UK public does not support a retreat from DEI

So there doesn’t appear to be great public support in the UK for a retreat from DEI initiatives; quite the opposite in fact, and the legal landscape in this country in relation to diversity and inclusion issues is also significantly different to the US as a whole.  

The Equality Act 2010 provides protection to UK employees from a range of different types of discrimination, including sex, race, disability and age, from the first day of employment and DEI programmes can be a very necessary step in helping companies prevent discrimination and defend these types of claims when they’re brought. Indeed, Employment Tribunals will often expect companies to have DEI policies in place as standard, particularly for larger employers, with the lack of such policies leaving companies much more exposed to successful discrimination claims. 

The introduction last year of the obligation on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment has only increased the potential liabilities for companies who don’t take DEI issues seriously and having a clear and regularly updated policy specifically dealing with sexual harassment will be one of the first steps in demonstrating that the reasonable steps duty has been met. 

The existing legal framework in the UK therefore limits companies from dramatically reducing their DEI commitments even if they wanted to and the current political climate is likely to mean that the obligations on employers in this area will only increase. 

The Labour government is currently consulting on proposals to introduce ethnicity and disability pay-gap reporting, in addition to the existing gender pay-gap reporting requirements, along with pay transparency rules similar to those currently being introduced in the EU and bringing dual discrimination (where discrimination is due to a combination of protected characteristics) into effect. These initiatives all show the degree to which the UK, as well as the EU more generally, is taking a different approach to DEI issues than the US at the moment.

For those employees who value DEI programmes, the US retrenchment in this area provides UK employers, particularly IT companies, with a really strong opportunity to position themselves as an attractive option for global talent.  

A commitment to DEI initiatives can be a genuine point of difference in attracting the best candidates, especially for younger employees as the recent Ipsos survey showed, and whereas the US might have been a key destination in the past for ex-pat IT employees, the UK could be well placed to close the gap in the next few years.  

Nick Le Riche is a Partner in the Employment Law team at the international law firm Broadfield.