Despite a majority of businesses in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) stating the importance of diversity as a key corporate value, many are not putting this into practice, a new study has found.
The study, by Kirchhoff Consult and BDO, found that 97.5% of the companies listed in the top indices in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have identified diversity as an asset, anchoring its promotion in their corporate value structure, while 82.5% have included diversity (or comparable topics such as diversity, equal opportunities or justice) as part of their materiality analysis.
Realise the potential
However, analysis of firms annual reports and/or sustainability reports indicates that significantly fewer have dealt with the issue in greater depth, and taken measures to realise the potential of diversity and eliminate possible imbalances.
Just 28.6% have disclosed information on gender-specific salary gaps or the so-called ‘gender pay gap’, for example, whole just 7.6% are taking measures to close it.
Elsewhere, 86% of companies in the DAX 40, SMI and ATX indices have set out specific goals regarding the proportion of women in their workforce, and many have also taken steps to increase the number of women on management boards.
In the DAX 40, for example, the total proportion of women on management boards rose to 26%, up from 23% the previous year, while 37.4% of the members of the DAX 40 supervisory boards are now female.
However, few companies have considered all the key facets of diversity in their reporting, including sexual orientation and cultural diversity, the study found.
Diversity as an asset
“Diversity is a potential asset and discrimination is a major destroyer of value in companies,” commented Jela Bölts, ESG/Sustainability Consultant at Kirchhoff Consult and co-author of the study.
“In order to leverage the potential of a diverse workforce and effectively prevent discrimination, both are needed: an overview of the specific circumstances relating to diversity aspects in the company and the goals and measures derived from them.”
The forthcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is promoting companies to act, the study found, with 72.5% of top businesses in the DACH region already defining their diversity-related goals according to the criteria of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards – measurable, results-related and time-bound.
