Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) awareness should be the key in the years to come because lesser number of CEOs in the country today feel that gender equity needs to be achieved in order to meet growth ambitions than in the past. Only 61 per cent CEOs in India feel gender equity is essential for growth, which is a 13 percentage points drop from last year. Globally, however, 77 per cent CEOs feel that achieving gender equity will help them fulfil their growth goals.
All isn’t looking dismal on this front as per the CEO Outlook report by KPMG. A significant majority, that is, 62 per cent of CEOs in India, realise and acknowledge that changes will need to be implemented in the senior ranks of organisations to achieve diversity. Globally, 72 per cent hold the same view.
About 52 per cent CEOs in India, compared to 66 per cent globally, agree that the progress in the area of DE&I has been slow in the corporate world.
A NASSCOM report in June 2023 revealed that 80 per cent of organisations do have a formal DE&I policy in place. While a good 72 per cent have set a aside a budget for DE&I initiatives, a very encouraging 82 per cent have formal DE&I targets.
That is not all. About 73 per cent of Indian organisations admitted to their DE&I agenda being driven by the CEO / business leaders. About 49 per cent, according to the NASSCOM report, had established DE&I metrics as part of executive scorecards. A whopping 83 per cent organisations actually track DE&I metrics, while 30 per cent make the results open to public. A small percentage (30 per cent) pay remuneration to their executives based on achievement of DE&I goals. A majority (86 per cent) have put in place grievance-redressal systems.
