The majority of human resources professionals said they believe their organizations’ current benefits and retirement offerings are meeting the needs of a diverse workforce, according to a new survey by Aon.
The survey, which polled 262 HR professionals across Canada, found almost three-quarters (74 per cent) said they believe their retirement savings program is sufficient for all, while slightly less than two-thirds (62 per cent) said the same for their current benefits offerings.
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Looking at diversity initiatives, 50 per cent of respondents said they don’t know what positive impacts these are making in their workplaces. However, 75 per cent said they plan to review some aspect of their benefits and retirement programs from a diversity, equity and inclusion perspective in the near future. Additionally, slightly more than half (52 per cent) said their organizations are just getting started when it comes to DEI initiatives, while 36 per cent are well down the path and 10 per cent haven’t started yet.
Among HR professionals working on improving DEI issues in the retirement space, 15 per cent said they’ve incorporated more diverse perspectives into investment decision-making; while eight per cent have developed an investment policy that integrates DEI as part of the investment processes, aiming for more inclusion and better investment outcomes; seven per cent have increased manager diversity within their retirement savings’ fund portfolio; and one per cent said they define diversity for the investment program and allocate a percentage of the portfolio to diverse managers.
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Survey respondents also said they plan to address DEI issues in retirement savings and benefits plans in various ways over the next year, as 27 per cent will review governance to align with corporate DEI strategies; 21 per cent plan to build diversity into decision-making groups and inclusiveness into decision-making processes; and 20 per cent said they’ll incorporate inclusion goals into the retirement savings plan’s investment policy.
And when it comes to total rewards packages, respondents said a range of their organization’s benefits and policies currently support DEI, with disability support and work hours/flex time tied at 55 per cent, followed closely by gender neutrality at 53 per cent and conception, maternity/paternity, birth and adoption support at 51 per cent.