Employers see benefits of diversity

Equality and diversity measures are increasingly seen by employers to have business benefits, says Opportunity Now, the business-led campaign which encourages employers to tackle barriers to women's progress.

However, it says that many employers are still failing to measure the impact of equality initiatives in their organisations.

The study of action by 175 employers finds improvement in many areas since last year. For example:

* 38% of employers are now conducting an equal pay audit, a rise from 27% last year;

* 65% have schemes such as mentoring in place to support women's development (up from 59%); and

* 60% monitor training, development and appraisal (up from 53%).

The third annual benchmarking exercise also found that 84% have schemes in place to allow flexible working, and 91% go beyond their minimum legal requirements to support carers.

Norma Jarboe, director of Opportunity Now, said: "Employers now clearly have gender on their business agendas. Many organisations are doing innovative work and realise an inclusive and diverse workforce is good for business, good for the bottom-line and good for creativity and innovation."

But, she added, "There are still some key areas where employers need to concentrate their efforts. With a persistent pay gap between the sexes of up to 25%, not enough employers are actively working to rectify this. There is also much work to be done with middle managers, persuading them of the business benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce."