Hiring for Diversity & Inclusion
Debbie Morrison • March 18, 2022

For many consumer goods companies, the impact of the pandemic forced them into simply surviving - priorities shifted to navigating supply chain issues, managing remote working and depleted workforces, panic-buying and safeguarding employees and customers. Understandably, long term goals issues such as diversity and inclusion dropped down the list of priorities, at least for the short term.


A report by McKinsey, analysed more than 1,000 large companies across 15 countries prior to the pandemic and found a divide in approach. Only a third of the companies had achieved “real gains in top-team diversity” in the past five years. The majority made little or no progress – some had even gone backwards.


Interestingly though, research by IGD in October involving interviews with senior HR staff across more than 30 major retailers, food service providers and medium to large-sized branded manufacturers found more than 80% claimed inclusion and diversity was still part of their senior leadership conversations. A quarter even said they had used the past year to start creating a formal strategy.


The events of the last few years have made clear that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is no longer just a fluffy HR initiative, but a necessity. Employees and potential candidates aren’t just asking for it, they are leaving when an organisation’s culture doesn’t meet their expectations. Employees understand that no one has to be unhappy at work anymore.


Consumers and employees are looking for long-term impact, sustained efforts and meaningful contributions. The most successful leaders are brokering meaningful strategic partnerships and working to attract talent that supports their journey toward inclusion.

Furthermore, customers are looking for clues that companies are serious and committed to racial equity, or if these actions are simply empty PR stunts. 


Adobe’s Diversity in Advertising survey revealed 62% of Australian consumers are more likely to purchase products and services from brands with diverse advertisements. While 56 % of consumers surveyed said lack of diversity would impact their perception of a brand.

Whilst there is enough evidence that Diversity and Inclusion is not only a worthwhile societal imperative but also makes good practical business, knowing what to strive for is only half the battle. Few organisations are yet to implement practical strategies.


Much of this might be due to the fact that Diversity and Inclusion are about much more than gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. The ideal approach to Diversity and Inclusion aims to shape the constitution of an organisation; employees, representatives – to more accurately reflect the customer base and broader society. 


So how do organisations create a successful Diversity & Inclusion strategy?


Expand your talent pool

It stands to reason when organisations limit the talent pool from which they hire, not only do they stand a much lower chance of hiring the best people but they also limit their ability to cultivate a diverse and inclusive culture. Diversity and inclusion start with the position description and should form an intrinsic part of the advertising, communication (internal and external) and interview process.

 

Embrace new perspectives

The most successful companies are the ones that remain innovative in the face of rapid change. A diverse workforce – one where different perspectives, new ways of thinking about problems or challenges are celebrated and encouraged can provide organisations with a competitive edge.


The key to success here is flexibility. Diversity on its own is not enough for employees to express themselves. Employees must be empowered and encouraged to express themselves. By striving to be open and objective to the new perspectives and thinking that comes with having a diverse workforce, organisations can help foster a culture of inclusivity. 

Ensure customers and employees can identify with you

Today’s consumer wants to buy from companies they can identify with. The products they buy and the companies from which they purchase form an integral part of how they express their identity and plays a significant role in brand loyalty. As such, it’s important that organisations reflect the values of their customers through their attitudes and actions on cultural, social and environmental issues.


Diversity & Inclusion needs to be a priority of the c-suite

Whilst both a diverse workforce and the freedom of employees to express their ideas on defining company strategy, and empowering them to take action that drives organisations towards their goals is crucial, Diversity and inclusion must be a continuous priority for executives and board rooms for the benefits to be realised.


How ELR Can Help

At ELR Executive, we understand that Diversity and Inclusion is an essential aspect of any organisation that must be considered in every decision. most especially in the search for leadership. We work closely with our partners to help them create a culturally diverse and inclusive environment, opening the floor to a wider variety of voices and backgrounds by embedding diversity into the hiring process.


If you’re interested in understanding how we can help develop a talent pool of future leaders, you can arrange a confidential discussion with one of our experts today by clicking this link 'chat'.

