Resarch funded by the Cabinet Office and Barclays Bank, and conducted by the Schneider-Ross consultancy suggests that leading organisations now regard the development of diversity as an important contributor to their overall business success.

One hundred and forty leading organisations from both the private and public sectors were questioned, and across both groups a large majority of the respondents saw a direct link between good diversity policies and improved performance.

Main findings of “The Business of Diversity”
– Eighty per cent of all respondents said they saw a direct link between diversity performance and business performance. Of the responses from private sector companies, 71 per cent saw the link between diversity and performance compared to 87 per cent of public sector respondents.

– Successful equality and diversity policies deliver significant business benefits including; better recruitment, increased retention, improved understanding of markets and communities, an enhanced reputation and cost savings.

– Sustained leadership commitment is crucial to the success of any equality and diversity strategy. Any cultural change needs to be led from the top and if an organisation is serious about it, diversity needs building into its statements of beliefs and values.

– It is not the length of time of implementation of equality and diversity policies that produces success, but the depth of their integration into business strategy.

– Some parts of the public sector are ahead of the private sector in using processes to integrate equality and diversity, but the private sector is catching up by focusing on accountability, with an emphasis on individual responsibility. However, the drivers for equality and diversity are remarkably similar in both the public and private sectors.

Sir Richard Wilson, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service said: “It is no accident that diversity lies at the heart of public service reform. Organisations that get this right get a lot of others things right too, whether for their employees, their managers or the people they serve. That our experience in the public sector appears to be converging with that of the private sector does not surprise me. I know that we have a lot to learn from each other, and am delighted that the research published today is the fruit of such constructive co-operation.”