Diversity & Inclusion: How can eCommerce companies improve?

It is time for part 2 of our focus on diversity & inclusion within the eCommerce industry. In our first focus, we wanted to hear from people within the industry and how they felt about representation. We did discover that they believe some groups are more marginalised than others.

In particular, those with disabilities, different religions, LGBTQ+ and nationalities were further down the scale than others. With this in mind, our second focus will look at how they believe diversity & inclusion policies can be improved. Furthermore, is diversity starting from the top and being represented in leadership teams?

How diverse are eCommerce leadership teams?

We asked the respondents of our 2023 eCommerce salary survey & insights report to rank the diversity of their leadership teams on a scale of 1 to 10. 

As we can see, the average score is 4.8 out of a possible 10. This means less than half of our respondents believe that the leadership team demonstrates diversity. This is considerably lower than we expected.

As outlined in part 1, we have seen an increase in women in C-Suite/Director level roles. This is definitely a positive step. However, it is clear there are many other groups that eCommerce professionals feel are not well represented. 

Diversity in leadership teams is so important for talent attraction and retention. People are so much more vocal about equality, rights and being treated as human beings. As such, seeing that inclusion starts with the leadership teams will encourage them to apply to a company.

How can diversity & inclusion policies be improved?

For this section of our salary survey, we allowed respondents to express exactly how they felt with an open-ended answer box. Here are just a few sentiments shared...

"Less focus on university degrees and more focus on skills - times are changing!"

"More policies to help people with disabilities."

"More people with disabilities and BAME in management and leadership roles."

"Actually having a policy would be a good place to start."

"It should always be about the best person for the job, irrespective of race, creed, gender or sexual orientation."

Judging from overall responses, we were not surprised to see more people pushing for disability policies, especially as this group scored the lowest. It is also great to see the idea of educational opportunities mentioned. Quite simply, not everyone had the chance to attend university. Seeing more people pushing for skill sets over a degree demonstrates that the requirements for a role are going in the right direction - a degree isn't always the be-all and end-all.

Download a copy of the full report!

There is so much more to explore in the full eCommerce salary survey report! Simply click below to download a free copy. If you want to talk to the team, fill out our contact form and we will be in touch!