A record number of employers competed to be included in this year’s list of the UK’s 100 most gay-friendly employers, despite fears that diversity budgets would be cut in a recession.
PM can reveal that professional services, investment banking and the police were the best-performing sectors in the 2009 Workplace Equality Index, drawn up by gay-rights campaigner Stonewall. But construction, big retail brands and universities remain under-represented in the survey.
Stonewall received 317 submissions from employers eager to be included in this year’s list, to be published next week, up from 241 last year and 136 in 2005 when the index first began. The list ranks the 100 most gay-friendly employers on their policies and practice relating to lesbian, gay and bisexual staff.
David Shields, director of workplace programmes at Stonewall, said that while firms were making cuts in other areas “diversity budgets are not being cut massively”.
But, with economic conditions set to worsen, Shields said “continuing the good work and keeping the momentum on these issues” over the coming year would be a challenge.
Fleur Bothwick, director of diversity and inclusiveness at Ernst & Young, one firm included in this year’s top 100, said the tougher economic climate meant “it’s more critical than ever that people feel supported and listened to”.
“We need to be doing the important people stuff better than ever,” she said. “Unconscious stereotyping gets worse when people are working under pressure – we must counterbalance this.”
Bothwick added that while E&Y’s diversity budget had not yet been cut, “we are not untouched and are being pragmatic in our spending and what we are doing”. This included swapping a half-day training course for partners for one hour’s web-based learning.
Ann Marie Salamy, an executive director in global leadership and diversity at Goldman Sachs, one of the investment banks included in this year’s index, told PM diversity was still a priority despite swingeing job cuts across the sector.
“Being diverse is not optional, it’s what we must be to better serve our clients,” she said.