Singapore Among World’s Worst in Workplace Diversity

While Singapore might be the world’s most competitive economy, its workplaces have a long way to go, ranking close to bottom in terms of diversity and inclusion, and a quarter of employees reporting bullying, according to surveys by Refinitiv and Kantar.

While Asia-Pacific counted 23 firms on the 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Index published by financial markets data provider Refinitiv, the only representative from Singapore was Singtel.

The survey, published Tuesday, ranks over 7,000 companies globally and identifies the top 100 publicly traded companies on 24 separate metrics across four key pillars: diversity, inclusion, people development, and controversies.

The increasing transparency in the reporting of social metrics will offer opportunities for investors to better integrate ESG principles into the investment and strategy decision-making process, Refinitiv chief revenue officer Debra Walton said.

Singtel came in 79th on the list. Australia led the region, with nine companies in the top 100, followed by Japan with five.

Singapore’s workplaces were ranked second-last in terms of diversity and inclusion practices by data, consulting and insights firm Kantar in its latest Inclusion Index, released Tuesday.

According to the survey, which polled 18,000 people in 14 countries across 24 industries, Singapore was identified with the highest level of workplace bullying, along with Brazil and Mexico.

Compared to the global peers, Singapore workers are the most likely to «feel uncomfortable» by their employers, and 44 percent said they experience «stress and anxiety» at work, compared to 39 percent globally, according to the survey.

If you are serious about inclusion and diversity in your business, you need to get serious about measuring it. Diversity is the fact, while inclusion is the act, and until now inclusion has been much harder to measure, Mandy Rico, global director of Kantar’s Inclusion Index, said about the findings.