Organisations that strive for a representative workforce are also more likely to show commitment to reducing their waste and carbon dioxide emissions, with 94% of suppliers with a representative workforce investing in these areas compared with only 76% of those suppliers not having a diverse workforce.
Analysis of the business practices of some of the public sector's key suppliers, conducted by Corporate Assessment of Environmental, Social and Economic Responsibility (CAESER), shows
businesses that strive for a diverse and representative workforce also consistently commit more resources to reducing their environmental impact than those without such representation.
Results show a strong correlation between scores achieved on the CAESER Environmental Sustainability and the Equality & Diversity assessment, with organisations consistently showing that the adoption of responsible traits in one area of sustainability make them far more likely to display good practice in a number of areas of corporate responsibility. The pattern is replicated across SMEs and large corporations. Responses highlight that an increasing number of organisations are moving towards embedding the fundamentals of sustainability into their core business practice, rather than relying solely on a traditional philanthropic approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR).
This approach is supported by 88% of organisations that have a written code of ethics, which addresses both environmental sustainability and equality and diversity. Similarly, 82% of those organisations questioned had named individuals responsible for reporting on progress on environmental sustainability and on equality and diversity.
But 73% of individuals tasked with responsibility for environmental sustainability hold board positions, compared with only 50% of those responsible for equality and diversity.
It is anticipated that the introduction of the new equality legislation will assist in redressing this balance. Equally, while many organisations (82% of those questioned) train their employees on at least one area of environmental sustainability, only 72% provide equality and diversity awareness training.
There are also aspects of each area, which currently appear neglected, with suppliers performing poorly on certain topics such as the diversity strands of carers and transgender people and the environmental impacts on biodiversity and water use.
But in keeping with the pattern highlighted, the communication of equality and diversity policies to suppliers is a good indication of engagement on environmental policies, with 94% of suppliers that promote their equality and diversity policy down their own supply chain also engaging with suppliers on their environmental impact.
Andrew Millington, director of the Centre for Business, Organisations and Society at the University of Bath, said: "Having had the opportunity to scrutinise and review the analysis, we are pleased to see the findings are consistent with our emerging research surrounding environmental, social and economic behaviour. Indeed our own work on 'systems sophistication' within firms has led us to very similar results. We look forward to working with CAESER on their future analysis that will afford us both the opportunity to further explore this important issue."
John McClelland, chairman of CAESER, added: "These results represent a significant development in CSR and confirm what we have suspected for some time. Businesses that value their employees and do the best they can to promote equality and respect diversity are best placed to protect our environment and help rebuild our economy."
