Workday, Inc has announced the results of its latest global study titled Global Blueprint for Belonging and Diversity, which found improving staff well-being (46%) is now the top driver for DEI in Australian organisations, surpassing the need to attract and recruit a diverse workforce (43%).
The global study surveyed 2,600 business leaders – including CEOs and leaders from HR, finance, IT, and sales – globally, including in Australia.
This comes as more Australian businesses than ever are prioritising DEI. Three-quarters (74%) report DEI has become more important in the past year, and 83% of organisations now have a budget for DEI, up from 69% in 2022.
Almost all Australian respondents (97%) now have at least one DEI initiative in place, and many are seeing the results. The survey found that 72% have seen an increase in belonging and inclusion and 71% in representation since investing in these areas. One-half (51%) even report a boost in profitability.
“In recent years, DEI has gone from a ‘nice to have’ to a priority invested in by Australian businesses,” said Jo-Anne Ruhl, managing director and vice president of Workday ANZ. “Australian organisations are moving to a point of maturity in their DEI approach now that they have a strong foundation. There’s potential to do more with a strategic, technology-enabled approach, using emerging tools like AI to track progress, and ultimately create people-driven change.”
While more than half (58%) of respondents say they’re making progress on DEI, just one-in-10 (9%) rate their performance as good. To move to the next stage of maturity, Australian organisations say there needs to be more than just budget – they need a clear strategy, with DEI metrics included as a core part of corporate KPIs (42%), a shared vision and understanding of the business case for DEI (38%), and leadership and commitment from the top (37%).
Technology is Enabling Change – including AI
Almost all Australians (96%) deploy technology to support DEI initiatives, with emerging technologies like AI used to support DEI tracking and data collection.
Three in five (82%) say the bias mitigation features of AI-enabled tools have helped with promotion discussions, 80% for performance development, and 75% for hiring, all areas where it’s critical to reduce bias.
Although there can be difficulties putting the right systems in place to capture DEI data, doing so can make a big difference according to the survey. Two thirds (66%) say recording DEI is a challenge because new systems and software are needed to manage it, but the majority (68%) with systems in place trust their organisation’s DEI data.
