ANREV, INREV, NAREIM, NCREIF, PREA, REALPAC, and ULI joined forces with Ferguson Partners in 2021 to track global real estate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) data around corporate practices. According to the results of the 2021 DEI Survey, 92 percent of commercial real estate firms globally have a DEI program or initiatives highlighting a clear mandate and momentum for DEI to be a priority within the industry. The Survey also reveals the gender composition of the CRE industry, with men representing 58 percent of employees and women representing 42 percent.
The first global benchmark of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) metrics for commercial real estate shows that there is a clear mandate and momentum for DEI to be a priority, with 92 percent of firms adopting a DEI program or initiatives to improve DEI in the workplace.
The Global Real Estate DEI Survey is the industry’s first global collection of corporate best practices and employee demographics for commercial real estate. The survey tracks gender, race/ethnicity, and nationality across seniority and job functions in the Asia Pacific region, Europe, and North America as well as corporate practices in relation to DEI programs, recruitment, retention, training and development, inclusivity, and pay equity.
“This year’s global survey results confirm that organizational DEI practice is critically important to firms across the real estate industry, and that measuring progress is essential to making progress,” said Ed Walter, ULI Global CEO. “As ULI continues to pursue unrelenting efforts to shape the built environment toward diverse, equitable, inclusive communities, we look forward to seeing accelerated action from the industry on corporate DEI practice, with this benchmark as a catalyst and window of insight into that process.”
The 2021 Global Real Estate DEI Survey, a partnership between ANREV, INREV, NAREIM, NCREIF, PREA, REALPAC, and ULI and conducted by Ferguson Partners, also reveals that CRE firms are increasingly employing professionals dedicated to DEI or utilizing DEI committees.
In Europe, 43 percent of CRE firms have professionals solely dedicated to DEI, while in Asia-Pacific that figure is 33 percent. In North America, 21 percent of firms have dedicated DEI professionals while 67 percent of firms have formal DEI committees responsible for developing, implementing, and reviewing DEI strategies and initiatives. In both Asia-Pacific and Europe, around 44 percent of CRE firms utilize DEI committees.
The Survey, which collected 175 responses covering 435,000 employees globally and representing $2.4tn of gross assets under management, was conducted between September 8 to October 29, 2021. Almost three-quarters of participants reported data for the North America region (77 percent), with 16 percent of organizations reporting for Europe, and 7 percent of participants reporting on behalf of the Asia-Pacific region.
Key findings include:
DEI is a priority: 92 percent of CRE firms globally have a DEI program or initiatives to improve DEI.
- Of the 92 percent of firms with a DEI program or initiatives to improve DEI, 47 percent of CRE firms have a formal DEI program and 45 percent of CRE firms have DEI initiatives and policies to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.
- According to the Survey, 25 percent of firms globally employed professionals solely dedicated to DEI. In Europe, that figure was 43 percent while in Asia-Pacific, 33 percent of CRE firms had dedicated DEI professionals. In North America, 21 percent of CRE firms had dedicated DEI professionals.
- DEI committees are predominantly used by firms in North America (67 percent) and by larger organizations globally. In Asia-Pacific and Europe, DEI committees are utilized by around 44 percent of firms.
- Of the firms with at least one dedicated DEI employee, the DEI employee is usually at the senior level. DEI committees also typically report to the C-suite executive or directly to the CEO or other senior leadership.
Gender balance: The global CRE industry is comprised of 58 percent men and 42 percent women. The data differs by region.
- In the Asia Pacific region, men represent 53 percent of all full-time employees (FTEs) compared to 47 percent women. In Europe, men represent 62 percent of all FTEs compared to 38 percent for women. In North America, men represent 59 percent of all FTEs compared to 41 percent for women.
Gender and seniority: For all regions, women represent more than 50 percent of FTEs at the junior-level. The gap between male and female employees widens for all regions as professionals progress through their careers to executive management positions and the board of director level.
- Asia-Pacific CRE firms have the greatest representation of women in senior positions with women comprising 32 percent of all executive management positions and 26 percent of board positions. In North America, women represent 20 percent of executive management and 21 percent of board of directors roles, while in Europe women represent 16 percent of executive management and 14 percent of board roles.
Race/ethnicity and nationality: No one region tracks race/ethnicity or nationality in the same way making global comparisons difficult.
- In North America (77 percent of participants), 29 percent of FTEs are professionals of color. Insufficient data was collected in 2021 in relation to nationality for Asia-Pacific CRE firms and race/ethnicity for Europe CRE firms.
Recruitment practices: Three practices emerge as key tools organizations globally adopt to improve the recruitment of underrepresented professionals, including:
- Promoting the organization as a representative workplace to diverse candidates (63 percent), ensuring individuals from underrepresented groups are in the candidate pool before making a hiring decision (61 percent), and seeking to remove bias and adverse impact from the hiring process (60 percent).
Retention practices: Outlining clear job requirements and job expectations is the primary tool for retaining diverse talent in the workplace, with 97 percent of firms saying it is a strategy already implemented or set to be adopted in the next year.
- A further 93 percent of CRE firms globally also said they are already providing or are planning to implement in the next year work-life balance programs, such as childcare and flex schedules. Work-life balance programs scored the highest in Europe, where all firms said they had already implemented the practice or planned to implement the policy in the next 12 months, followed by Asia-Pacific and North America firms (92 percent, respectively).
- Impact: Offering work-life balance programs is deemed the DEI policy that has been the most “impactful” to CRE organizations globally. Impact is not defined in the Survey, with participants asked to score policies on their perceptions of what has been most impactful to their firm. The second-most impactful policy is ensuring individuals from underrepresented groups are in the candidate pool before making a hiring decision.
Training and development practices: When it comes to DEI, communication is key for CRE firms globally, with 92 percent of respondents either currently implementing or planning to implement DEI communication strategies for employees in the next 12 months. Globally, 80 percent of CRE firms currently have employee communication strategies for DEI, while 12 percent of firms are planning to implement strategies in the next year.
- Communicating DEI’s importance to professionals ranks as the most cited practice in North America and Europe in relation to DEI training and development. In Asia-Pacific, anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training is cited as the most common practice.
Inclusive culture practices: Providing work-life balance programs, such as childcare and flex schedules, is the highest scoring practice when it comes to company retention policies.
- Almost eight out of 10 (77 percent) CRE firms globally are currently implementing or planning to implement parental leave beyond legal requirements in the next 12 months.
Tracking and accountability practices: One of the most important tools to track data and provide accountability around DEI efforts is the exit interview, with 91 percent of survey participants saying they currently implement or plan to implement the practice within the next 12 months. Globally, 77 percent of CRE firms currently gather and analyze exit interview data, while 14 percent of firms are planning to implement the strategy in the next year.
- In the coming year, 31 percent of CRE firms plan to more widely track and monitor the DEI policies of suppliers.
Data collection practices: Data collection is where all CRE firms start their DEI work. While it is only part of the challenge in addressing DEI in the workplace, it is critical to understand and track progress. For a majority of those CRE respondents who track demographic data as a part of these efforts, the key metrics are age, gender and ethnicity, followed by educational background and marital status.
- There are interesting regional differences. In Asia-Pacific, languages spoken is also part of the data collection process, while in Europe and North America, age remains the primary data collected.
The survey will be discussed in a webinar in January, titled “Tracking Movement on DEI: ULI and the Global Real Estate DEI Survey.”
