On the same day the United States headed to the polls to vote for its 47th President, around 1,000 members of the HTL and retail sectors gathered at Indigo at The O2 to discuss the topic of equity, diversity and inclusion at WiHTL & DiR’s 2024 Inclusion Summit. This is our sixth year partnering with WiHTL & DiR on the Annual Report, and seeing the Inclusion Summit grow to host around 1,000 people highlights how far EDI has come since our partnership began.
This year, there were three panels and six presentations, and Tea Colaianni, Founder and Chair at WiHTL & DiR, opened the summit saying: “It’s incredible how our community has come to life – 2024 has been a remarkable year.” I was honoured to be asked to address the room in an opening presentation on Tuesday – standing on the stage where the likes of Adele, Prince and The Who have performed, no less – and share insights from the WiHTL & DiR 2024 Annual Report featuring in-depth research from The MBS Group which analyses EDI in leadership teams across both sectors.
Gender diversity and ethnicity at the most senior levels across HTL and retail were a key focus of our research, and, when it came to gender, retail was ahead across all levels with 42% of board roles, 41% of ExCo and more than half of Direct Report roles being held by women, whereas in HTL, the proportion of women is around 6-8% lower at Board and ExCo levels, and more than 16% lower among the Direct Reports community. Statistics around ethnic diversity across the same leadership populations were more encouraging, with 11-12% at Board level across both sectors – which is broadly in line with the working age population of the UK – around 8-9% of ExCo members and, for Direct Report level, retail came out just a touch ahead of HTL at 10% compared to 7.4%.
It is clear things are steadily moving in the right direction, but that there is also a lot more work to be done, and we can see from our research what businesses are doing to address EDI. Crucially, they are turning from a macro approach, to a micro one, focusing on a handful of initiatives and programmes rather than spreading themselves too thinly across every event in the EDI calendar. This type of change comes from the top – and the role of CEOs in ensuring that EDI is on the agenda is paramount. As, Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury’s – who I presented the ‘Most Inclusive CEO in Retail’ award to at the first ever inclusion in awards powered by WiHTL & DiR in the evening – explained during the ‘Profit with Purpose’ panel: “When you feel that somewhere is being led by an inclusive leader everything changes. Customer satisfaction is different, employee engagement and performance is different and the number of returning customers is different.”
Boards also need to step up and take more of an interest in EDI if meaningful change is to happen. I spoke to one Chief People Officer during our research who told me with pride about the progress they had made on the internal data they now collect on EDI. When I queried when the last time they had been asked to share that data with the board was, the answer was never. Perhaps understandably in today’s economic climate, there are many critical issues on the agenda – not least business performance. However, key retail and HTL stakeholders – be that investors, or the Boards they delegate the leadership of companies to – must ensure EDI is a measured business accountability that does not slip down the list of priorities. With a change in government and new laws on the agenda, it feels somewhat inevitable that, to address the changes needed, smaller businesses, in particular, may end up diverting HR time and resources away from the EDI agenda.
However, as keynote speaker at the Inclusion Summit and author of ‘Measuring Inclusion: Higher profits and happier people, without guesswork or backlash’, Paolo Gaudiano, explained, there is now qualitative data to prove that investing in EDI has tangible economic results. He put it like this: “If you’re a leader of an organisation and you do not know how to quantify the value, and diversify your human assets, you are failing not just your people, but your shareholders.”
“Crucially, they are turning from a macro approach, to a micro one, focusing on a handful of initiatives and programmes rather than spreading themselves too thinly across every event in the EDI calendar.”
Despite these concerns, it has been exceedingly encouraging to see how individual companies have embarked on their own journeys, with some who were laggards in year one of our research back in 2019, making dramatic strides forward. EDI is constantly evolving and businesses need to do the same, as Simon explained: “The further up the mountain you get, the more you realise there is to do, and the steeper the path gets.” And as our research shows, there’s still a long way up the mountain to climb.
However, data doesn’t always tell the full story, and individuals play a huge role in the progress of EDI. Greg van Heeswijk, Director of Fundraising and Communications for Team Domenica – an organisation that supports people with learning disabilities to develop independence, confidence and work skills – said during his presentation: “We as a society need to do more to help people with learning disabilities to access the rest of society.” As we found in our research, few HTL and retail businesses can identify a physically disabled leader among their top three levels, which makes mentors and role models scarce. During Greg’s presentation, he shared Zac’s story of working for The Grand hotel, baking cakes for afternoon tea. Zac’s employer noted what an asset his autism was due to his attention to detail and ability to get jobs done. It was a powerful moment, that truly shone a spotlight on how positive inclusion can be for both the employee and the employer.
And in a thought-provoking conversation between Tea and international speaker, author and consultant, Hayley Mulenda, the audience were asked to reflect on some stark truths around the progress that is needed to support young people coming into companies. “People want leaders that are going to be real. Young people care about values and need to be involved in the dialogue,” Hayley said. She also highlighted the value of reverse mentors and how current leaders can absorb and utilise knowledge and experiences from their younger employees: “A lot of companies are speaking at young people, not with young people. Make it intergenerational and implement reverse mentoring.”
As I left the Inclusion Summit, having heard the thoughts and insights from the speakers and attendees that day, I felt inspired by the discussions and candour of the panellists and presenters. The event brought the position of inclusivity into focus, shining a light on both the positive steps that have been taken, but, more importantly, what needs to be done to keep the dial turning in the right direction. I was particularly gratified to hear conversations around a broad range of topics, but as our research and so many of the panellists and speakers showed, that for now, there is still quite the way to go in progressing EDI, before we can celebrate meaningful change.
