BUSINESS TODAY NEEDSGREATER VARIETY OF THINKERS
ASIA YET TO TAP INTO
THE POWER OF DIVERSITY
The 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Reporthays.cn | hays.com.hk | hays.co.jp | hays.com.my | hays.com.sg

CONTENTS
Introduction

3

General Findings

4

Importance and actions of leaders/leadership

7

Capture and interpretation of data/measurement/
analysis8

Impact of culture on diversity & inclusion

9

Inclusive talent attraction methods

10

Career management for retention and development

11

Market Overview

12

Expert insight Q&A with Annie Lim,
Global Lead Diversity & Inclusion, Sanofi

28

Expert insight Q&A with Cathy Zhao,
HR Head, Johnson & Johnson
Recommendations

29
30

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our 2018 Asia
Diversity & Inclusion report. In
our report, employees andemployers from across Asia
share their views about diversity
in the workplace and relate what
is happening in theirorganisations on this mostcurrent of topics.

The case for establishing a truly diverse workforce,at all organisational levels, grows more compellingeach year. The moral argument is weighty enough;the business case in almost unanswerable. But whatis the state of play in business in Asia when it comesto diversity?
There are encouraging signs of progress, but theoverall picture tells a story of a long road to travel
and a journey just begun.
On the positive side, fewer employees now have a maleboss. Still over half of respondents, 58%, report to amale; but this is down from 63% last year and 67% two
years ago. This relatively rapid progress is heartening.
Yet we still find that less than a third of all respondents
believe people of equal ability in their organisation
have equal access to career opportunity regardless ofage, disability, ethnicity, gender, family commitments,
marital status, race, religion or sexuality.
And another illuminating finding of this year’s
research was that 63 per cent of respondents acrossall markets believe leaders hold a bias towards
people who look, think or act like they do. Less thanhalf of respondents described their leaders as rolemodels for diversity.
Also revealing is our research showing that while
two thirds of respondents work for organisations
that set individual diversity targets for senior andline managers only nine per cent told us thesetargets are actively worked towards. Does this painta picture of lip-service being paid to an issue thatshould demand real and substantial action?
Research has shown that workplace diversity is vitalas a foundation for innovation and creativity andalso for recruiting and keeping the best talent.
We hope you can find inspiration in our Asia
Diversity & Inclusion Report 2018 for renewed
diversity efforts in the year ahead.
Richard Eardley – Managing Director Asia

Thank you
We want to thank all those who completed our diversity survey and also our profiled interviewees. Diversity is ofongoing importance to employer organisations in our region and sharing your insights and experience helps keep thissubject top of mind.
Disclaimer: The 2018 Hays Asia Diversity report is representative of a value added service to our clients and candidates. Whilst every care is taken in thecollection and compilation of data, the guide is interpretive and indicative, not conclusive. Therefore information should be used as a guideline only andshould not be reproduced in total or by section without written permission from Hays.

GENERAL FINDINGS
Where are you based?

33%

12%

23%

18%

14%

Mainland China

Hong KongJapan

Malaysia

Singapore

What is your age? (%)< 25 yrs

Asia 526-40 yrs

50

41-54 yrs

55 yrs+38

Prefernot to say

7

What is your gender? (%)
Female

Male

Other

Prefernot to say

1
Asia 53

46

GENERAL FINDINGS

A total of 900+ working professionals were surveyed to produce this report.

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4 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report

GENERAL FINDINGS
Where were you born?

Mainland China Hong Kong
Hong KongJapan

Malaysia

India

13%

Japan
Mainland China

80%
90%

Malaysia

93%

Singapore
Other

Singapore

60%

53%
10%

40%

20%

7%

34%

Japan

Malaysia

Singapore

56%

62%

14%

13%

How would you describe your ethnic origin?

Mainland China Hong Kong
Chinese

94%

72%

IndianJapanese

78%

Malay

19%

White
Other

15%
6%

13%

14%
22%

11%

11%

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 5

GENERAL FINDINGS
What is the gender of your line manager (%)?
FemaleAsia 39

Male

Unsure58

3

In which three areas do you believe greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace could have the most positive impact?

20%

13%

12%

Company culture

Organisation
leadership

Innovation

Do you think you and your equally capable colleagues have the same career opportunities open to you regardless ofage, disability, ethnicity, gender, family commitments, marital status, race, (including colour, national origin), religion
or sexuality (%)?
Equal

Asia 32

Somewhatequal

Unsure

13

18

37

Not
equal

Do you think you and your equally capable colleagues are paid/rewarded in an equal manner regardless of age, disability,
ethnicity, gender, family commitments, marital status, race (including colour, national origin), religion or sexuality (%)?
Equal

Asia 30

32

Somewhatequal

17

Unsure

Not
equal

21

Has there ever been any occasions where you have felt that your chances for career progression have been limited
because of your of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, family commitments, marital status, race (including colour, national
origin), religion, or sexuality (%)?
Yes,
all the time

Asia 11

40

18

Yes,
sometimes

Yes,
rarelyNo

31

Has there ever been an occasion where you have felt that your chance of being accepted for a job have been lowered
because of your of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, family commitments, marital status, race (including colour, national
origin), religion, or sexuality (%)?
Yes

No

53

47

Asia

6 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion ReportIMPORTANCE AND ACTIONS OF LEADERS/LEADERSHIPHow far do you agree with the following statements (%)?

Strongly
disagreeDisagree

Neither agree
or disagree

Agree

Strongly
agree

Asia

3 15

19

45

18

Our leaders have a bias towards people who look, think or act like them

3 14

27

44

12

Our leaders’ day-to-day behaviour aligns to the values of our organisation

6

18

27

37

12

Our leaders fully understand the relationship between diversity and inclusion and talent attraction

6

17

29

37

11

Our leaders fully understand the relationship between diversity and inclusion and creativity and innovation

8

17

26

37

12

Our leaders fully understand the relationship between diversity and inclusion and employee engagement and staff retention

6

15

31

36

12

Our leaders fully understand the relationship between diversity and inclusion and customer insight

6

15

31

36

12

Our leaders fully understand the relationship between diversity and inclusion and profitability

9

21

28

31

11

8

16

30

36

10

I trust our leaders to deliver change on the diversity and inclusion agenda

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 7

IMPORTANCE AND ACTIONS OF LEADERS/LEADERSHIP

Our leaders are role models for diversity and inclusion who challenge traditional viewpoints and established ways of working

CAPTURE AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA/MEASUREMENT/ANALYSIS
I’m aware our organisation captures diversity data from our workforce, covering (%):
Asia

Always

12

15

19

8

26

10

24

Recruitment

Rarely13

Never

UnsureNever

Unsure

16

11

24

15

15

24

Sometimes

12

14

12

11

11

Often

23

14

23

25

23

Retention

Careerprogression

Performance
management

I’m aware our organisation uses diversity data to (%):
Asia

Always

15

14

15
12

22

CAPTURE AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA/MEASUREMENT/ANALYSIS

12

Often

10

14

14

13

14

25

27

Inform careerdevelopment
programmes

12

15

23

12

14

Rarely

12

12
22

25

Inform ourrecruitment
campaigns

Sometimes

14
23

15

22

14

23

Establish diversity
and inclusion targets

engagement andmake improvements
to our culture

1025

Determine theand inclusion related
policies and the fairnessof people practices

Does your organisation implement diversity and inclusion targets or KPIs (%)?
Yes

Asia 33

47

No

Unsure20

Do senior and line managers have individual diversity and inclusion targets/KPIs and actively work towards them (%)?
AlwaysAsia 9

10

Often

19

8 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report

Sometimes

8

Rarely

4

34

Never

No

Unsure16

IMPACT OF CULTURE ON DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
Is diversity and inclusion promoted in your organisation’s staff communications (%)?
AlwaysAsia 15

20

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

31

Never

17

Unsure125Does your organisation support key diversity events, such as, multi-cultural religious observances, International Men’s/
Women’s Day, or Mental Health Awareness weeks etc (%)?
AlwaysAsia 17

Often

20

Sometimes

26

Rarely

Never

14

19

Unsure4

How far do you agree with the following statements (%)?

