British charities might have their critics on executive pay but they stand at the forefront of diversity and inclusion, scoring highly on a raft of metrics, including diverse leadership, the gender pay gap, B Corp certification and philanthropy efforts.
The findings come from the Kin + Carta Business Resilience Index 2021, which assessed FTSE 100 and B Corp businesses across ten industries, indexing them across four key areas: agility, responsibility, humanity and maturity.
The analysis takes into account considerations including business model, working practices, long-term purpose and balancing people, purpose and profit.
The British Red Cross, NSPCC, British Heart Foundation and National Trust came out on top in diversity metrics, representing a strong British charity presence across the leaderboard.
A strong performance in “responsibility”, particularly in relation to diversity and inclusion, meant the British Red Cross took top position on this year’s Business Resilience Index with a score of 63.8%.
In “responsibility” alone, the charity scored 22.9% (out of a possible 25%), it was singled out for “leading on climate change transparency and performance”, as well as for the energy efficiency of its digital estate.
Meanwhile, the NSPCC made the top five in both leadership and policy metrics when it came to diversity and inclusion.
Perhaps surprisingly, when it came to “responsibility”, the oil, gas, power and utility sector actually made the top three. Severn Trent scored particularly well (15%), putting it in third place in this category. BP placed 11th out of 100 brands, in part due to its recent shift from oil to “integrated energy” in a bid to become net zero.
Financial services companies did not fare as well overall in “responsibility”, which comes in stark contrast to their strong performances across the “agility”, “maturity” and “humanity” sections. However, it is worth noting Aviva bucked the trend, coming 10th across all brands and placing third overall on “energy efficiency of digital estate”.
Kin + Carta Europe customer experience director Claire Robinson said: “Charities have been able to avoid the worst impacts of ‘The Great Resignation’. The message is clear for the private sector – invest in diverse, flexible and inclusive working environments to attract and retain talent.
“The public mood is shifting and traditional shareholder capitalism will increasingly take a back seat to stakeholder capitalism as the planetary and societal impacts of business operations take centre stage.
“‘Responsibility’ was still the lowest scoring factor for brands across the Index as a whole but there has never been a more pressing time to invest in the people who power your business – your customers and employees.”
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