The biggest barrier to addressing workplace diversity in Asia is a lack
of leadership commitment from the top of companies, according to a
newly-released poll.
The survey of 121 mainly corporate diversity specialists from Asia
found that the other chief barriers were companies failing to devise an
overall diversity strategy and the lack of evidence of a ‘compelling
business case’ for addressing diversity.
The survey was carried out by the Hong Kong based CSR organization
Community Business at its Diversity & Inclusion in Asia conference.
Eighty nine per cent of delegates were from the corporate sector
and 91 per cent were from Asia.
In general, respondents said gender was the number one diversity
priority, with race number two and age third. There were, however,
regional differences. Indian delegates, for instance, put disability
much higher up as a priority, while religion was considered more
important in India and South East Asia than Hong Kong or mainland China.