Strongly
disagreeDisagree

Neither agree
or disagree

Agree

Strongly
agree

Asia

4

18

29

34

15

Challenging cultural norms is likely to negatively impact my career opportunities

4

15

32

38

11

I work in a culture that encourages debate and diversity of thought

5

13

29

44

9

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 9

IMPACT OF CULTURE ON DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

My voice is heard and respectedINCLUSIVE TALENT ATTRACTION METHODSHow far do you agree with the following statements (%)?

Strongly
disagreeDisagree

Neither agree
or disagree

Agree

Strongly
agree

Asia

4

12

32

42

10

The imagery and branding in our recruitment material reflects a diverse workforce

3 6

24

53

14

The words we use to describe our vacancies, organisation and culture are unbiased

6

11

26

45

12

We are proactive in our efforts to source diverse candidates

8

17

34

31

10

My organisation has diversity recruitment targets

9

20

38

25

8

We have set diversity targets for our recruitment agencies

How far do you agree with the following statements (%)?

UnsureStrongly
disagreeDisagree

Neither agree
or disagree

Agree

Strongly
agree

Asia

11

5

15

27

35

7

Reviewing job descriptions and person specification for bias

12

9

29

26

4

20

Introducing ‘name-blind recruitment’ into stages of the recruitment process to mitigate bias in decision making

7

9

23

26

7

28

INCLUSIVE TALENT ATTRACTION METHODS

Ensuring interview panels are diverse

5

6

14

19

Using a structured interview process

10 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report

44

12

CAREER MANAGEMENTFOR RETENTION AND DEVELOPMENT
How far do you agree with the following statements (%)?

DisagreeUnsure

Agree

Asia

18

40

42

My organisation actively promotes flexible and agile working as the default position of the business culture and supports it overtly

30

47

23

My organisation actively promotes flexible working practices for working parents

33

36

31

My organisation promotes flexible working opportunities for all staff

15

46

39

My line manager is committed to increasing diversity within their team

8

39

53

Career development conversations with my line manager are open and transparent

12

42

46

You are more likely to be promoted if you have a similar socio-economic background to the organisation’s management

25

37

38

32

46

22

My organisation actively works to develop under-represented groups, specifically into leadership roles

22

40

38

Our people managers are given training to help them ensure diversity and inclusion

19

40

41

My employer seizes every opportunity to create a workplace culture which is more diverse and inclusive

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 11

CAREER MANAGEMENT FOR RETENTION AND DEVELOPMENTMy organisation gives me access to mentors

MARKET OVERVIEWMAINLAND CHINA HIGHLIGHTSIMPORTANCE AND ACTIONSOF LEADERS/LEADERSHIP
According to our survey, senior managers inorganisations in Mainland China are not yet seen as
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) champions able to create
meaningful change.
In a trend common in all of our operating markets,
most respondents in Mainland China (60 per cent)believe the senior managers in their organisation favour
those who look, think and act like them. So, it’s not
surprising that less than half of our respondents - 46
per cent - trust their leaders to deliver change on D&I
while a hefty 38 per cent are unsure about the ability ofleaders to do this. And, 43 per cent of respondents
regard their leaders as role models for D&I willing tochallenge the status quo.
We also asked participants separate questions about how
well their leaders understood the relationship between
D&I and five key business outcomes – talent attraction,
creativity and innovation, employee engagement andretention, customer insight and profitability.
More than a third of respondents could not offer ananswer to any of these questions suggesting employer
organisations must do more to ensure leaders not only
champion D&I but that their efforts to position D&I as
an important business metric in these key areas iswell communicated.
On the positive side, a slim majority of respondents
believes their senior team displays behaviours on adaily basis that align to the organisation’s values (14%say their leaders are failing in this area) and thatleaders understand the positive impact D&I have on
talent attraction and on customer insight. These results
were far lower than in Hong Kong.
Only half of respondents said their leaders understandthe impact of D&I on employee engagement and lessthan half say leaders understand the link between D&I

and creativity and innovation or profitability.

CAPTURE AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA/MEASUREMENT/ANALYSIS
Setting and tracking D&I targets/KPIs provides a rangeof benefits to businesses yet only 26 per cent ofrespondents were confident their employer establishes
D&I targets. Another 51 per cent of respondents said
their employer does not set D&I targets.
Companies are increasingly making data-led decisions
in all areas of the business but D&I data remains a fairly
untapped resource.
In companies that do set D&I targets, only 11 per cent ofrespondents said these were always data-informed. A
third said data was often used to inform targets.
Another 24 per cent said data was only sometimes
used while an equal proportion said it was rarely ornever used.
Using data to measure the effectiveness of D&I policies
and practices would seem a ‘must do’ activity for every
company yet only ten per cent of respondents said thiswas the practice in their organisation, but nearly a third
said their organisation often uses data to measure theeffectiveness of D&I efforts.
Perhaps the most interesting result relates to D&I
targets for senior and line managers.
A third of respondents said no individual D&I targets/
KPIs existed for the senior and line managers in theirorganisation and 13 per cent were unsure.
However, even where such targets/KPIs do exist, it
appears many companies do not ensure managers
actively work towards meeting them. Only 14 per centof respondents said the senior and line managers intheir organisation always worked towards meetingtargets. The largest proportion of respondents (22 percent) said senior and line managers only sometimes
worked toward meeting their targets.
2018 Hays Diversity & Inclusion- Asia | 13

According to our respondents, many companies also do
not capture or track D&I data related to recruitment,
employee retention, career progression andperformance consistently. Being able to attract andretain the best people is key to any company’scompetitive edge

Likewise, D&I data to boost staff engagement andimprove company culture is yet to be fully realised in
Mainland China with only 12 per cent of respondents
reporting it was a regular practice in their organisation.
And 21 per cent said D&I data was rarely or never used
to improve staff engagement and workplace culture.

For example, only 17 per cent of respondents wereconfident their organisation always captured D&I data
relating to recruitment although 31 per cent said suchdata was often tracked.

IMPACT OF CULTURE ON
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Using D&I data to boost retention was even lower with
only 13 per cent of respondents claiming theirorganisation always captures the relevant data while 32
per cent said it was often tracked.
Another weak area was using data to ensure thecompany is promoting a diversity of thinkers. Just 12
per cent of respondents were confident theirorganisation diligently tracked D&I data related tocareer progression but 28 per cent said such data wasoften captured. More concerning was the fact that 20
per cent of respondents said such D&I data was rarelyor never captured.
Many organisations in Mainland China are yet to makeuse of D&I data to help them create winning attraction
and retention campaigns. Only 20 per cent ofrespondents reported their employer always uses D&I
data to formulate recruitment campaigns but 31 per centsaid it was often used.
Using career development programs to groom adiversity of talent for future leadership is another key
use of D&I data. However, only ten per cent ofrespondents said their organisation was doing this.
Another 29 per cent said D&I data was often used to
inform career development programs but an equal
proportion said such data was only sometimes usedand 22 per cent said it was rarely or never used.

14 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report

A big part of D&I is ensuring employees feel
comfortable bringing their authentic self to work andthat they can speak up about D&I cultural issues
without consequence.
A large 61 per cent of respondents believe challenging
cultural norms in their workplace would negatively
impact their career opportunities. This was far higher
than in any of our other operating markets. Only 13 percent of respondents were not concerned speaking up
would negatively impact their career.
However, 59 per cent of respondents believe theirworkplace encourages debate and diversity of thought
and 61 per cent feel their voice is heard and respected
at work.

Many organisations in Mainland“
China were yet to make use of D&I

data to help them create winning
attraction and retention campaigns.

”

Our research also shows companies in Mainland China
could do more to promote D&I in visible ways.
Most respondents (28%) told us D&I was only
sometimes promoted in staff communications. Only 20

per cent said this was standard practice although
26 per cent said D&I was often promoted in staff
communications. It was encouraging that only aminority said D&I was never promoted in this way.
Just over 40 per cent of Hays research participants
work in organisations where D&I events such as
International Women’s Day and multicultural festivities
were always or often supported. Another 27 per centsaid there was some support for such activities but 15
per cent said D&I events were rarely supported andeight per cent said they were never held.

INCLUSIVE TALENT ATTRACTION METHODS
Respondents in Mainland China offer a mixture of views
when it comes to their knowledge of recruitment
practices in their organisation that boost diversity hiring.
A total of 54 per cent said their employer uses images
reflecting diversity in recruitment materials. And an
impressive 69 per cent of respondents claim the words
used to describe the organisation and its culture andjob vacancies were unbiased (higher than Hong Kong,
Singapore and Japan). Only seven per cent ofrespondents reported their organisation did not do this.

