21 Asia-Pacific Companies Recognised in Refinitiv’s 2020 Diversity & Inclusion Index

Refinitiv has announced the 2020 Top 100 most diverse and inclusive organisations globally as ranked by the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Index.

The index ratings are informed by Refinitiv’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data, designed to transparently and objectively measure the relative performance of close to 10,000 companies representing 80%+ of global market cap across 450+ ESG data points, and provide clients with critical and differentiated insight, the firm explained in a press release.

Industries leading this year’s D&I Index Top 100 are banking, investment services & insurance firms, reports Refinitiv, with a total of 18, followed by pharmaceuticals with 9 and telecommunications services, specialty retailers and personal & household products & services with 7 respectively. United States leads the Top 100 list with 20 firms followed by the United Kingdom with 13, Australia with 9 and Canada and France with 7.

Key findings of the Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion report for 2020 include:

• Globally the cultural diversity of board members has increased from five years ago but has stalled at around 30%.
• EMEA leads the way with the most culturally and gender diverse boards.
• The average board in APAC is made up of 12% female members, which represents a 53% increase over the last 5 years, but it is still behind the global average of 19% of female board members.
• Regionally, Africa is leading the way with on average 34% of female managers.
• The average proportion of female managers in APAC firms is 25%, an 18% increase over the last 5 years.
• The number of companies with an official flexible working policy has increased by 78% in APAC and 54% globally over the last five years.
• A total of 34% more APAC companies and 25% more companies globally have a career development policy in place than five years ago.
• Regionally the largest increases have been seen in Oceania with a 40% increase.
• Although APAC businesses recorded improvements across various D&I metrics, there is still room for APAC businesses to strengthen its D&I efforts, especially in area of board cultural diversity.

Alfred Lee, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Refinitiv, said: “21 companies across eight countries in APAC are recognised among the top 100 most diverse and inclusive organisations globally in our 2020 D&I Index. We have seen encouraging progress among APAC firms in their efforts to increase workplace diversity and inclusiveness, with our data showing a 53% increase in the region’s board gender diversity over the last five years and a 78% increase in the number of APAC companies with an official flexible working policy during the same period. With investors and businesses paying more attention to D&I practices and disclosures in the region, we are confident that more APAC organisations will be taking the lead in embedding diversity and inclusion into their business strategy going forward.”

Daryl Sisson, Managing Director, Pacific, Refinitiv, said: “It’s fantastic to see 9 Australian companies from a range of industries in the top global 100 this year, with supermarket chain Woolworths gaining top spot in Australia for the second year running. AGL Energy and Blackmores rank second and third respectively. When looking at the APAC data it is encouraging see that Australia has the largest overall percentage of female managers. Diversity and inclusion continues to garner increased attention, with areas such as board diversity hotly debated.”

Vernice Moh, Managing Director, ASEAN, Refinitiv, said: “Six ASEAN companies from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand earned a place in this year’s D&I Index Top 100, with Thailand’s Home Product Center PCL leading the Southeast Asia region. Our data also found that Malaysia and Singapore have seen an 89% and 88% rise in board gender diversity respectively over the last five years, which are among the largest increases in proportion of women on boards globally. While there is still room for Southeast Asian countries to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce relative to global and regional peers, transparent reporting of D&I data and targets will enable ASEAN companies to share best practices and further the region’s progress in the years to come.”

The D&I Index is available on Refinitiv Workspace and Eikon, as are the underlying diversity and inclusion metrics, which are used by financial professionals to evaluate sustainability related risks and opportunities of companies across their investments, as well as empower diversity-lens investing strategies. The D&I Index utilises innovative analytics to rate and score companies across 4 main pillars: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and Controversies. Only companies with scores across all four pillars are assigned an overall score (the average of the pillar scores). The top 100 ranked companies with the best overall D&I scores are selected for the Index.

Diversity and Inclusion in the workforce are core environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes, which financial professionals are more frequently incorporating into their investment strategies and capital allocation decisions. Covid-19 has shone a light on why diversity is critical for business recovery and resilience. As companies look to adapt to a new way of conducting business post-Covid-19, diversity and inclusion factors need to be on the agenda alongside financial resilience, environmental risks and workforce health.

Elena Philipova, Global Head of ESG, Refinitiv, said: “Our Diversity and Inclusion Index, now in its fifth year, emphasises the critical importance for companies to commit to, measure and report on their diversity journey beyond gender. Sustainable and resilient workforce is the fuel for businesses especially during volatile times. Refinitiv remains fully committed to using our data assets, expertise and influence to champion the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace – including our own.”

More information on the report can be found HERE.