Businesses in the North East are the most positive when it comes to championing and supporting diversity, equity and inclusion issues, and more likely to believe there are business benefits from doing so than in any other UK region, according to a new study by Thoughtworks.
Following a host of recent local campaigns that championed DEI among businesses in the region(*†§) the study found NE businesses were more likely to have initiatives in place to support DEI issues (94% compared with 80% of companies nationwide), with virtually all businesses seeing there were benefits to the company for doing so (97% vs a national average of 89%).
In particular, where they stood out from the national average, North East businesses were more likely to have plans in place to improve issues around disability (30% vs 25% average), age discrimination (26% vs 21% average), and neurodiversity – i.e. ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Tourette’s syndrome – (11% vs 8% average). Meanwhile, the most common areas of concern for businesses included mental health support (29%), race and ethnicity inequity (25%), gender equality (23%) and LGBTQ+ equality (23%).
North East businesses were also more likely to offer specific initiatives to employees on a number of areas including working alongside schools to help teach and support DEI issues (21% vs 14% average), inclusion education workshops for staff (18% vs 12% average) and extensive return to work programmess for parents and carers (19% vs 18% average).
Work still to be done, say employees of businesses in the North East
While there were a number of positives that could be drawn from the findings, the results showed that a significant number of employees felt more needed to be done to champion DEI issues in their organizations.
Those in the region were significantly more likely than the national average to believe their organization did not have an effective plan to address some areas of DEI, including equal representation at a senior/board level (69% vs 61% average) and in efforts to improve allyship and understanding of minority groups (71% vs 65% average).
Around a third (31%) of employees were concerned their organizations were not working on a solution to address representation issues, while for allyship and understanding this proportion rose to 40%.
Other key areas of concern included career development equality (65% of employees believed their organizations were behind the industry) and equal pay (63%), efforts to support working parents (61%) and fair and equal recruitment efforts (60%).
In 2021, Thoughtworks announced the opening of a Newcastle office with plans to create 150 roles for senior tech professionals.
Amy Lynch, head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Thoughtworks UK commented:
“The message that diversity, equity and inclusion is an integral part of a successful business – not just a ‘nice to have’ – seems to have been received, particularly by those in the North East. Acknowledging there is hard work still to be done is obviously the first step, so the fact so many are self-aware is a significant sign towards positive change in the near-term. Fueled by this goodwill, there are reasons to believe more meaningful change is on the horizon.
“There is a wealth of talent in the North East that may or may not fit a preconceived ‘mould’, and importantly offer a fresh business perspective. At Thoughtworks we rely on innovation and different ways of thinking and as we begin a large recruitment drive in the region, we are keen to connect with technologists from all backgrounds who care about making a difference.”