And nearly a third of respondents (32 per cent) don’t
believe their organisation actively develops underrepresented groups into leadership roles. An evenhigher proportion (46 per cent) doesn’t know if theirorganisation champions greater diversity in leadership.
Only 22 per cent believe their organisation does
develop underrepresented groups into leadership roles.
These results clearly support the case for greater
D&I training for all managers including how to offer
flexible and agile working arrangements in a way that
boosts productivity.
Our diversity reports over the past few years haverevealed an increasing number of employees want toaccess flexible work options including working fathers.
However, only 42 per cent of respondents in Mainland
China said their organisation promotes flexible and agile
work options as a standard part of the business culture.
And just 23 per cent said their organisation actively
promotes flexible options for working parents while
47 per cent were unsure what their organisation offeredto parents. A third of respondents said their employer
does not offer flexible work options to all employees.

Another positive was that 63 per cent of respondents
agreed their organisation proactively sources diverse
candidates. Just over half of respondents (52 per cent)said their organisation sets diversity recruitment targets- 15 per cent said their company does not set targets.
Almost half of respondents (43 per cent) said theiremployer sets diversity targets for the recruitment
agencies they engage with. And most - 47 per cent agreed job descriptions should be reviewed to ensure
they are not biased in any way. When it comes tointroducing ‘name-blind recruitment’ into stages of therecruitment process to mitigate bias in decision-making,our respondents in Mainland China were nearly evenly
split – 30 per cent for the practice and 31 per cent against.

CAREER MANAGEMENTFOR RETENTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Our research shows organisations in Mainland China
have a lot of work to do to either introduce policies andpractices that promote D&I or to better promote suchpolicies and practices where they exist. This includes
achieving greater diversity in hiring and careeradvancement, developing D&I proficient managers andoffering flexible work practices.
Only 41 per cent of respondents believe theirorganisation seizes every opportunity to create a diverse
and inclusive workplace but just as many were unsure.
Disappointingly, 46 per cent of respondents believe
people in their organisation are more likely to bepromoted if they are from a similar socio-economic
background to the organisation’s management. Thiswas on a par with respondents in Hong Kong but was
higher than all other markets.
And only 39 per cent of respondents believe their line
manager is committed to increasing diversity in theirteam while 46 per cent are unsure where their manager
stands in this regard.
It follows that only 38 per cent of respondents said
their organisation provides managers with diversity andinclusion training. Another 21 per cent said no suchtraining was offered by their organisation.

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 15

HONG KONG HIGHLIGHTSIMPORTANCE AND ACTIONSOF LEADERS/LEADERSHIPCAPTURE AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA/MEASUREMENT/ANALYSIS

Survey participants in Hong Kong shared mostly positive
views about how their organisation’s leaders aresupporting Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) goals and initiatives.

Hong Kong had the highest number of respondents
who reported that their organisation implements D&I
targets or KPIs (41 per cent).

More than 93 per cent of respondents believe the day-today behaviours of their corporate leaders align to thevalues of their organisation – by far the most positive
result across each of our operating markets.

However, only a minority of respondents told us theirorganisation uses D&I data to measure the effectivenessof key initiatives such as recruitment campaigns,
employee retention initiatives, career development
programs and performance management.

Also, 88 per cent of respondents said their leaders are rolemodels for D&I willing to challenge traditional views andways of working. And 87 per cent trust their organisation’s
senior leadership team to deliver positive change on D&I.
Hong Kong respondents also have the greatest faith intheir leaders to understand the relationship between D&I
and the key business areas of talent attraction, creativity
and innovation, employee engagement and retention
customer insights and profitability.
A massive 90 per cent agreed their leaders understandthe link between D&I and talent attraction, creativity andinnovation and also profitability. Also leading across all
operating markets - 88 per cent of respondents believe
their leaders understand the positive impact D&I has on
employee engagement and retention.
However 93 per cent of respondents believe the leadersin their organisation have a bias towards people who
look, think and act like them.
This could be related to the fact Hong Kong has thesecond lowest number of female line managers in thisyear’s results.
Given Hong Kong’s strong results in most areas, leaders
are on the right track but could perhaps do more tochampion the importance to business results of having
managers and leaders that better represent the diversityof customers/clients and the population in general.

16 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report

Globally, Hong Kong is a leader in digital technology
including the use of data analytics. Our survey results
show the gathering and leveraging of D&I data is an
opportunity organisations are yet to fully exploit tostrengthen their people strategies.
According to our participants, the greatest use of D&I data
was for recruitment - 44 per cent of respondents said
their organisation always or often captured this data. And
27 per cent said this data was always or often used bytheir organisation to inform recruitment campaigns.
Once on board, only 31 per cent of our respondents
said their organisation captured and used D&I data tounderstand employee retention.
This disconnect continues in most areas and indicates
there is no overarching D&I data strategy in manyorganisations in Hong Kong.
Another 30 per cent said data was rarely or never used to
inform staff engagement and make improvements to theirorganisation’s culture - 25 per cent of respondents workfor organisations that always or often do this. And only 36
per cent of respondents said such data was always oroften captured around performance management.
Just 30 per cent said their organisation always or often
captured diversity information about career
progression. And 24 per cent said that theirorganisation always or often uses D&I data to informcareer development programs. A third of respondents
said D&I data was rarely or never used for careerdevelopment in their organisation.
Assigning accountability for driving D&I to senior andline managers appears to be another opportunity forcompanies in Hong Kong to explore - a trend common
in all of our operating markets.
When asked if senior and line managers have individual
D&I targets to work towards, 26 per cent of Hong Kong
respondents told us no such targets existed in theirorganisation. This was a better result than the findingsof our research in Mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore
and Japan.
Of the respondents who work in organisations that do set
D&I targets/KPIs for senior and line managers, 24 per centsaid these were only sometimes worked towards. Only 12
per cent said senior and line managers always actively
worked to meet D&I targets/KPIs while 11 per cent said
such targets were often pursued.
The research suggests organisations could benefit fromdeveloping a more cohesive data strategy to help themachieve greater workforce diversity.

IMPACT OF CULTURE ON
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Nearly half of respondents - 46 per cent – areconcerned challenging the cultural norms of theirorganisation could negatively impact their career
opportunities. Another 26 per cent told us they
believed they could challenge norms in theirorganisation without consequence.
The result suggests those working in Hong Kong find it
easier to challenge cultural norms than those working
in Mainland China, Malaysia and Japan.

More than half of respondents (53 per cent) say theircompany culture encourages debate and diversity ofthought while 55 per cent feel their voice is heard andrespected in their workplace.
Only 18 per cent hold the perception that their employer
does not encourage debate and a diversity of ideas and 16
per cent that their voice was not heard or respected atwork. This minority view suggests most companies inHong Kong understand that traditional hierarchies won’t
necessarily provide the answers to tomorrow’s problems ina business environment of constant change and disruption.
Most participants in Hong Kong (28 per cent) work inorganisations that sometimes promote D&I in staff
communications. Just 17 per cent said D&I was always
promoted through staff communications – the second
highest result after Mainland China - but 22 per centsaid this rarely or never happened.
Workplaces around the world are promoting a better
understanding of cultures and the experiences faced byothers due to gender or disability through events thatmark international days and cultural and religious
festivities and observances.
Supporting events is an easy, low cost way employers candemonstrate their support to D&I and our researchsuggests Hong Kong employers could do more in this area.
Only 17 per cent of respondents reported D&I eventswere always supported in their workplace. While thissounds modest, it was the second highest result after
Mainland China where 20 per cent of respondents workfor employers that always support D&I events.
The largest proportion of respondents in Hong Kongsaid their organisation only sometimes (26 per cent)supports such D&I events while 21 per cent said theirorganisation never supports such events and 14 percent rarely.

