4% of companies surveyed publish up-to-date diversity data
The UK’s top companies may be failing to attract job seekers as they do not provide enough information about diversity and inclusion, finds a new survey.
New research by digital communications agency Comprend, which ranks the UK’s top 200 companies through their corporate websites, found that while most UK companies talked about how diverse they were, only 4% published up to date diversity data. This is despite 80% of job seekers saying that this data was of vital importance when looking for a new role.
Although companies talked about their approach to diversity (71%), this was not backed up with concrete data. The survey also found that UK companies were failing to present themselves as attractive employers through not supplying adequate information about career progression (20%) or flexible working (15%).
Now in its 25th year, Webranking, by leading London and Stockholm based corporate communications agency, Comprend, is the largest, survey of corporate websites and the only survey based on stakeholder expectations. The annual survey asks over 500 investors, journalists and jobseekers about their expectations when it comes to a company’s corporate website, via three surveys. The UK companies are measured against a set of criteria, based on these stakeholder expectations and then given an overall score.
Overall, the survey found that UK companies don’t present enough information on their Careers pages, receiving an average score that is four percentage points below the European average score.
Comprend found that although UK companies are generally good at providing their approach to diversity (71%), few companies supported the diversity approach with diversity data (just 4%), even though 80% of respondents in the Careers survey thought that this was important. According to the results, UK companies also missed vital information about how their employees’ careers could progress while working at their companies. Only 20% of the ranked companies offer information about this, even though it is something that we see gaining increased importance in the yearly Careers Survey. Only 15% of the companies provide their approach to flexible working, even though this is sought after information among jobseekers.
Helena Wennergren, Head of Research at Comprend, said: “Our annual Webranking survey is the only survey of corporate websites based on stakeholder expectation. This year, we’ve found that despite outlining their approach to diversity, UK companies are not providing the data behind this. We know that jobseekers are more drawn to companies that show they have more diverse workforces. Stakeholders just don’t settle for vague statements – they want to see the whole picture to understand and to trust a company.”
