Australia: Business study says firms can do more to promote diversity and inclusion

A study carried out by the University of Sydney Business School (USBS) has concluded that Australian companies could be doing more to promote diversity and inclusion (D&I), and that doing so will boost business performance. The study, entitled Benchmarking Diversity and Inclusion Practices in Australia, found that approximately 4 out of ten companies (39%) who responded to the survey had no diversity and inclusion budget.

‘I think the budget issue is quite a complex one,’ said Associate Professor Di van den Broek from the University of Sydney’s Business School. ‘Sixty per cent of our respondents said they had a budget but a lot of those who had a budget said it was inadequate to push through the diversity and inclusion agenda that they wanted.’

Another key finding was that only 41% of diversity and inclusion practitioners said that their organizations measured the outcomes of their D&I initiatives. This is despite the fact that an increasing number of companies are recognizing the business benefits of promoting diversity and inclusion.  Read more via Gay Star News