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 17

INCLUSIVE TALENT ATTRACTION METHODS
Other ways organisations can show support for D&I
include incorporating it into their employer brand, andthe words they choose to describe the organisation andits job vacancies.
Approximately 54 per cent per cent of respondents said
the imagery and branding used by their employer in
recruitment materials reflected a diverse workforce but
19 per cent said that was not the case in their workplace.
This places organisations in Hong Kong ahead of what’s
happening in Japan but only on a par with practices inorganisations in Mainland China and Singapore whileslightly behind Malaysia. We are finding a great deal ofcandidate movement between countries/regions in Asia
so D&I-friendly employer and recruitment branding andlanguage matters if companies want to encourage
quality talent regionally.
A total of 60 per cent of respondents agreed that thewords used by their employer in Hong Kong to describe
the organisation, its culture and job vacancies were
unbiased. While this sounds like good news, theproportion of respondents giving their employer the
thumbs up for D&I inclusive language was higher inevery other country/region - Malaysia, 70 per cent,Mainland China, 69 per cent, Singapore, 66 per cent andJapan, 64 per cent.
Some 53 per cent of respondents said theirorganisation proactively sourced diverse candidates but
24 per cent said the opposite. And only 38 per cent ofrespondents said their organisation set diversity
recruitment targets.
When asked if their employer set diversity targets forrecruitment agencies, 38 per cent agreed while 26 percent said their organisation did not set targets.
Asked for their personal views, 48 per cent ofrespondents in Hong Kong support reviewing job
descriptions and person specification for bias - 26 percent disagreed.
Some 29 per cent of respondents also support theirorganisation introducing ‘name-blind recruitment’ into
stages of the recruitment process to mitigate bias indecision-making. A higher 38 per cent were against
using these methods.
Also, 37 per cent of respondents believe having
interview panels with a diversity of members is theright move. Another 31 per cent disagreed with using
this method.
Using a structured interview process was the mostpopular process with 59 per cent of respondents
agreeing with its use. Only 21 per cent disagreed with
its use.
Generally, respondents in Hong Kong were as
personally supportive of recruitment practices that
promote diversity as respondents in our otheroperating markets and more so in some cases.

CAREER MANAGEMENTFOR RETENTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Where only a few decades ago, people worked the same
standard hours, today’s workforce wants more options.
However, in Hong Kong our research reveals only about
half of employers are getting this right.

18 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report

For example, just 51 per cent of respondents said theirorganisation actively promotes flexible and agile working
as the default position of the business culture. And 22
per cent said their organisation is lagging in this area.
Again, 51 per cent said their organisation actively
promoted flexible working practices for working
parents and 52 per cent that their organisation
promotes flexible working practices for all staff.
Competitive employers need to be amongst theproactive half of this group but to do this means getting
all leaders and managers across the productivity andretention gains flexible and agile work offer.
Only 49 per cent of respondents in Hong Kong said
their line manager was committed to increasing
diversity within their team. And 40 per cent ofrespondents said their organisation provides people
managers with training to help them ensure D&I while aquarter reported manager training was not offered.
On the plus side, 66 per cent of respondents said
career development conversations with their line
manager were open and transparent but this was a
spike across most of our operating markets.
Unfortunately, 21 per cent of Hong Kong respondents
said this was not the case with their manager.
Also, 46 per cent of respondents believe those that areof a similar socio-economic background to theorganisation’s management were more likely to bepromoted. Another 21 per cent disagreed this was thecase in their organisation. The result in Hong Kong was
lower than Malaysia but higher than in other operating
markets. Whether this is real or just a perception,strong organisations want to promote a diversity ofviews to their leadership teams.
More than a third of respondents (34 per cent) agreed
that their organisation actively works to develop underrepresented groups, specifically into leadership roles.
Mentors can be an effective way to ensure people
understand what it takes to succeed and be known intheir organisation. Just over half per cent ofrespondents in Hong Kong (51 per cent) have access tomentors at work but 28 per cent do not.
An encouraging 42 per cent of respondents agreed theiremployer seizes every opportunity to create a workplaceculture that is more diverse and inclusive but again,
those that had no idea what the state of play is wasequally large (36 per cent) Only 22 per cent disagreed
their employer strives to create a diverse workplace.

JAPAN HIGHLIGHTSIMPORTANCE AND ACTIONSOF LEADERS/LEADERSHIP
Diversity remains a major challenge for Japan but one
that must be faced if organisations are to cope with thenation’s ageing workforce.
Only 30 per cent of respondents in Japan see theircorporate leaders as role models willing to challenge
traditional viewpoints and established ways of working.
A huge 46 per cent do not see their leaders as Diversity& Inclusion (D&I) role models. This was a significantly
poorer result than in our other operating markets.
And 40 per cent of respondents did not trust theirleaders to deliver much needed D&I change to theirorganisation. Only 34 per cent of respondents believe
their leaders can deliver D&I change.
There was one high point though. Japan had the lowest
proportion of respondents who believe their leaders arebiased towards people who look, think or act as they do(56%). Saying that, it is worth noting 29 per cent ofrespondents in Japan do believe leaders hold such a bias.
Only 46 per cent of respondents see their leadersdisplaying behaviours each day aligned to the values of
their organisation and 29 per cent say leaders do notdisplay the right behaviours.
Most respondents in Japan also believe senior managers
are yet to grasp the positive relationship between D&I
and key business areas namely talent attraction,
creativity and innovation, employee engagement andretention, customer insight and profitability.
Leaders scored best on employee engagement andretention - 37 per cent of respondents believe thoseleading their organisation understand the positive linkwith D&I but more - 39 per cent - do not.
Only 36 per cent of respondents believe their leaders
understand the relationship between D&I and talentattraction (43% do not) and also with creativity andinnovation (37% do not).

Respondents were evenly split when asked the samequestion about customer insight. Only 33 per cent said
their leaders understand the very important link
between D&I and profitability but 39 per cent don’t
believe leaders get this.
Our research suggests any investment of time andmoney in achieving greater D&I buy in from the top oforganisations in Japan will reap attractive returns.

CAPTURE AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA/MEASUREMENT/ANALYSIS
Given the perception that the leaders of Japan’sorganisations are yet to fully understand the benefits of
D&I to all areas of the business, it is not surprising that
relatively few companies are setting D&I targets or
capturing and using D&I data.
Only 26 per cent of respondents from Japan say theirorganisation implements D&I targets or KPIs – thelowest result compared to the other markets.
Even fewer respondents (14%) said relevant data wasalways used to establish D&I targets while 17 per centsaid it was often used but 30 per cent said such data
was rarely or never used to establish D&I targets.
Also, a quarter of respondents – the largest number
across our operating markets – said data was neverused to measure the effectiveness and fairness of D&I
policies and practices in their organisation. Only 12 percent of respondents said data was always used toassess D&I policies and people practices.
A third of respondents work in companies that don’t
set D&I targets/KPIs for individual senior and line
managers. However, this does not make Japan unusual.
We saw a similar response rate from respondents in
Mainland China while in Malaysia and Singapore, aneven higher number of companies are failing to set
targets for managers, according to our respondents.
It’s hard to see how organisations will achieve progress2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 19

on D&I without the active support of people leaders
including setting targets/KPIs to focus management
activity. However, organisations also need to fold any
targets into the performance metrics of managers toensure D&I gets the attention it deserves.
Of the respondents working in organisations that do set
individual D&I targets/KPIs for senior and line managers,
13 per cent said these are never worked towards, 11 percent said targets are rarely worked towards and 10 per
cent only sometimes worked towards.
Just five per cent said senior and line managers always
actively worked to meet their D&I targets and 11 percent that individual targets were often pursued.
To assess and enhance D&I efforts, many best practicecompanies are capturing D&I data about recruitment,
employee retention, career progression andperformance management.
In Japan, only 18 per cent of respondents said theirorganisation always captured D&I data about recruitment
and 17 per cent that such data was never captured.
Only 11 per cent of respondents said their organisation
always captured D&I data related to both employee
retention and career progression and slightly more 15 per cent – said D&I data was always captured about
performance management.
Even larger proportions of respondents said D&I data
was rarely or never captured about employee retention,
career progression or performance management.
Not surprisingly, when we asked if D&I data was used to
inform recruitment campaigns, the lead response from 21
per cent of survey participants was never and 14 per centrarely. Only 12 per cent of respondents answered always.
And just 10 per cent of respondents work inorganisations that always use data to inform career

20 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Reportdevelopment programs although 14 per cent said it wasoften used. A further 13 per cent said D&I data wasrarely used to shape career development programs and23 per cent that it was never used.
Similarly, just 13 per cent of respondents said D&I data
was always used to inform staff engagement and make
improvements to the culture of their organisation.
Another 15 per cent said it was often used. However, 10
per cent said data was rarely used in this way and 21
per cent that it was never used.
The message here is that capturing and leveraging D&I
data offers companies in Japan a huge opportunity to
become a more diverse employer and thus get aheadof the ever-tightening candidate market most industries
are experiencing.

