Member Article

British charities lead the way on Diversity and Inclusion

British charities stand at the forefront of diversity and inclusion according to a new study out today. The research, from global digital transformation business Kin + Carta, found that British brands scored highly when it comes to ‘diverse leadership’, ‘the gender pay gap’, ‘B corp certification’ and ‘philanthropy efforts’.

The findings come from the Kin + Carta Business Resilience Index 2021, which assessed FTSE 100 and B Corp businesses across 10 industries, indexing them across four key areas: Agility, Responsibility, Humanity and Maturity. The analysis takes into account considerations including business model, working practices, long-term purpose and balancing people, purpose and profit.

The British Red Cross, NSPCC, British Heart Foundation and National Trust came out on top in diversity metrics, representing a strong British charity presence across the leaderboard.

Claire Robinson, Customer Experience Director, Kin + Carta Europe, says: “Charities have been able to avoid the worst impacts of ‘The Great Resignation’ The message is clear for the private sector - invest in diverse, flexible and inclusive working environments to attract and retain talent.”

A strong performance in ‘Responsibility’, in particular relation to diversity and inclusion (D&I), meant the British Red Cross took top position on this year’s Business Resilience Index with a score of 63.8%. In ‘Responsibility’ alone, the charity scored 22.9% (out of a possible 25%), it was singled out for ‘leading on climate change transparency and performance’, as well as for the energy efficiency of its digital estate.

Meanwhile the NSPCC made the top five in both leadership and policy metrics when it came to D&I.

Perhaps surprisingly, when it came to ‘Responsibility’, the Oil, Gas, Power and Utility sector made the top three. Severn Trent scored particularly well (15%), putting it in third place in this category. BP placed 11th out of 100 brands, this is in part due to its recent shift from oil to ‘integrated energy’ in a bid to become net zero.

Financial services did not fare as well overall in ‘Responsibility’, which comes in stark contrast to their strong performances across the ‘Agility’, ‘Maturity’ and ‘Humanity’ sections. However, it is worth noting Aviva bucked the trend, placing 10th across all brands and placing third overall on ‘energy efficiency of digital estate’.

Claire Robinson commented: “Agility was the key focus in last year’s Business Resilience Index, which came as no surprise as businesses could not afford to react slowly to the fast-changing landscape. However, the dial has now shifted towards responsibility as COP26 and the most recent IPCC report have pushed sustainability up the consumer agenda.

“The public mood is shifting and traditional shareholder capitalism will increasingly take a back seat to stakeholder capitalism as the planetary and societal impacts of business operations take centre stage. ‘Responsibility’ was still the lowest scoring factor for brands across the Index as a whole but there has never been a more pressing time to invest in the people who power your business - your customers and employees.”

Overall Leaderboard Top 5 (Average 41.81%) British Red Cross 63.8% (out of 100%) Aviva 60.4% Hargreaves Lansdown 60.2% GlaxoSmithKline 58.8% Royal Dutch Shell 57.8%

Responsibility Top 5 (Average 7.73%) British Red Cross 22.9% Unilever 15.7% Severn Trent 15.3% Coop 15% Alzheimer’s Society 14.7%

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alex Sampson .