The first report using this framework—on data for the 2017-2018 year—will be made in mid-2018 for review internally by the Champions group. The report will look at the gender and ethnicity make up of employees at participating organisations, with a particular eye on board and leadership positions.
Collecting this kind of data is not an insignificant job, with Champion organisations representing more than 97,000 direct employees in New Zealand across 44 leading organisations That’s why its impressive that this first report will likely include data from over 43% of these organisations, with the remaining organisations intending to come on board in year two as logistics allow.
How the Diversity Reporting initiative came about
When the Champions for Change initiative was launched in November 2015, the release of a new Diversity Reporting mechanism was identified as one of the Champions first major projects, to benchmark efforts and progress towards achieving truly diverse and inclusive leadership.
Over the last 18 months a workgroup of top leaders from Champion organisations have developed the initiative, guidelines and reporting resources—with particular support from organisations including Deloitte, Massey University, Russell McVeagh, CA ANZ and McKinsey & Company.
NZ Champions for Change: Our case for change from Champions for Change on Vimeo.
The value of diversity reporting
“We believe that to achieve our vision of a new generation of diverse leaders driving New Zealand’s future conomic and social prosperity, we need to set clear targets and hold ourselves accountable for our results.” – Dame Jenny Shipley and Anthony Healy, Co-Chairs, Champions for Change
With combined reporting and analysis, the Champions intend to create a much richer understanding of how New Zealand is using its people resources to achieve social and economic prosperity.
On an individual level, organisations will be able to learn what is possible through benchmarking against each other. On a national level, Champion organisations will see clearly where they need to improve as a whole; where collaborative action is required; and how their efforts are resulting in change over time.
Finally, transparency over such numbers gives organisations an opportunity for stakeholders—investors, customers and employees—to make informed decisions about where they invest, spend and work.
Measurement is one step towards achieving the goal of a more diverse and inclusive leadership. In the UK, a combination of reporting and voluntary target-setting saw the number of women on FTSE100 boards increase from 12.5% to 26% between 2011 and 2015: an overall increase of 52% over just four years.
Find out more about Champions for Change
Head on over to the Champions for Change website to find out more about the initiative.