“Many brands — even those with a positive story to tell — are very reluctant to discuss or disclose their challenges on D&I or share their leadership data from a diversity perspective in a public forum, which is why it has been essential to be able to offer brands a confidential space for these conversations,” says Mathew Dixon, director of fashion, luxury and lifestyle practice at MBS Group.
The BFC and The MBS Group approached the top brands in each key European country, including a mix of luxury, mid-market, high street, sports, accessories and multi-brand companies with approximately €8 million to €10 billion in annual sales, however, not all the brands that they wanted to speak with were willing, Dixon adds.
Diversity’s data problem
Dixon highlighted three main challenges for gathering, analysing and publicising data on D&I. Firstly, data that businesses already have is often incomplete or out of date (for instance if it was captured during the recruitment process), and some aspects of diversity such as social mobility can be hard to define and therefore measure. Secondly, while regulatory frameworks can be helpful for encouraging businesses to address their lack of data (such as mandatory gender pay gap reporting in the UK), they can also cause difficulties when collecting personal information particularly for businesses that operate internationally. And finally, employee trust is essential when gathering data to ensure safety and protection.
Best practices around data collection include educating employees on the benefits of disclosing personal data for D&I and sharing how data will be used, according to the report. Some businesses are creating voluntary employee surveys to gather this data and network groups to collect anecdotal information about the lived experience of different groups.
The report also found that larger companies and public companies are likely to have more formalised D&I policies compared to smaller players due to resources and higher levels of scrutiny. Five brands — Burberry, Ganni, Lululemon, PVH Europe and Sinéad Burke’s Tilting the Lens — outlined their approaches to implementing and scaling diversity and inclusion initiatives for the report, which included overhauling talent retention and hiring practices, rethinking company culture and educational efforts.
Burberry sets clear targets of a 50/50 gender split and 25 per cent ethnic diversity when hiring and has introduced mandatory allyship training starting with the leadership team. Lululemon has a dedicated budget of $5 million for its D&I department and a further $3 million to support charities and nonprofits to advance the wellbeing of its communities and also uses a demographics survey to ensure its approach is intersectional. And, PVH Europe launched a self-identification campaign to encourage employees to share personal data in order to overcome the challenges associated with data collection in Europe.
