Culture is a theme which has topped the agenda in the creative industries this year. 2024 has seen an ongoing push amongst brands to better connect with culture to build meaningful relationships with consumers. While in the creative industries more broadly the drive to create cultures of curiosity and creativity has been seen as key to building both successful businesses and attractive employer brands.

Yet despite this focus, the past year has also brought with it a double down on anti-DEI rhetoric. With headlines perpetuating the myth of ‘go woke and go broke’ the role of DEI in driving successful and inclusive cultures is easy to overlook.

In this environment, proof points are vitally important.

A new study by The Good Insight shows that DEI is a significant contributor to companies' overall Glassdoor score, across company sizes and brand salience scores.

DEI drives culture

The study points to DEI as the biggest driver of culture and value scores. The research shows that DEI contributes 30% towards culture and values scores. It is also the joint second driver of the overall scores at 20% together with career opportunities and behind a businesses’ senior leaders at 31%.

Recently, there has been a backlash for DEI not only from right-wing entities but from academia, due to concerns about the methodologies used by DEI proponents. 

The critics have attacked the evidence showing a correlation between DEI efforts and company shareholder value. They argue that companies that are already successful have the money to invest in DEI, and therefore, the causal link is not from DEI to shareholder value, but in the opposite direction.

“The academics are right in criticising the methodologies, but should not throw the baby out with the bathwater,” explains Ozoda Muminova, Founder and Director of The Good Insight.

She continues: “The metrics used by these studies at both ends: inputs (diversity composition of companies and boards) and outputs (shareholder value) are not the right metrics. In this study, we have used Diversity and Inclusion scores given by actual employees to companies as inputs and the overall scores as the outputs.”

The research provides an important proof point on the role of diversity and inclusion in driving a business forward and the importance of reflecting employees’ lived experiences. A powerful reminder to industry leaders and CMOs that your employee brand is not what you write on a PowerPoint deck, but how your employees experience your company every single day.

An experience which, good or bad, can significantly impact how a company attracts and retains talent. Glassdoor's own studies show that overall scores have an impact on company retention and recruitment.  Companies with high scores save on recruiting and onboarding and retain more corporate knowledge. Overall scores also reflect employee engagement, which in turn impacts productivity and absenteeism, delivering a further financial boost for companies with high scores.

Photo credit: (C) BronacMcNeill