Retailers have made huge strides on gender equality in the
boardroom over the last five years according to the latest report from The
British Retail Consortium and The MBS Group. While women made up
less than a third (32%) of boardrooms five years ago, that number
has now almost reached parity, at 47% in this year's report.
Many retailers have focused on training up the next generation,
creating a clear pipeline of future leaders within their
businesses. Other initiatives include appointment of D&I
leaders, support for those going through menopause, mentoring,
and employee-led initiatives.
However, the report also shows that not everything is rosy.
Leadership representation for people with other characteristics
such as a disability and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds saw
slow progress. And, despite the whole retail workforce seeing
greater ethnic representation, the number of leaders from these
minority groups fell. While 12% of retail Boards had
representation from a minority group last year, it was only 8%
this year.
The report also reveals the industry has much further to go to
foster an inclusive workplace culture that is felt by everyone.
In the report's ‘Employee Inclusion Index', employee feelings of
belonging and inclusion are generally low, especially for those
who selected “prefer not to say” under gender, those with a
disability, and those identifying as
Black/African/Caribbean.
Other key statistics include:
- 90% of retailers have a coordinated D&I strategy in place
(2024: 98%)
- 75% of retailers have at least one senior leader from a lower
socioeconomic background (2024: 70%)
- 58% of businesses could identify at least one senior leader
from the LGBTQ+ community (2024: 67%)
- 15% of businesses could identify at least one disabled leader
(2024: 11%)
The impact of a difficult economic backdrop and cost pressures on
retailers coupled with the increasingly challenging external
conversation around D&I is clear in the report's findings.
But the report shows a reassuring determination from many
retailers to not allow these factors to interfere with their
mission in creating a truly equitable, productive workplace.
Retailers must continue to persevere and build on their hard work
so far. They need to reflect on what is, and what is not, working
and find solutions. The report identifies just how crucial CEO
accountability and buy-in is for moving inclusion forward,
especially CEO engagement with the wider workforce.
In 2021, alongside the first edition of this report, the BRC
launched its D&I Charter. Nearly 90 retailers are now
signatories and have pledged to improve D&I by focusing on
six areas – CEO oversight, recruitment, progression, reporting,
inclusivity, and responsibility. The Charter helps retailers to
challenge their culture and biases holistically, learn from one
another and embed greater D&I into their business.
Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive of the British
Retail Consortium, said:
“Retailers should celebrate the enormous efforts made to ensure
more women have a seat at the executive table. More than half of
retail customer bases are women, so having their perspective is
essential to success. But, if this year's results have shown us
anything, it is that we cannot rest on our laurels as progress
can quickly fade. There is little point in having more diverse
leadership if this does not translate into the lived experience
of people within a business. All employees must feel a sense of
belonging to be productive and power a business to a successful
future. The work on achieving true diversity and inclusion must
not stop until we get where the industry needs to be.”
Elliott Goldstein, Managing Partner at The MBS Group,
said:
“For the fifth year, MBS is proud to have partnered with the BRC
to continue to move the dial on diversity and inclusion in the
retail industry. Although we have seen real progress since our
research began in 2021 - more than half of all direct reports
into the executive committee in retail today are women – progress
in moving the dial on ethnic diversity in leadership has been
less encouraging. To ensure lasting change, retailers must
continue to put their heads above the parapet to drive forward
initiatives and commit to building work environments that are
truly inclusive – particularly with the backdrop of today's
geopolitical environment.”
-ENDS-
Notes:
- Download the report here
- See more on our D&I Charter here
- MBS research and analysis is based on data from 200 of our
industry's leading businesses, with a focus on the three highest
leadership levels and on D&I strategy. The entire survey
sample encompassed 53 of the signatory companies comprising a
workforce of more than 1 million (a third of the total UK retail
workforce)
- Retail Trust's Employee Inclusion Index is based on the views
of individuals within retail across different demographic
characteristics
-
Diversity refers to the presence of
differences within a group, such as race, gender, ethnicity
focusing on representation. Inclusion ensures
all individuals feel valued and integrated, emphasising active
engagement and equitable access to opportunities.