IMPACT OF CULTURE ON
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Companies investing in D&I need to ensure all activities
are aligned to create the greatest positive impact.
This includes threading D&I through communications toexisting and potential employees and also creating
opportunities for employees to come together to gain adeeper understanding of difference and its power.
Unfortunately Japan had the highest levels of inactivity
in both these areas.
The majority of the respondents working in Japan (27per cent) work in organisations that only sometimes
promote D&I in staff communications but 24 per centsaid their employer never did this while eight per centdescribed it as rare.
Only 13 per cent said their employer always promoted
D&I in staff communications and 22 per cent that thiswas often the case.

A third of respondents in Japan work in organisations
that never support diversity events – the highest levelof inactivity across all of our operating markets.
Another 21 per cent said their employer only sometimes
supports events and 15 per cent rarely. Only 12 per centsaid their employer always supports diversity events
while and 14 per cent often.
When asked to comment on the statement, “I work in a
culture that encourages debate and diversity ofthought” 40 per cent of respondents agreed while 30
per cent disagreed and the same proportion neither
agreed nor disagreed.
The majority of respondents (43 per cent) felt their
voice was heard and respected at work. However aconcerning 28 per cent felt their voice was not heard
and respected at work. The remaining respondents
offered no opinion.

INCLUSIVE TALENT ATTRACTION METHODS
The first impression many candidates gain of acompany is via its employer branding and website.
In Japan, 43 per cent said the imagery and brandingused by their employer in recruitment materials
reflects a diverse workforce. That figure was behind the
response rate for Mainland China, Malaysia, Singaporeand Hong Kong.
Another 29 per cent of respondents in Japan said
diversity did not figure in recruitment materials used bytheir organisation at all.
An encouraging 64 per cent of respondents agreed theirorganisation was unbiased in the words used to describe
the organisation, its culture and job vacancies. Another 15
per cent disagreed that was the case in their organisationand 21 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed. This result
was better than the response rate from respondents inHong Kong but behind that given from other markets.
When asked if their organisation proactively sourced
diverse candidates, 60 per cent agreed. That result was
better than Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
However, nearly a quarter of respondents in Japan said
their organisation does not look for diversity whenfinding candidates.
Perhaps an explanation for this can be found in the fact
only a third of respondents said their organisation sets
diversity targets when recruiting while 44 per cent said
their company does not set targets. 56 per cent ofrespondents who said their employer also doesn’t set
diversity targets for the recruitment agencies it
engages to find new hires. Only 21 per cent wereconfident their organisation did set such targets.

per cent of respondents - still low compared to othermarkets. However, 29 per cent disagreed with its use.

CAREER MANAGEMENTFOR RETENTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Given some of Japan’s low scores on diversity, it waspleasing to see that 52 per cent of respondents work inorganisations that actively promote flexible and agile
working as the default position of the business culture.
This places Japan just ahead of Mainland China, Hong
Kong and well ahead of Singapore according to our
respondents.
Many markets in Asia have been slower to adopt
flexible work practices and agile working as it is such a
departure from traditional hours of work.
However, work-life integration has been a hot topic in
Japan for some time now including discussion aroundthe impact of long hours on the health of employees.
Our research shows 30 per cent of respondents work inorganisations that are yet to embrace flexible work
practices as a standard part of the culture.
Half of respondents said their employer actively promotes
flexible working practices for working parents but 23 percent said this was still not the case in their organisation.
And 43 per cent of respondents said their employer
actively promoted flexible working practices for all staff
but a third of respondents said their organisation has
not yet made flexible work available to everyone.
Unfortunately Japan had the lowest proportion of
respondents (28 per cent) with access to mentors atwork. Given Japan is still struggling to improve gender
diversity in management ranks, mentoring is crucial if
companies hope to see more female managers.
A small 18 per cent said their organisation actively works
to develop under-represented groups, specifically into
leadership roles placing Japan behind all other markets.
The level of support for diversity amongst individual
managers also lags in Japan.
A third of respondents said their line manager wascommitted to increasing diversity within their team but
even more - 36 per cent – had not seen any commitment
to diversity from their immediate manager.
Perhaps it follows that only a quarter of respondents said
their employer provides people managers with D&I training.
And 28 per cent of respondents agreed their employer
seizes every opportunity to create a workplace culturethat is more diverse and inclusive but 36 per cent said
their employer does not do this.

We also found 36 per cent of respondents believe job
descriptions and person specification should be
reviewed and checked for bias. Another 26 per centdisagreed with using these methods.

Half of respondents describe career development
conversations with their line manager as open andtransparent but 28 per cent said this was not the casein their organisation.

Only 11 per cent of respondents agreed with introducing‘name-blind recruitment’ into stages of the recruitment
process to mitigate bias in decision-making – thelowest response in the survey. A whopping 57 per cent
did not agree with using these methods.

On the plus side, Japan had the lowest proportion of
respondents (35%) that believe people in theirorganisation were more likely to be promoted if theyshared a similar socio-economic background to theorganisation’s management.

Ensuring interview panels are diverse was supported byonly 24 per cent of respondents. Another 45 per centdisagreed with using this method.
Using a structured interview process was the mostpopular process in Japan garnering support with 44
2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 21

MALAYSIA HIGHLIGHTSIMPORTANCE AND ACTIONSOF LEADERS/LEADERSHIPCAPTURE AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA/MEASUREMENT/ANALYSIS

A hefty 64 per cent of respondents in Malaysia believe
their leaders are biased towards people who look, think
and act like them. While this sounds high, the result
places Malaysia in the middle of the pack compared toour other operating markets covered in our research.

Setting metrics and using data to inform good D&I
practice is considered an effective way to seed thebenefits of diversity in organisations.

At one end of the scale a massive 93 per cent ofrespondents in Hong Kong believe leaders are bias
while at the other, 56 per cent of respondents in Japan
see their leaders as bias.
Back in Malaysia, 58 per cent of respondents believe
their corporate leaders demonstrate behaviours eachworking day that align to the values of the organisation.
This was the same response rate achieved in Singapore
but higher than Mainland China and Japan while wellbehind Hong Kong.
Only 41 per cent of respondents in Malaysia see leaders
as role models for diversity willing to challenge
traditional views and work practices while 47 per centtrust their senior leaders to deliver Diversity & Inclusion(D&I) change to their organisation.
Our research also indicates leaders need to better
educate themselves about the positive relationshipbetween D&I and key business metrics namely talentattraction, creativity and innovation, employee
engagement, customer insight and profitability.
While 53 per cent of respondents believe their leaders
understand the link between D&I and both employee
engagement and customer insights, only 51 per centsay leaders get the relationship between D&I and bothtalent attraction and creativity and innovation. And just
49 per cent think their leaders understand therelationship between D&I and the important businessmetric of profitability.

22 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion ReportMore than half of respondents in Malaysia (51 per cent)said their organisation does not implement D&I targets.
Only 31 per cent said their organisation does
implement targets.
Hong Kong had the highest proportion of respondents
working in organisations that set D&I targets (41 per cent).
Only 14 per cent of respondents said data was always
used by their organisation to establish D&I targets
while another 18 per cent said it was often used.
However, 34 per cent said data was rarely or neverused to establish targets.
This is interesting when you consider companies are
increasingly turning to data to inform a range ofbusiness metrics and decisions.
Organisations in Malaysia and elsewhere are very slow
to apply the same thinking to achieving greater D&I
despite it having an impact on bottom results. Only ten
per cent of respondents said data was always used todetermine the effectiveness of their organisation’s D&I
policies and the fairness of people practices. And while
22 per cent said such data was often used, 30 per centsaid it was rarely or never used.
Turning to other key areas, D&I data related torecruitment was regularly captured by the organisationsof only 26 per cent of respondents. Just 18 per cent ofrespondents said diversity data related to performance
management was always captured by their organisation.
Even less – 15 per cent – said their company always
captured D&I data related to employee retention

while 14 per cent said the same of D&I data related tocareer progression.
Given the low use of D&I data by organisations in
Malaysia, it isn’t surprising only 11 per cent ofrespondents said their employer always uses diversity
data to inform recruitment campaigns and only ten percent to inform career development programs.
Just 14 per cent of respondents said diversity data wasalways used to inform staff engagement and make
improvements to the organisation’s culture while 28 percent said data was rarely or never used in this way.
Including D&I metrics for managers as part of their formal
appraisals would go a long way to ensuring a higher
profile for what D&I can deliver to the organisation.
According to our research, senior and line managers in theorganisations of 43 per cent of our respondents in
Malaysia don’t have individual D&I targets/KPIs to meet.
Even those in organisations that do set D&I targets forsenior and line managers only nine per cent ofrespondents said these were always actively worked
toward.

