WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2023

Survey responses suggest that university degrees as a hiring criteria remain most recognized among

companies operating in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Austria and the

Republic of Korea, wherein more than 60% of surveyed companies use this as a top criteria

for skills assessment. By contrast, fewer than 30% of companies in Romania, Colombia, Latvia

and Sweden use degrees as a top employment consideration.

Additionally, and as the following section demonstrates, comparatively few companies

consider relaxing degree requirements as a means to promote DEI in their organization. Globally, only

24% of companies consider flexibility on education requirements as a means to promote diversity, less

than the 33% of companies which do not have a DEI programme at all.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

(DEI)

Under organization transformation and labour-market transitions, companies are to play a

more prominent role in supporting fragile and disrupted talent groups and advancing social

justice and DEI. Even though less than one-fifth of organizations intend to run DEI programmes to

boost talent availability, more than two-thirds of the organizations surveyed have a DEI programme. This

number is significantly higher in larger organizations: 92% of companies with more than 50,000

employees report the presence of such an initiative in their organization.

The most popular component of DEI programmes is running comprehensive DEI training for managers

Run comprehensive DEI training for managers 41.7%

Run comprehensive DEI training for staff 36.4%

Enable inclusion and accessibility across physical and virtual spaces 32.7%

Set DEI goals, targets or quotas that exceed public requirements 25.5%

Offer greater flexibility on education requirements to recruit from various backgrounds 24.0%

Embed DEI goals and solutions across the supply chain 22.9%

Provide greater flexibility on degree requirements for roles 21.6%

Set up Employee Representation Groups 18.4%

Recruit a DEI Officer 12.1%

FIGURE 5.6 Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, 2023-2027

Source
World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Survey 2023.

Share of organizations surveyed which will run these programmes

(42%) and for staff (37%) (Figure 5.6). A significant outlier is the real estate industry, where only around

20% of executives agree with such an approach. A considerable number of global respondents, at

33%, prioritize inclusion and accessibility across physical and virtual spaces. Most notably, more

than half of respondents in the Insurance and Pension Management industry, as well as across

industries in Australia and Hong Kong SAR, China, expect these to be significant components of their

DEI programmes. There are, however, divergent opinions on the least adopted DEI measure:

recruiting a DEI officer. Globally, only 12% of respondents regard this as a priority, while half

of the respondents in Egypt are in favour of such a measure, and more than 30% of Advanced

Manufacturing businesses prefer this approach.

Globally, women are the most common priority group for surveyed organizations’ DEI programmes

across all regions and industries, with four of five respondents identifying them as a priority for DEI

programmes (Figure 5.7). Youth from Gen Z (under 25 years old) are the second-most common priority

group in every region, with an average of two of three respondents identifying young workers as a

priority – these DEI strategies are a constructive way to address the effect on young people’s labour-

market participation of recent disruptions (see Chapter 1). Those from a low-income background

are the lowest priorities for all organizations. Less than one-third of the companies surveyed dedicate

Future of Jobs Report 2023 55