London Business Survey 2020: key business recommendations for a more inclusive society

London’s vast variety, from its range of sectors to its diverse people, is the city’s greatest asset. But this variety masks a wealth of inequalities that the pandemic has not only shone a light on but exacerbated. The root causes underlying these inequalities must be understood and addressed, so that the capital’s rebound is inclusive, more equal and stronger. In turn, this will make the city more productive and resilient.

The London Business Survey 2020 (LBS) identifies how national and local government can support business to navigate the pandemic and its recovery (from page 4). The survey also provides guidance to firms on their role in helping to build back a more inclusive and equal society (from page 15). 81% of respondents believe the London business community has more to do to reduce inequality in society and their role in doing this is explored in the second half of the report.

LBS findings: what recommendations are highlighted for business?

People: value employee opinion on D&I to build trust, allyship and measure progress

Value and act on employee opinion and avoid creating a hierarchy of inequalities. Acting on sentiment can help establish trust and enhance processes like employee self-declaration of data. Employee views can also help firms keep pace with D&I developments and measure progress. Firms find these are best achieved through gathering opinions and conducting firm-wide consultation through anonymous employee surveys, staff networks, staff forums (particularly useful for SMEs), reverse mentoring and allyship programmes. To ensure the benefits of networks and forums are maximised, appoint executive/management sponsors to champion these group/s and ensure they have formal routes to HR and/or D&I leads.

Process: enhancing inclusion in London’s workforce through D&I strategies

Consider a D&I strategy to ensure business policies are inclusive of the experiences and needs of different colleagues and creating a more productive workforce. In developing policies to enhance representation of groups or demographics, assess how these policies also benefit or disadvantage wider underrepresented groups. Develop D&I strategies with intersectional analysis and staff experiences, inclusive recruitment policies and unconscious bias training. Strategies may also consider a firms’ purchaser power to make positive social impacts. Larger businesses can help ensure their supply chains and/or SME partners are able to commit to diversity, inclusion, and equality, through the provision of mentoring, training or guidance.

Place and partnership: look at the skills and practical impacts your business can make within the local business community

Understand London-wide or borough-level causes of inequalities and/or risk factors. Set out the constraints or limitations of your business in supporting local efforts and initiatives and identify any specific skills or resources your firm can offer. This will provide a greater understanding of what can be achieved in the immediate and mid-term and ensure collective action.

Process: harness the positive power of local and regional data

Undertake greater data collection and intersectional analysis, to measure internal progress on D&I and equality commitments and to inform strategy. With businesses successfully navigating and continuing to report on gender pay, this shows similar efforts should be made toward capturing and reporting ethnicity and disability pay gaps. This will in turn provide greater data for policymakers to measure the impact of business and government programmes (including those designed to address inequality) and provide insights to shape policy or economic development. Business can also utilise local data, for example the London Datastore, to gain a greater understanding of challenges and opportunities across the capital which can inform engagements and partnerships with other businesses, civil society and educators.

Recommendations for both government and business

Partnership: explore the formalities of an equal partnership between government and the business community to tackle inequality in a range of forms. Such a partnership can be based upon several guiding principles:

• Agreement and clarity on definitions of different inequalities, expectations on both business and government, feasibility of action, measures of success
• Setting long-term strategies to address drivers of inequality, responsibilities, while streamlining engagement and collaboration
• Guidance frameworks on how businesses of different sizes and capacity can help reduce inequality, successful examples, suggested goals and metrics
• Localised approach to develop existing initiatives, data and evidence to tackle regional drivers of inequality.

A full list of LBS government and business recommendations can be found from page 46 of the report.

Key LBS findings

• 75% of London’s business leaders say tackling inequality in society (over the next 6-12 months), is important to their business and one in five (21%) say this is an ‘extremely important’ business priority
• While 61% of London business leaders say reducing inequality is an equal partnership between government and business
• 22% of business leaders stated coronavirus was a barrier in meeting their equality, diversity, or inclusion ambitions
• With the mental health and wellbeing of colleagues remaining a top priority for firms over the next 6-12 months (53%), 62% of respondents include mental health within their diversity and inclusion strategies.