IMPACT OF CULTURE ON
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

And 19 per cent said their organisation always
supported diversity events such as those that promote
different cultures and international days. A quarter of
respondents said their employer often supported
events but 28 per cent said their organisation rarely ornever supported diversity events.
Furthermore, 48 per cent of respondents in Malaysia
feared challenging cultural norms at work would
negatively impact their career opportunities – thesecond highest result in each of our operating markets.
Another 21 per cent of respondents don’t fear
challenging cultural norms.
Only 44 per cent of respondents believe theirorganisation encourages debate and diversity ofthought in the workplace.
And 51 per cent of respondents in Malaysia feel their
voice is heard and respected at work although for 22
per cent of respondents that is not the case.

INCLUSIVE TALENT ATTRACTION METHODS
According to our research, more organisations in
Malaysia create recruitment materials that reflect adiverse workforce than any other operating market inour research group.

Promoting D&I doesn’t have to be expensive or time
consuming. Using language and images that reflect
diversity in staff communications and supporting D&I
events that all employees can enjoy are easy wins forany organisation.

And 70 per cent of respondents said their organisation
was unbiased in the words it used to describe theorganisation, its culture and job vacancies – again, thehighest result when compared to other markets –although Mainland China was close behind.

Yet only 14 per cent of respondents work fororganisations in Malaysia that always promote D&I instaff communications. The majority of the respondents(37 per cent) said their organisation only sometimes
promoted D&I in staff communications.

More than half of respondents (56 per cent) said theirorganisation proactively sources diverse candidates –higher than results for Hong Kong and Singapore but
lower than Mainland China and Japan.

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 23

However, in something of a disconnect, only 38 percent of respondents said their organisation set diversity
recruitment targets and only 30 per cent said theiremployer sets diversity targets for the recruitment
firms they engage to hire new staff.
When asked for their personal views about D&I
strategies around hiring, respondents in Malaysia werefairly conservative.
A total of 39 per cent of respondents supported
reviewing job descriptions and person specification forbias but 16 per cent disagreed with doing this.
Another 26 per cent agreed with introducing ‘nameblind recruitment’ into stages of the recruitment process
to mitigate bias in decision-making but a higher
proportion - 35 per cent - disagreed with this method.
Ensuring interview panels were diverse was supported
by 41 per cent of respondents and like other markets,
using a structured interview process was the mostpopular process – supported by 63 per cent ofrespondents in Malaysia. Structured interviews were themost favoured way of supporting D&I in recruitment inall of our operating markets.

CAREER MANAGEMENTFOR RETENTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Malaysia had the highest proportion of respondents (56per cent) working in organisations that actively
promote flexible and agile working as the default
position of the business culture.
While 53 per cent of respondents said theirorganisation actively promotes flexible working
practices for working parents, 47 per cent said theirorganisation also promotes flexible working practices
for all employees.

Given the amount of change taking“
place in many Malaysian industries,

mentoring is an effective way tosupport the success of high potential
employees from different backgrounds.

”

And another result on the plus side - 67 per cent ofrespondents described career development
conversations with their line manager as open andtransparent (21 per cent said this was not the case with
their manager).
Only 48 per cent of respondents have access tomentors at work (27 per cent do not) – a lower accessrate than Hong Kong and Singapore. Given the amountof change taking place in many Malaysian industries,
mentoring is an effective way to support the success ofhigh potential employees from different backgrounds.
And 43 per cent of respondents believe people in theirorganisation have a greater chance of being
promoted if they share a similar socio-economic
background to the organisation’s management. Thisbelief was more strongly held in Mainland China andHong Kong but less so in Singapore and Japan.
All the more reason why managers in Malaysia need toshow their support for D&I. However, our research
reveals just 44 per cent of respondents believe theirline manager is committed to increasing diversity
within their team. And 37 per cent believe their

24 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Reportorganisation actively works to develop underrepresented groups, specifically into leadership roles.
Another 41 per cent of respondents said theirorganisation provides people managers with D&I
training while 31 per cent said no such training wasoffered at their workplace.
Less than half of respondents (48 per cent) said theiremployer seizes every opportunity to create aworkplace culture that is more diverse and inclusive.

SINGAPORE HIGHLIGHTSIMPORTANCE AND ACTIONSOF LEADERS/LEADERSHIPCAPTURE AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA/MEASUREMENT/ANALYSIS

Similar to what we found in Mainland China, leaders in
Singapore are not viewed as champions of diversity for
their organisation, according to the results of this year’s
Hays Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) research.

Having D&I aspirations for the organisation requires
goal setting but only 40 per cent of respondents in
Singapore said their organisation sets and implements
D&I targets/KPIs.

Only 42 per cent of respondents regard their leaders asrole models for diversity and just 47 per cent trust theirleaders to deliver change on the diversity agenda.

However, only Hong Kong was higher at 41 per centpointing to a discipline yet to mature in Asia.

Also, 65 per cent of respondents believe their leaders arebiased towards those who look, think and act like them.
Another 69 per cent believe their leaders display
behaviours on a daily basis that align with theorganisation’s values. However, given that employees
look to leaders to set the standards of the organisationthat number should be closer to 100 per cent.
Results for leaders in our other operating markets weresimilarly low with the exception of Hong Kong.
Singapore has a growing skills shortage and will
increasingly compete with not only other companies fortalent but also other markets.
Walking the talk on D&I is something that benefits thehard numbers of the business and is therefore crucial if
organisations want to be an employer of choice.
Yet leaders are not seen as being up to speed when it
comes to the relationship between D&I and theimportant business areas of talent attraction, creativity
and innovation, employee engagement and retention,customer insight and profitability.
Less than half of respondents believe their leaders
understand the relationship between D&I and any ofthese areas.
Leaders scored highest regarding their understanding of
the positive impact D&I have on both creativity andinnovation and also employee engagement and retention(47%), while 44 per cent of respondents said theirleaders understood the relationship to customer insightand 46 per cent the relationship with profitability.

Embedding good D&I practice is near impossible
without support from managers and according to our
respondents this is another weak area across most of
our operating markets.
The majority of respondents in Singapore (34 per cent)said no individual D&I targets/KPIs existed for senior andline managers in their organisation – the second poorest
result after Malaysia across all of our operating markets.
Focusing on those respondents who said theirorganisation does set D&I targets/KPIs for senior andline managers; only six per cent reported that thesewere actively worked towards and a further six per centthat targets were often actively pursued.
This places Singapore at the bottom of the packalongside Japan where only five per cent of senior andline managers always worked to meet D&I targets/KPIs.
Like other key business centres in Asia, companies in
Singapore are becoming increasingly reliant on data toassess the success of initiatives in their organisationand make more robust decisions. However, thisapproach is yet to be applied consistently to D&I data.
Just 13 per cent of respondents said data was always
used to establish D&I targets for the organisation while
another 21 per cent said it was often used but 31 percent said it was rarely or never used.
Only nine per cent of respondents told us data wasalways used by their organisation to inform staff
engagement and make improvements to theorganisation’s culture although another 20 per centsaid it was often used.

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 25

A higher 11 per cent of respondents said theirorganisation always captures data around recruitment
and 32 per cent that their employer often captures thisdata. However, only eight per cent of respondents
reported their organisation always used D&I data to
inform recruitment campaigns and 22 per cent that it
was often used in this way.
Once inside the organisation, only eight per cent ofrespondents said such D&I data related to retention
was always captured and 18 per cent that it was often
captured. Likewise, 11 per cent said D&I data wascaptured around career progression and 21 said suchdata was often captured.
Another 17 per cent said such D&I data related toperformance management was always captured by theirorganisation and 16 per cent that it was often captured.
A low seven per cent of respondents reported that data
was always used to inform career development
programs and 23 per cent said it was often used.

