24.06.2024

Pride Month: Data reveals employers still yet to fully embrace LGBTQIA+ initiatives in recruitment

Less than 2% of jobs in the UK actively target the LQBTQIA+ community, which suggests that not enough businesses are proactively taking steps to engage with and recruit from this demographic. That’s according to leading talent solutions provider, WilsonHCG.

According to the brand’s data – powered by Claro Analytics, WilsonHCG’s talent intelligence and labour market analytics platform – just 1.5% of job postings in the UK mentioned LGBTQIA+ terms in May 2024. Perhaps more concerningly, this is only 0.2% higher than last year.

Sector nuances reveal where progress has stalled

The statistics suggest that the Communications Services sector has the lowest levels of job postings highlighting LGBTQIA+ terms (just 0.8%), while Financial Services, Consumer Discretionary and IT reported the highest number of jobs that actively target this community (12.7%, 6.1% and 5.9% respectively).

Janine Chidlow, Managing Director at WilsonHCG, commented: “Pride Month has been celebrated for many years now, yet in the recruitment and employment landscape, progress has seemingly stalled. We would have expected to see more growth in the last year than we have in terms of job postings that proactively push LGBTQIA+ incentives. Not only is it the right thing to do but employers that develop inclusive and diverse environments will also find it easier to attract and retain top talent, which is a critical issue in light of the ongoing skills shortages affecting some markets.

“Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB), needs to be a critical focus for businesses, rather than a ‘nice to have’ incentive when the economic climate allows for investment in diversity. In fact, it was concerning to see in a recent poll of our LinkedIn network that only a quarter of respondents felt that their organisation was committed to DEIB, with less than half (49%) stating their employer was very committed.”

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