LONDON, Nov. 16, 2022 - Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm, today released the results of its inaugural 2022 Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Survey. The survey evaluated organizations’ DE&I practices in benefits, work environment and culture, finding a positive correlation between employee engagement and DE&I commitment and action.

Overall, 74 percent of companies have an internal DE&I definition and policy. Highly engaged companies, defined as having 70 percent or more highly engaged employees, have a definition of DE&I 82 percent of the time, compared to 65 percent for companies with low engagement – those with less than 40 percent highly engaged employees.

DE&I in the workplace has evolved over the past two years, as many organizations embedded their DE&I efforts into organization-wide policies, including benefits, compensation, manager training and talent development. As these policies mature, organizations are also taking a data-driven approach to determine how effective their efforts are and where they need to improve.

“Organizations focusing on DE&I are building a resilient workforce by putting their employees first,” said Dr. Avneet Kaur, head of advisory and specialty practice, Health Solutions EMEA, at Aon. “At Aon, we’re supporting our clients on their DE&I journey by providing them with information and insights that help shape better decisions as they develop DE&I policies and benefits strategy. When employers design their health and wellbeing benefits, we recommend they first audit their benefits and ensure that the various demographics of their workforce, including previously underserved populations, have access to and awareness of these offerings, which should also be tailored to their needs.”

Inclusive benefit design can support a diverse employee population, improving the employee experience and meeting new expectations. Employers need to ensure they are considering the unique requirements of different employees, such as gender-sensitive health needs and mental health. For example, employers reported providing support to their employees through cervical and breast cancer support (44 percent), prostate cancer screenings (32 percent), awareness of increased risks of certain cancers for men (31 percent), awareness of menopause (18 percent) and awareness and assistance for osteoporosis (17 percent).

Additional findings from the report include:

• 93 percent of companies have senior leadership support and sponsorship for DE&I initiatives.
• 84 percent of companies have identified colleagues responsible for leading DE&I initiatives.
• The top three areas that companies cover with their DE&I policies are gender (71 percent), ethnicity (66 percent) and sexual orientation (64 percent).

The survey of more than 1,200 benefits and DE&I leaders in 55 countries covering over 10 industries was conducted in the second half of 2022. Explore findings of Aon’s 2022 Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Survey here.

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