FT-Statista Diversity Leaders Ranking and Methodology

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Methodology

Every year since 2019, we have sought the opinions of more than 100,000 employees across the continent to create the FT-Statista ranking of companies that can be considered Europe’s diversity leaders.

For the 2024 list, we added three objective indicators to this analysis: to bring the results even closer to the reality experienced by employees and to make our ranking more definitive. Employee surveys now account for 70 percent of a company’s final score, and these new indicators account for 30 percent:

• the proportion of women in management positions (e.g. executive committees, boards of directors, supervisory boards),

• communications made in favor of diversity (for example, diversity policy, diversity page on the corporate website, social networks, actions organized to promote diversity),

• the diversity score calculated by data provider Denominator, on a scale of zero to 100.

In the surveys, employees had the opportunity to evaluate their own employers’ diversity and inclusion practices and provide their perception of those adopted by other prominent employers in their respective industries. Government agencies and educational establishments were excluded.

The call to participate in surveys and evaluate companies was published ft.com in April 2024.

Employee surveys were conducted using online access panels, which consist of representative samples of the workforce in each of the 16 countries covered in the ranking (even if their employers are based elsewhere).

Without being told the purpose of the exercise, participants were asked what company or institution they worked for. Survey participants were then asked to what extent they thought their employer promoted diversity on a scale of zero to 10. Employees were also asked to give their opinion on a series of statements related to age, gender, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation.

The rate of agreement or disagreement with the statements was captured using a five-point Likert scale. The highest-scoring factors for each company are shown in the Diversity Leaders leaderboard.

Surveys took an average of six to nine minutes to complete, in field research conducted in the summer of 2024.

To reflect the opinions of underrepresented groups, the evaluations of women, the elderly, and ethnically diverse people were weighted significantly more than the opinions of others. The survey period covered from April to July 2024 and the average number of ratings for each company in the ranking was 207.

After the survey phase, Statista investigated the proportion of women in management positions at each company and conducted an assessment of how companies communicate their workplace diversity policies.

A third indicator was then taken from the external company, Denominator, a leading provider of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) data. For each company, Denominator added publicly available data sources (presentations, reports, company websites, official records, web searches, news stories, and proprietary data submissions) and research data. Then, using macro-level data, Denominator calibrated the companies’ performance and determined objective, fact-based DEI performance scores.

For example, the Race/Ethnicity score is calibrated based on the Race/Ethnicity distribution of the countries of operation. A company with 100 percent Caucasian leadership in the U.S. would receive a lower score than a company with 100 percent Caucasian leadership in Denmark, due to differences in population composition in the two countries. If a company operates in multiple countries, this is taken into account in the model.

To avoid any perceived conflict of interest, the Financial Times and Statista were excluded from the list of companies eligible to be ranked.

The 850 companies that received the highest total scores made it to the final Diversity Leaders ranking. An additional due diligence process was then carried out to remove or demote companies involved in employment discrimination cases, investigations or reports in Europe.