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The report stresses that the beauty industry has a high level of inclusion for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly in colour cosmetics. According to leaders who were included in the report, LGBTQ+ employee resource groups are often the furthest developed. In addition, over the past two years, many companies have implemented policies related to trans and non-binary inclusion, including training for managers and education for teams about allyship.
Beauty is particularly well positioned to embrace DE&I, the organisations say, because its workforce and consumer base are female-dominated, which means the foundations are there to build a pipeline of diverse talent. On top of that, with beauty products being intrinsically linked to external appearance, companies should have the incentive to develop inclusive product lines that will have a direct commercial impact.
Overcoming the talent gap
Across all intersections of identity, one of the biggest barriers to progress is the homogeneity of the talent pool. The report advises that companies who are furthest ahead are engaging in training for hiring managers, recruiting from outside the beauty industry, supporting and formalising employee resource groups, and investing in third-party services to audit their DE&I work. At Beauty Pie, VP of people and talent Victoria Foley says data on the representation of minority groups is measured across the application process and past the offer stage. “We can keep an eye out for any red flags: if 50 per cent of applicants are coming from underrepresented minorities, but only 5 per cent of interviews, then that’s something we can spot and address,” she says in the report.
Two key areas to improve upon are social mobility and disability, according to the report. Corporate roles have historically been dominated by people from privileged backgrounds, primarily because internships (which are low paid, based in expensive metropolitan cities, and often require a pre-existing social network) are inaccessible to many from underprivileged backgrounds. “We tend to get interns that all fit a similar profile,” said one health and beauty brand CEO in the report. “We recruit from specific universities, and find ourselves hiring people whose parents can support them.” The report suggests companies partner with schools and colleges in different regions and charities to widen the talent pool, and develop programmes to upskill entry-level workers from different backgrounds.
In terms of disability underrepresentation, only 13 per cent of businesses had a disabled senior leader, and even fewer have accessibility policies in place. The report highlights that companies should invest in the disabled community, who have a spending power of $1.7 trillion annually.
For Roya Shariat, director of social impact and communications at Glossier, the key to industry-wide change lies in understanding what different sized companies can bring to the conversation. For the nine-year-old beauty brand, a lot of its DE&I work is “quite scrappy” and “highly reactive”, she says. By contrast, a heritage brand might find it harder to make quick moves but have bigger budgets and more resources that allow for longer-term projects like scholarships, for example. “Identify what you’re good at,” she urges brands. “Find your voice in the conversation. Everyone has a role to play in this, it’s just about finding out what it is.”
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