Diversity and inclusion, all the gaps to be filled in companies

Include all diversity

Be careful though, because gender issues are only part of DEI. The perimeter on which to act is much broader: in fact, the survey reveals a strong sensitivity of the respondents towards the disability (78%) much higher than that demonstrated for the other areas. Even if, on balance, only 60% of the interviewees envisaged concrete measures to mitigate or overcome conditions of fragility. This happens because disability is often related to prejudices and lack of knowledge and information, as well as culture. Those who have broken down these barriers have done so by launching listening and/or counseling initiatives and by introducing assistive technologies aimed at facilitating access to work for disabled collaborators.

Another test bed is that ofsexual orientation: it is a theme that one interviewee out of two pays attention to, but even in this case there are still too few inclusion policies envisaged by companies. The difficulty is linked to the existence of taboos and forms of restraint that are struggling to lessen. If for most Millennials and Gen Z, every type of identity in the sexual field is considered unquestionable, the same is not true for previous generations, still central to decision-making processes and strongly influenced by deep-rooted social conditioning. A change of gear on sexual orientation can therefore only take place in the face of a cultural change. It is no coincidence that it is the Anglo-Saxon multinationals that are more sensitive: Apple, Amazon and Walmart are considered the most LGBTQ-friendly companies in the world (IG ranking, 2022). No Italian company is in the top ten.

Equally important, finally, are the generational (significant for 62% of the companies interviewed), geographical (48%) and religious (34%) differences. The last two, in particular, appear to be the least felt, perhaps due to the reduced presence of people from other countries among the employees of Italian companies. But pretend that these diversity do not exist, it risks being a short-sighted approach. The gradual increase also in Italy of workers from other countries and of second generation Italians will undoubtedly bring the topic to the desks of HR managers very soon. And so it will be for the other fields of action as well.

Ultimately, the push that companies still need for a more complete assumption of responsibility will come from reality itself and, we can bet, from the gradual growth of protagonism of the new generations.