If a more diverse workplace is a more productive workplace, why is the UK furniture industry falling short when it comes to representing people from ethnic minority backgrounds? In January's issue, Furniture News looks at the challenges and opportunities of adopting a proactive approach to Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), with the help of individuals and enterprises leading the charge across retail and manufacture …
Britain has long been an ethnically diverse place, and it is becoming more so. According to 2021 Census data, 82% of people in England and Wales are white, while 18% belong to a black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic group. Those from Asian ethnic groups make up the second-largest percentage of the population (9.3%), followed by black (4%), mixed (2.9%) and other (2.1%) ethnic groups.
The number of people identifying with ethnic groups other than ‘white’ continues to rise, and, of course, the picture looks very different depending on which part of the country you’re looking at.
There are many reasons – social, economic and historical – why this split is not accurately reflected in the businesses that make up the furniture industry, from manufacture to retail. But analysts tend to agree that, year by year, UK businesses are becoming more representative of the customers they serve.
Is retail representative?
Last summer, MBS Intelligence, in partnership with the British Retail Consortium (BRC), published the fourth edition of its annual report, Diversity and Inclusion in UK Retail.
Signatories to the BRC’s D&I (Diversity and Inclusion) Charter include Bensons, Dunelm, Argos, B&Q, Furniture Village, Homebase, IKEA, M&S, Next, Sofology, Tesco, The Very Group, and The White Company, making the report’s findings a useful perspective on the strategies larger furniture retailers are adopting.
And, despite increasing pressure on retailers’ budgets, there is clear progress being made towards a more diverse retail workforce – even if that goal is proving more difficult to realise among senior positions.
“Retail serves the needs of millions of people every day,” states the report. “Men, women, people of all ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, those with disabilities, young and old. To deliver the best customer experience to everyone, we need a truly diverse workforce with a diversity of thought and ideas from the storeroom to the boardroom and truly inclusive cultures. We see retailers remaining hyper-focused on achieving a truly equitable playing field, and treating D&I as a priority.”
The majority (98%) of retailers assessed by the report now have a D&I strategy in place. However, by its very nature, diversity is a broad church, with some groups making better progress than others. The report found that D&I activity is translating into meaningful change on the representation of women – the percentage of women at board level now stands at 42.3%, from 32.6% in 2021 – but that there’s still some way to go in areas such as ethnic diversity (see overleaf) and disability inclusion.
And despite proving more representative, not all workplaces are becoming increasingly inclusive – that is, welcoming and respectful of staff members regardless of their background or identity – in turn. According to the report, a feeling of exclusion was most pronounced among those who would prefer not to disclose their sexual orientation, and those who are Black/African/Caribbean.
“Without both sides of the D and the I coin, our mission is not complete,” states the report.
Barriers and benefits
The path to greater D&I is far from clear cut. There remains much support of the notion of meritocracy – that the most deserving individual, be it by dint of experience or qualification, deserves any given role. Yet this attitude can overlook people’s natural propensity to hire LFL colleagues, or to favour select groups by prioritising the qualifications and experiences only afforded to those groups. Without better understanding the D&I landscape, employers will erect barriers, conscious or not.
There will also always be some backlash against anything perceived as ‘affirmative action’. Just this autumn, Williams-Sonoma, the company behind US retail brands including West Elm and Pottery Barn, came under fire for its hiring practices, with the complainant (conservative group AFL) accusing the retailer of violating anti-discrimination laws by focusing on race, sex and nationality in its hiring and contract decisions.
To make matters even harder, pursuing a D&I strategy takes time and effort. Employees might not be comfortable divulging their feelings with an employer, and employers may be reluctant to embark on a new initiative when faced with so many more immediate challenges.
Yet the benefits of greater D&I in the workplace are manifold. Most managers would agree that a greater variety of people with different skills, experiences and perspectives is an advantage when it comes to creative challenges, problem-solving, and smarter decision-making.
A more diverse team is likely to be more socially aware – a boon when it comes to recruitment and marketing, in particular – while greater inclusion means a happier, more satisfied workforce, which is less prone to absence and turnover.
Ultimately, the combination of these strengths means greater productivity and profits, and a strengthened business reputation, which in turn can impact sales and hiring. As the Diversity and Inclusion in UK Retail report reiterates, the goal of D&I is to “increase employee engagement, productivity, reduce turnover and sickness absences”, and will “ultimately lead to more successful businesses”.
The fact that it’s also fundamentally ‘the right thing to do’ makes embracing a D&I strategy a crucial consideration for every furniture business, large or small.
Read the rest of the feature in January's issue.
