Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) continues to be at the forefront of strategy for most business leaders, and there are some key statistics in 2023 that are worth paying attention to. 

Diversity is not about headcount and box ticking - a diverse organizational culture brings a richness of ideas and the psychological safety to express and explore them. Numerous studies have shown a strong correlation between higher levels of diversity and competitive advantage. 

We work with a number of global brands who are using ETU’s immersive learning simulations to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion, improve leadership skills, and drive business performance improvements. 

Through this, we’ve gained insight on what works for successful companies, which helped us put together this list of DEI stats for L&D, HR and senior leadership teams to think about in 2023 and beyond: 

DEI & business performance

• Companies with a strong supplier diversity focus see 30% higher procurement ROI. (BCG)
• Teams with diverse members have 87% better decision-making capabilities. (PPM)
• Companies that are inclusive have a 1.7 times greater chance of being innovative and achieve 2.3 times more cash flow per employee. (Josh Bersin)
• Diverse management teams tend to achieve 19% higher revenue. (BCG)
• Companies that employ equal numbers of men and women tend to generate up to 41% more revenue. (Clear Company)
• According to one research study, a professional with autism can be up to 140% more productive compared to an average worker when they are placed in a job that aligns with their abilities. (HBR)
• Companies with high levels of diversity are 70% more likely to capture new markets. (HBR)
• However - only 35% of HR leaders said that diversity, equity, and inclusion were among their top five priorities for 2022. (Gartner)

Demographic stats

• 7.8% of US employees self-identified as having a disability in 2022. This is an increase of 0.7 percentage points from the previous year. (Microsoft & Inclusion Report).
• 31% of respondents who identify as LGBT stated that they have encountered discrimination or harassment in the last five years. (Williams Institute)
• Women’s jobs have been 1.8 times more vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic than men’s. Women make up 39% of the global workforce but have accounted for 54% of overall job losses since 2020. (McKinsey)
• Companies with female CEOs have significantly more gender-diverse boards than those with male CEOs - 33% female versus 19%. (Deloitte)
• Only 23% of C-Suite executives are female. (Women in the Workplace)
• Only 6.6% of all Fortune 500 companies have a woman as CEO. (Fortune)
• France is a leader in gender diversity - over 40% of board seats among French companies are occupied by women. (Deloitte)

DEI & recruitment

• 76% of people say that a diverse workforce is a significant consideration when assessing companies and job opportunities. (Glassdoor)
• 74% of millennial workers think that their organization becomes more innovative when it has an inclusive culture and 47% of them pay attention to diversity and inclusion when evaluating potential employers. (Deloitte)
  A blind application process leads to between 25 and 46% more women being selected. (Bulitin)

Employee sentiment & DEI-related skills

• Nearly 70% of organizations consider the work done by employees to promote diversity, equity and inclusion to be very or extremely important. (McKinsey)
• Only 47% of managers feel adequately prepared to have a conversation about race-related issues with their team-members. (Gallup)
• 78% of respondents to a Harvard Business Review study felt that they work at an organization that is lacking in diversity within leadership positions. (HBR)
• 45% of American employees reported experiencing discrimination and/or harassment within the last year. (Gallup)
• Learners are very good at recognizing DEI microaggressions with 82% of learners calling-out the microaggression. However, learners are also challenged with how best to gain consensus in a challenging situation, with only 48% making the best choice. (ETU DEI Simulation data)
• Employee engagement in millennials is 83% more likely if they work at an inclusive company. (Deloitte)
• Simulated practice in a realistic but risk free environment significantly improves DEI skills across learners, leading to + 33% average skill increase for Displaying Advocacy, Allyship, and Anti-Racism, and + 28% average skill increase for Building Inclusive Teams. (ETU DEI Simulation data)

The future is diverse

• By 2044, over half of the American population is projected to belong to a minority group (those falling outside white non-Hispanic). (US Government Census)

Clearly, diversity, equity and inclusion is a potential competitive advantage, as the most diverse companies have been shown to outperform their competitors. 

Learn more about our DEI training simulations or browse the diversity, equity and inclusion resources section of our website for more advice and insights.