Australia
Despite the increasing pressure on employers to take meaningful and not just symbolic actions against social justice and racial inequities, less than half of U.S. employees feel proud of how their organization responded to the demonstrations in 2020, according to Alight Solutions’ sixth annual Workforce Mindset® Study.
During periods of social unrest, 51% of employees say their employer communicated about inclusion and diversity, but little action was taken afterward. A quarter of employees say their employer took no action at all. This disappointment runs counter to employee expectations when it comes to engaging and fostering support around social causes.
- Serve a bigger mission. 60% of employees say taking a stand on social justice and political issues is an opportunity for employers to separate themselves from the competition. This is on par with other common differentiators such as better pay (65%) and better benefits (63%).
- Cultivate true connections. Feeling connected to an organization’s social purpose or greater mission is more important to employees now than in previous years. 58% of employees say it’s important to them (up from 53% last year) – and it’s even higher for Gen Z and Millennials (63%) and people of color (67%).
- Don’t rest on your laurels. 4 in 10 employees believe their employer needs to do more in response to social justice efforts – and that number jumps to 66% for Black employees.
“There’s a groundswell of support for organizations that channel energy and compassion toward important causes. Today’s employees won’t be placated by lip service during these watershed moments in history,” said Xan Daniels, global inclusion and diversity leader at Alight. “Employers that effectively state their values – and more importantly, actually match their actions to their words – will differentiate themselves in the talent wars and realize a correlating impact on the overall employee experience.”
For more information on the Workforce Mindset® Study, please click here.