IMPACT OF CULTURE ON
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Less than half of respondents (48 per cent) told us they
feel their voice is heard and respected at work. Only
Japan had fewer respondents who feel this way.
Also less than half of respondents (45 per cent) said theirorganisation encourages debate and diversity of thought.
Given that most industries face continuous disruption, thisresult points to the need for companies in Singapore toinvest time in creating cultures where new ideas anddifferent ways of thinking are embraced and fostered.
Supporting D&I in ways all staff can relate to and see isalso a must. Yet only 13 per cent of our respondents
said their organisation always promoted D&I in staff
communications and 18 per cent that their employer
often did this.
Another 32 per cent of respondents told us theircompany rarely or never promoted D&I via staff
communications.
And only a minority of respondents (18 per cent) work foran organisation that always supports D&I events while 20
per cent reported their employer often does this.
Ending on a bright note, only 37 per cent ofrespondents in Singapore believe challenging cultural
norms at work was likely to negatively impact theircareer opportunities. This was significantly lower thanin all other markets.

INCLUSIVE TALENT ATTRACTION METHODS
Organisations need to showcase their D&I credentials
when engaging prospective employees to attract thebest talent.
In Singapore most respondents (53%) reported theirorganisation uses imagery and branding that reflects adiverse workforce in recruitment materials.

On the all-important topic of setting D&I recruitment
targets, Singapore also trailed all other markets with
only 28 per cent of respondents reporting theirorganisation set targets. And just 22 per cent ofrespondents said their company set D&I targets for the
recruitment firms they use to find new employees.
Also, only 41 per cent of respondents support reviewing
job descriptions and person specification for bias, while
far fewer (24 per cent) support introducing ‘name-blind
recruitment’ into stages of the recruitment process tomitigate bias in decision-making.
Ensuring interview panels are diverse attracted only alittle more support - 29 per cent of respondents agreewith using this method.

CAREER MANAGEMENTFOR RETENTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Despite growing demand from employees of all ages
and life stages, agile and flexible working arrangements
are still in the minority in organisations across Asia,
according to our research.
A range of work options helps companies achieve
greater diversity of employees but also skills and ideas.
However, only 44 per cent of respondents in Singapore
reported that their organisation actively promotes
flexible and agile working as the default position of its
business culture. And 45 per cent that theirorganisation actively promotes flexible working
practices for working parents while 37 per cent said
their employer ensures flexible work options areavailable to all staff.
These results suggest employers in Singapore are lessattractive when it comes to flexible work options thanthose in Malaysia and Hong Kong.
On the plus side more respondents in Singapore (51%)
have access to mentors at work than those in Mainland
China, Japan and Malaysia.
Driving D&I must start at the top but is executed bymanagers throughout the organisation and in
Singapore 54 per cent of respondents regard their line
manager as committed to increasing diversity within
their team. Just over a third of respondents (35 percent) said their organisation provides people managers
with D&I training. And 24 per cent of respondents said
that their organisation actively works to developing
under-represented groups, specifically into leadershiproles. This reveals a gap in D&I capability amongst
people managers in Singapore.
Also, 54 per cent of respondents agreed careerdevelopment conversations with their line manager
were open and transparent. This was low whencompared to Malaysia (67 per cent) and Hong Kong(66%) and fairly on par with Mainland China and Japan.

And 66 per cent of respondents agreed theirorganisation was unbiased in the words it uses to
describe the organisation, its culture and job vacancies.

More than a third of respondents (37 per cent) believe
the employees of their organisation of a similar socioeconomic background to the organisation’s
management have a better chance of promotion. This
was a better result than all other of our operating
markets except Japan.

However, only 47 per cent of respondents reported
their organisation proactively sources diverse
candidates. This was lower than Mainland China (63%),
Japan (60%), Malaysia (56%) and Hong Kong (53%).

Overall, only 37 per cent of respondents believe theiremployer seizes every opportunity to create aworkplace culture that is more diverse and inclusive – alower result than every market but Japan.

26 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report

EXPERT INSIGHT

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 27

EXPERT INSIGHT
Why is diversity in the workplace important to you?
We, at Sanofi, are there beside people in need as a health journey partner. Many patientsdepend on us. We aim to protect, enable and support people facing health challenges sothey can live life to its full potential. We are a diversified company focused on humanhealth, operating worldwide and transforming scientific innovation into healthcare
solutions. As a company that respects cultural differences, Sanofi depends on thediversity and talents of employees to be more innovative, effective and competitive.
Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) is integral to success at Sanofi.
D&I is fundamental to how we operate and is embedded in our ways of working andSanofi’s Core Values: Teamwork, Courage, Respect and Integrity. We respect the diversityof our people, their backgrounds and experiences. We recognise that to truly tap into therichness diversity brings, we must lead with inclusion and have a workplace where thosedifferences can thrive and be leveraged to empower the lives of our employees, patientsand customers.

Annie Lim

Sanofi, Global Lead Diversity & Inclusion Head,D&I (AsiaChinaJPAC), People & Leadership Development CoE
How does Diversity & Inclusion tie into
your company’s business objectives?
D&I is linked closely to our company’sbusiness objectives and through acommitment from our CEO to every
employee:“...The people who work at Sanofi comefrom many countries, many cultures, manybackgrounds. And our product portfolio iswide, as it keeps pace with the evolutionof medicine and meets the needs ofmillions all over the world,” Olivier
Brandicourt, Chief Executive Officer.
We know every individual will face healthchallenges at some stage - big or small,
limited or more serious. We at Sanofi arehealth journey partners. We do this bypreventing disease, for example by our
vaccine activity, or by treating, curing andsupporting people facing healthchallenges. This is embedded in ourcompany’s business objectives.
What impact has Diversity & Inclusion
made in your organisation?
We recognise that to benefit from thewealth that D&I brings, we must lead withinclusion and have a workplace where
differences can thrive and be leveraged toempower the lives of patients. In essence, tobe an open and inclusive environment where
employees can be themselves and bring
their best self to work to make an impact topatients, customer, communities and Sanofi.
We believe D&I generates innovation,
productivity and collaboration. This is key
to reflecting our customer mix and to
gaining a better understanding of ourinternal and external stakeholders andanticipating their needs to better serve
our patients worldwide. Our commitment
at Sanofi is to stand beside people in need
wherever we can make an impact anddifference, giving a sense of purpose towhat we do every day. This has had ahuge impact on our D&I index, reflected
recently in our overall Dow Jones
Sustainability Index (DSJI) ranking.
Sanofi ranked #1 as the world’s most
reputable pharmaceutical company in2018. Of the 22 pharma companies ranked,
Sanofi’s winning characteristics were its
promotion of workplace diversity, ethics
and transparency, according to the
Reputation Institute.

What do you think makes an organisation
attractive to diverse talent?
With an equal focus on recruitment andretention, our global diversity charter
serves as a continuous reminder of ourpledge to embrace and foster thedevelopment of every individual at every
level of our organisation regardless ofgender, ethnic origin, sexual orientation,
religion, age or disability.
We strongly believe gender balance D&I isa critical vector and competitive
advantage for talent attractiveness andretention. It’s business imperative for us togenerate growth opportunities, better
attract diverse talent and ensuresustainability. It’s also an innovation driverto contribute and foster new ideas andinnovation through D&I.
What advice would you giveorganisations that are struggling with
Diversity & Inclusion?
There is no short cut to D&I. It is a constantjourney and evolution of culture. Sanofi isrunning a marathon on the D&I journeywith our patients, customers andemployees. We strongly believe it is theleadership and board of directors thatwalks the talk and demonstrates theappropriate leadership behaviours to truly
reflect the D&I ways of practice thatcascades down into the different
hierarchies within the organisation. It is theway we live, breath and demonstrate D&I.
How does your organisation measure thesuccess of Diversity & Inclusion?
There are dedicated D&I measures ofsuccess embedded into our Human Capital
Dashboard, which permeates through ourbusiness objectives, all CoEs, HR, andleaders. This includes areas in recruitment,
development, retention, succession
planning, transversal movements,
leadership programs, performance
management, evolving culture, gender anddiversity balance as well as strategic
workforce planning.
Amongst these measures and KPIs, we areconvinced that gender balance enables
innovation because diversity allows us tobring more perspectives, which drives new
ideas and therefore fosters innovation. In
addition, gender balance helps us tobetter match our market/customers.

