is an improvement from four years ago

Additionally, organisations globally are adopting more disciplined methods for analysing pay equity as well as implementing measures to take accountability. The research shows research finds that almost three quarters of organisations have teams dedicated to conducting pay equity analysis up from less than a half previously.

Martine Ferland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mercer says “Gender equality has evolved into a global imperative, and organisations are taking actions to make a difference. However, as women continue to face challenges of unequal senior level representation and limited opportunities for career development and advancement across industries and geographies, there is still much work to do to achieve gender balance.”

Wise words from Martine. Some of the issues around this new research will be touched on at our flagship 2020 Employee Engagement Summit on May 15. Look forward to seeing you there.