Your Culture Report Won’t Show You This

By John Elliott • June 6, 2025
On paper, they were fully resourced. No complaints logged. No formal red flags. Delivery metrics holding steady. But behind closed doors, the signs were there. Delays. Fatigue. Silence in meetings where pushback used to live. And a growing sense that key people were leaning out, emotionally, if not yet physically. When the cracks finally showed, the conclusion was predictable: “We need more people.” But that wasn’t the real problem. The problem was trust. And most organisations never see it until it’s too late. The Hidden Cost of Disengagement In Gallup’s 2023 global workplace report , only 23% of employees worldwide reported being actively engaged at work. A staggering 59% identified as “quiet quitting”, psychologically detached, going through the motions, doing only what their job description demands. Source: Gallup Global Workplace Report 2023 Disengagement is expensive. But it’s also quiet. It doesn’t show up on a balance sheet. It doesn’t send a Slack message. Disengagement isn’t new, just silenced. And in executive teams, it looks different. It looks like polite agreement in strategy meetings. It looks like leaders shielding their teams from unrealistic demands, instead of confronting the system causing them. It looks like performance metrics still being met… while people emotionally check out. The issue isn’t always capability. It’s safety. Psychological, political, and professional. Many senior leaders don’t raise concerns, not because the problem isn’t real, but because they don’t believe they’ll be heard, supported, or protected if they do. And this is where the failure begins. The Leadership Lie No One Talks About We talk a lot about leadership capability. About experience, commercial acumen, execution strength. But we don’t talk enough about context. Every leadership hire walks into a culture they didn’t create. They inherit unwritten rules, quiet alliances, and legacy power structures. If those dynamics are broken, or if trust is fractured at the top, no amount of capability will compensate. According to a 2022 Deloitte mid-market survey, 64% of executives said culture was their top strategic priority. But only 27% said they actually measured it in a meaningful way. We say culture matters. But we rarely structure around it. And so new leaders walk in with pressure to perform, but little real insight into what the role will cost them emotionally, politically, or personally. We Don’t Hire for Trust. And It Shows. In executive search, the conversation is often dominated by pedigree and “fit.” But fit is often a euphemism for sameness. And sameness doesn't build trust, it maintains comfort. We rarely ask: Does this leader know how to build trust vertically and horizontally? Can they operate in a low-trust environment without becoming complicit? Will they challenge inherited silence, or unconsciously uphold it? Instead, we hire for confidence and clarity, traits that often mask what’s broken, rather than reveal it. And when those hires fail? We call it a mismatch. Or we cite the usual: “lack of alignment,” “wasn’t the right time,” “they didn’t land well with the team.” But the truth is often uglier: They were never set up to succeed. And no one told them until it was too late. The Cultural Infrastructure Is Missing One of the most damaging myths in leadership hiring is that great leaders will “make it work.” That if they’re tough enough, experienced enough, skilled enough, they’ll overcome any organisational dysfunction. But high-performance isn’t just personal. It’s systemic. It requires psychological safety. A clear mandate. The backing to make hard decisions. The freedom to speak the truth before it becomes a PR problem. When that infrastructure isn’t there, when the real power dynamics are unspoken, good leaders stop speaking too. And the silence spreads. What Trust Breakdown Really Looks Like Often, the signs of a trust breakdown don’t show up in dramatic ways. They surface subtly in patterns of underperformance that are easy to misread or excuse. You start to notice project delays, but no one flags the root cause. Teams keep things moving, quietly compensating for the bottlenecks rather than surfacing them. Not because they’re careless, but because they’ve learned that early honesty doesn’t always earn support. New leaders hesitate to make bold calls. Not because they lack conviction, but because the last time they did, they were left exposed. Board reports look flawless. Metrics track nicely. But spend five minutes on the floor, and the energy tells a different story. These are not resource issues. They’re relationship issues. And the data backs it. According to Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace report , just 23% of employees worldwide are actively engaged. Worse, around 60% are “quiet quitting.” That’s not just disengagement. It’s people doing only what’s safe, only what’s required, because trust has quietly eroded. Gallup also found that managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement, a staggering figure that reinforces just how pivotal leadership trust is. When people don’t feel psychologically safe, they shut down. Not dramatically. Quietly. Invisibly. What’s breaking isn’t the org chart. It’s the ability to speak plainly and be heard. And by the time it’s visible? The damage is already done, and someone calls for a restructure. “Low engagement is estimated to cost the global economy $8.8 trillion, 9% of global GDP.” Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2023 So What’s the Real Takeaway? If you’re seeing performance issues, before you jump to headcount, ask a different question: Do the leaders in this business feel safe enough to tell the truth? Because if they don’t, the data you’re reading isn’t real. And if they do, but you’re not acting on it, then they’ll stop telling you. Leadership doesn’t fail in obvious ways anymore. It fails in the gap between what people know and what they’re allowed to say. And the price of that silence? Missed opportunity. Reputational damage. Cultural decay. Sometimes, the problem isn’t who you hired. It’s what you’ve made it unsafe to say.

