A survey of businesses that signed up to a pledge to improve diversity and inclusion in their workplaces has found higher levels of female participation at senior and executive levels compared to the national average.
The ‘Elevate Report’ from Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) found 40% female representation at senior and executive roles, higher than the 30% reported in the CSO Gender Balance in Business Survey.
The study looked at more than 120,000 workers employed by 60 companies that signed up to the ‘Elevate Pledge’.
The firms committed to making their workplaces more diverse and inclusive and agreed to begin the task of measuring and disclosing workforce data across gender, age, disability, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
The study found that more organisations, 28 out of 60, are collecting disability data on their employees.
There has been a steady increase across different ethnicity groups at all organisational levels except at management level.
The research also found that 34 signatories have partnered with employment support organisations that work with the unemployed.
“Our Elevate Pledge signatories recognise that employment is the single most important factor in moving people out of poverty and to becoming active participants in society,” said Linda O’Sullivan, Head of Social Inclusion, BITCI.
“To advance this further, more action is required to gather and analyse the data across all diversity indicators,” Ms O’Sullivan said.
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A separate report from the 30% Club published today points to a gender power gap with many Irish businesses and organisations.
The power gap is defined as the proportional power held by women in leadership and management positions relative to men.
The measurement differs from gender diversity, which only measures the presence of women at the top table, and the gender pay gap, which measures the average difference in remuneration.
The report shows that only one in five CEOs in Ireland is a woman while just one quarter of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) posts across all Irish business are held by women.
This figure has decreased from 29.7% in 2019, CSO data shows.
“With CFO roles as important talent pipeline for Chair and CEO roles, addressing this imbalance becomes critical in modern succession planning,” the report concludes.
The 30% Club is a global campaign supported by Board Chairs and CEOs of medium and large organisations, which aims to achieve better gender balance at leadership levels and throughout their organisations with the intention of delivering better business outcomes.
Since it was established in Ireland ten years ago, the gender balance on Irish listed boards (ISEQ 20) has more than trebled from 12.5% to 40% today.