Business in the Community Ireland’s (BITCI) Elevate Pledge Report: Evidence that Building Inclusive Workplaces Strengthens Social Cohesion

Being an inclusive employer leads to greater productivity, retention of staff and is overall good for business. For the employee, employment is the single most important factor in them escaping poverty. Creating a workforce that mirrors the diversity of the population enhances social cohesion and social inclusion. It helps break down social barriers, improve cultural understanding and creates a level playing field.

The rates of unemployment are disproportionate for some groups such as people with disabilities, migrants and members of the Traveller community. In an economy where there are skill shortages more needs to be done to enhance employment opportunities for these groups.

That was the motivation behind BITCI commencing its Elevate, The Inclusive Workplace, Pledge. As a network promoting responsible and sustainable business practices, BITCI asked signatories to measure (across different indicators of diversity), disclose and profile their workforce so it reflects the diversity within society.

The recently published 3rd annual Elevate Pledge Report has 60 large (national and multinational) companies signed up to it, representing over 150,000 employees.

The key findings include: 

Elevate signatories are performing better on gender representation than the wider population – 40% representation of females at senior and executive level compared to 30% reported in the Gender Balance in Business Survey (CSO 2023).
More organisations (28 out of 60) are collecting disability data on their employees. This is important given these companies will be expected to provide such data as part of their workforce diversity obligations for compliance with CSRD.
There has been a steady increase across different ethnicity groups at all organisational levels except at management level (Executive / C-suite).

It is clear the signatories recognise that recruitment, retention and progression of staff from diverse backgrounds is the right thing to do. However, more proactive measures are required to advance their commitment to creating an inclusive workforce. This can include improved data gathering, setting targets for diverse groups, challenging stereotypes and modifying recruitment methods and job descriptions.

BITCI believes the momentum gathered by business since Elevate Pledge began cannot wane especially against the current backdrop of increased social divisions. Business must be leaders in this space. The Pledge signatories are united in striving for improvements knowing that creating an inclusive workforce is good for the individual, staff, business growth and community.

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