Home    Diageo    Insight

Diageo becomes early signatory of Change The Race Ratio campaign

Diageo becomes early signatory of Change The Race Ratio campaign

 October 27, 2020

 Read time

Championing inclusion and diversity is core to Diageo's values.

The company is proud to be one of the early signatories of Change The Race Ratio, a campaign to increase racial and ethnic participation in business and to create a culture that enables diversity to thrive.

A commitment to racial and ethnic diversity

Change the Race Ratio's signatories pledge to increase racial and ethnic diversity among Board members; increase racial and ethnic diversity in senior leadership; be transparent on targets and actions; and create an inclusive culture in which talent from all diversities can thrive.

Diageo joins other major companies such as Aviva, Deloitte, ITV, PWC, Axa and Siemens.

Further pledges to workplace inclusion

This isn't the first time Diageo has made a formal commitment to workplace equality, diversity and inclusion.

Further pledges include CEO Action for Diversity & InclusionFree the Bid, and Race at Work Charter.

Progress is too slow

Change the Race Ratio suggest that the Parker Review report into ethnic diversity in UK Boards shows little progress has been made by businesses on implementing its recommendations: 37% of FTSE 100 and 69% of FTSE 250 companies surveyed still do not have any ethnic minority representation on their boards.

They share some sobering statistics reinforcing that diverse business leadership enhances business performance:

  • Profitability. -Top quartile businesses of the most diverse executive teams are 36% more profitable than bottom quartile businesses (McKinsey)
  • Innovation - When employees ‘think their organisation is committed to and supportive of diversity, and they feel included’, their ability to innovate increases by 83% (Deloitte)
  • Attracting talent - 61% of women and 48% of men assessed the diversity of a company’s leadership team when deciding to accept an offer (PWC)
  • Investors - Large investors are starting to act: LGIM will vote against FTSE chairs if their boards haven’t met the Parker ethnic diversity targets in 2022
  • Economic growth - Lack of ethnic diversity in business is costing the UK £24bn a year in lost GDP (McGregor-Smith review)

They advise that businesses need to take action now through

  • setting and publish targets
  • being transparent about progress
  • creating a culture that enables diverse thinking and talent to thrive

If we Change the Race Ratio we can create a more diverse and inclusive business community, competitive advantage and a more equitable society.


Work for an inclusive employer

Diageo knows that the best performing businesses value inclusion and diversity - so the company believes it is crucial to create a culture with inclusion and diversity at its heart. 

Join Diageo and into one of the great careers with this inclusive employer. 

 

Find out more

Stay connected by subscribing to our monthly newsletter and following us on LinkedIn, X, Instagram and Facebook.

Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.


                       

Join our women's careers community