There is a “significant gap” in how leaders and employees view progress toward equality within their organizations, found new research from Accenture.
The report, Getting to Equal 2020: The Hidden Value of Culture Makers, includes research across 28 countries, including Canada. It found that while 70 per cent of leaders feel they create empowering environments where people have a sense of belonging, only 40 per cent of employees agree. Additionally, the proportion of employees who do not feel included in their organizations is 9x higher than leaders believe (18% vs 2%, respectively), says Accenture.
The study also found that most leaders rank diversity and workplace culture low on their list of top organizational priorities. The majority of leaders ranked financial performance followed by brand recognition and quality at the top of their list of priorities (83 per cent and 70 per cent, respectively), while only 35 per cent ranked diversity and 18 per cent ranked culture at the top.
"Accelerating a culture of equality in the workplace has never been more critical for driving innovation," said Jeffrey Russell, President, Accenture Inc in a March 5 statement. "At Accenture, we believe that a future workforce is an equal one, and our research provides a roadmap for organizations in Canada and all over the world to build a workplace culture where everyone thrives."
Accenture says that aligning leaders' perceptions with those of their employees would yield significant upsides. “Everyone would advance faster, and global profits would increase by US$3.7 trillion.”
Accenture expects that employee expectations with respect to workplace culture are only set to increase. The research found that a larger percentage of Gen Z, globally, is more concerned with workplace culture than Boomers (75 per cent vs. 64 per cent, respectively).
To learn more, consult the report here.