The Energy’s Gone, But Everything Still Looks Fine

By John Elliott • May 27, 2025
Why Culture Decay in FMCG Is a Silent Threat to Performance It doesn’t start with resignations. It starts with something much quieter. A head of operations stops raising small problems in weekly meetings. A sales lead no longer defends a risky new SKU. A team member who used to push ideas now just delivers what they’re asked. Nothing breaks. Nothing explodes. It just... slows. And from the outside, everything still looks fine. The illusion of stability In food and beverage manufacturing, where teams run lean and pressure is constant, performance often becomes the proxy for culture. If products are shipping, if margins are intact, if reviews are clean, the assumption is: we're good. But that assumption is dangerous. According to Gallup's 2023 global workplace report, only 23% of employees worldwide are actively engaged, while a staggering 59% are "quiet quitting ", doing just enough to get by, with no emotional investment. And in Australia? Engagement has declined three years in a row. In a mid-market FMCG business, those numbers rarely show up on dashboards. But they show up in other ways: New ideas stall at the concept phase Team members stop challenging assumptions Execution becomes rigid instead of agile Everyone is "aligned" but no one is energised And by the time the board sees a drop in revenue, the belief that once drove the business is already gone. The emotional cost of cultural silence One thing we don’t talk about enough is what this does to leadership. When energy drains, leaders often become isolated. Not because they want to be, but because the organisation has lost the instinct to challenge, question, or stretch. I’ve seen CEOs second-guessing themselves in rooms full of agreement. Seen GMs miss red flags because nobody wanted to be "the problem". Seen founders mistake quiet delivery for deep buy-in. The emotional toll of unspoken disengagement is real. You’re surrounded by people doing their jobs. But no one’s really in it with you. And eventually, leaders stop stretching too. We train people to disengage without realising it Here’s the contradiction that most organisations won’t admit: We say we want initiative, but we reward obedience. The safest people get promoted The optimists get extra work The truth-tellers get labelled difficult So people learn to conserve energy. They learn not to challenge ideas that won’t land. They learn not to flag risks that won’t be heard. And over time, they stop showing up with their full selves. This isn't resistance. It's protection. And it becomes the default when innovation is punished, risk isn't buffered, and "alignment" becomes code for silence. Boards rarely see it in time Boards don’t ask about belief. They ask about performance. But belief is what drives performance. When culture begins to fade, it doesn't look like chaos. It looks like calm. It looks like compliance. But underneath, the organisation is hollowing out. By the time a board notices the energy is gone, it’s often because the financials have turned, and by then, the people who could've helped reverse the trend have already left. In a 2022 Deloitte study on mid-market leadership, 64% of executives said culture was their top priority, yet only 27% said they measured it with any rigour . If you don’t track it, you won’t protect it. And if you don’t protect it, don’t be surprised when it disappears. The real risk: you might not get it back Here’s what no one likes to admit: Not all cultures recover. You can try rebrands. You can run engagement campaigns. You can roll out leadership frameworks and off-sites and feedback platforms. But if belief has been neglected for too long, the quiet ones you depended on, the culture carriers, the stretchers, the informal leaders, they’re already checked out. Some have left. Some are still there physically but not emotionally. And some have started coaching others to play it safe. Once that happens, you're not rebuilding. You're replacing. So what do you do? Don’t listen for noise. Listen for absence. Absence of challenge. Absence of stretch. Absence of belief. Ask yourself: When was the last time someone in the business pushed back? Not rudely, but bravely? When did someone offer an idea that made others uncomfortable? When did a leader admit they were unsure and ask for help? Those are your indicators. Because healthy culture isn’t silent. It’s alive. It vibrates with tension, disagreement, contribution and care. If everything looks fine, but no one’s really leaning in? That’s your problem. And by the time it shows up in the numbers,t might already be too late.