28 | 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report

What are the next steps for Diversity &Inclusion within your organisation?
Early this year, we began our mission of
Empowering Life through D&I - within
Sanofi and externally, sharing our purpose
globally to support millions of people
facing big and small health challenges,
whether lifelong or temporary. All that we
do is about empowering life to make an
impact for our patients, customers and theorganisation we serve.
At the same time, Sanofi seeks to provide
employees with comprehensive benefits
and resources to help support their desire
to thrive in every dimension of their lives
including physical well-being, financial
well-being, work-life balance, making a
difference, and D&I. As a company that
respects cultural differences, Sanofi has
been working relentlessly building
programs globally and creating policies
that reflect our unwavering commitment
to diversity. We have done this through:Millennials Engagement, Diversity
Recruitment, Inclusive Work Environments& Practices, Gender Balance focusing on a
women’s leadership development
program, and CSR Strategic partnerships
to further amplify inclusion and drive an
outside-in perspective and to celebrate,
and positively impact, the diversity of thecommunities we serve.
For example, each year, the Board of
Directors conducts a review to ensure that
there is an appropriate gender balance inits composition. In particular, the Board
seeks to ensure gender balance and abroad diversity of backgrounds andcountries of origin, international experience,etc; reflecting Sanofi’s status as adiversified global business. We have alsorolled out specific actions and diversity
recruitment training to ensure our recruiters
and people managers are equipped withthe knowledge to mitigate unconscious
bias and to include at least one female
candidate in all recruitment shortlists toincrease female candidates. Our aim in the
Global D&I team is to work to foster
inclusive leadership across the organisation.
Becoming a gender-balanced company ispart of what we want Sanofi to be in the
future and is a strong performance-driver. It
can be achieved by ingraining gender balancein our culture, our values and our strategy.

EXPERT INSIGHT
Why is diversity in the workplace important to you?
At Johnson & Johnson Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) is a fundamental part of our Credo
because we recognise the impact they have on our ability to help people live longer,
healthier, happier lives.
D&I is at the very heart of our culture. It is an important part of what makes us Johnson &Johnson. D&I isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do. By making D&I an
everyday behaviour, we open our hearts, minds and arms to the broadest & brightest setof people & partners.
I think the best way to elaborate the importance of D&I for our company is to quote our
CEO Alex Gorsky words: “Diversity & Inclusion at Johnson & Johnson is not just acommitment – it is the reality of how we live and work. The best innovation can only come
if our people reflect the world’s full diversity of individuals, opinions and approaches.”
So building a more diverse and inclusive culture is a promise that we make to each other,to our customers, to our patients and to all people who need us.

Cathy Zhao

HR Head, Johnson & Johnson China

How does Diversity & Inclusion tie into
your company’s business objectives?
The mission of Johnson & Johnson is tohelp people live longer, healthier, happier
lives. We believe that the best and themost effective way of understanding andmeeting the needs and desires of ourdiverse customers and patients is to havea workforce that reflects diversity.
Therefore, we embed D&I into ourbusiness and people strategy. And it
becomes a way of how we do business at
Johnson & Johnson. When we all bring ourunique experiences and perspectives tothe table, we can unleash our fullpotential, fuel groundbreaking innovations
that solve the world’s biggest healthcare
challenges, and continuously drive
sustainable business growth.
What impact has Diversity & Inclusion
made in your organisation?
D&I is the core part of our culture, whichenables us to create a legacy of more than
130 years, and will continuously power us
towards a healthier tomorrow.
What do you think makes an organisation
attractive to diverse talent?
A diverse and inclusive culture, where
everyone is valued, and all ideas are heard,
where everyone can be their authentic self
and do their best, and where people feellike they belong.
What advice would you giveorganisations that are struggling with
Diversity & Inclusion?
Take immediate action to foster
behaviours to build a diverse and inclusive
environment. Hold senior leadershipaccountable for it.

experience. We will analyse and share theresults, and make all leaders accountable
to identify opportunities for improvement
and actions that will ultimately help createa work experience that inspires, empowers
and excites Johnson & Johnson employees
around the world.
In July 2018, Johnson & Johnson will
launch the Diversity & Inclusion Honours:
an enterprise-wide platform to recognise
teams and individuals in each region forwork that demonstrated measurable
business impact and value, model
behaviours and innovative approaches tosupport our three D&I pillars.
What are the next steps for Diversity &Inclusion within your organisation?
This year we have transformed D&I at
Johnson & Johnson to better serve our
employees’ needs and to better connect
with our customers and patients. For the
first time ever, we unified our D&I strategy
across the enterprise globally, and clearly
define what D&I means to us:
At Johnson & Johnson, diversity is about
everybody and everyone’s uniqueperspective. Inclusion is about creating a
deep sense of belonging. Our vision is to
Be yourself and Change the World.
It is a journey, and we are very committed
to continuously make all efforts toadvance our culture of belonging where
open hearts and minds combine tounleash to potential of the brilliant mix ofpeople in very corner of Johnson &Johnson.

How does your organisation measure thesuccess of Diversity & Inclusion?
At Johnson & Johnson, we take D&I very
seriously. We hold leaders at every levelaccountable for it and we do measure ourprogress in many dimensions.
For diversity stand of point, we set
specific goals at every level to ensure themost diversified workforce.
For inclusion, every year we conduct “Our
Voice Survey” worldwide. The survey
provides all employees with theopportunity to confidentially express theirthoughts, opinions, ideas and suggestions
about our Johnson & Johnson work

2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion Report | 29

RECOMMENDATIONSAPPLY WHOLE SYSTEMSTHINKING TO DIVERSITYHOLD SENIOR AND
LINE MANAGERS ACCOUNTABLE

Bring together a group of employees from across the organisation,
ensuring all disciplines are represented; to research and map how
Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) can improve the way your businessperforms at every level. In this way the organisation obtains aclearer picture of how diversity can boost everything fromattraction of great people to the employee experience, quality ofleadership, business relationships locally, domestically and globally,customer experience and profitability. The bonus here is you also
end up with a group of well-informed D&I ambassadors.

We were encouraged to see two thirds of respondents work inorganisations that set individual D&I targets/KPIs for senior and line
managers. However, only nine per cent of respondents told us
these targets are actively worked towards. Most respondents – 19
per cent – said targets were only sometimes worked towards and
12% that they were rarely or never pursued. D&I targets must bepart of performance management more generally. Refresh training
support for managers if necessary such as unconscious bias
training and then hold them to account. Senior and line managers
will find it easier to justify time spent on pursuing D&I targets ifthey understand the benefits to the business and their own careers.

BE TRANSPARENT ABOUT
DIVERSITY & INCLUSIONIN YOUR ORGANISATION
Communicating D&I initiatives via staff communications andinternal intranet platforms and supporting diversity events is amust. Only 15 per cent of respondents told us their organisation
always promotes D&I via staff communications. Be transparent
about any targets you set for the organisation, its managers andeven the agencies you use whether they be recruitment agencies
finding your next hire or advertising agencies tasked withreflecting your customers. And a third of our respondents
reported their organisation never or rarely supports diversity
events such as multi-cultural days, and International Women’s
Day and 26 per cent only sometimes. This is an easy win and agreat opportunity to get employees engaged.

CREATE DIVERSITY & INCLUSIONTARGETS FOR ALL EMPLOYEESRECOMMENDATIONSCreating an e-learning package to provide all employees with asolid understanding of what D&I is and what it delivers to yourparticular organisation is worth the effort. The training can bepart of induction but should also be crafted to provide ongoingknowledge to employees of how D&I delivers benefits to business
and workplace culture. Training needs to be mandatory tocomplete and monitored closely. This is a great way to spreadthe D&I message from the bottom up.

ASK YOUR CEO TO MODEL
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
There can be no better champion for D&I in your organisation
than the CEO. When they talk, everyone listens. Only
42 per cent of our respondents described the leaders in theirorganisation as role models for diversity. Don’t be part of thatstatistic. In Australia and New Zealand, the CEOs of some of thelargest and most successful companies have joined forces to be“male champions of change” on diversity so there is a successful
framework already working to help guide your efforts. The CEO
needs to be well supported but given all our otherrecommendations, that infrastructure can be built leveraging thestrengths of the entire organisation. The result could be a bottom
up top down system that helps truly circulate all the wins D&I
can deliver to your organisation.

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