European companies employing diversity policies see business benefits

A report from the European Commission has revealed that 83% of companies believe that diversity policies make good business sense but nearly half of respondents have yet to implement policies. Companies in the north and west of the EU were more informed and were more widely implementing diversity policies than those in southern Europe and the new EU Member States.

Launching the report, 'The business case for diversity: good practices in the workplace', Vladimir Spidla, the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, said: 'This study clearly shows that companies are making steady progress in the implementation of diversity and equality strategies at the workplace. They are doing this not only just for ethical and legal reasons but also for the clear business benefits they bring. It is particularly worth noting that a lot of companies wish to go beyond legal requirements and lead the field in diversity issues.'

According to the report, 42% of respondents believed that the most important business benefit of implementing a diversity policy was to resolve labour shortages and the ability to recruit and retain high quality staff. More than 38% of respondents thought that a diversity policy enhanced a company's reputation and standing in the local community. And more than 26% of companies saw improvements in their capacity to create and innovate.

The report also includes a good practice information from companies with diversity policies including providing non-discrimination training for managers and staff; creating employee networks to represent disabled, gay, lesbian, ethnic minority employees; company-wide campaigns on the value of older employees and diversity objectives for managers linked to performance appraisal.

More information including entire report