PHARMACEUTICAL marketers are divided when it comes to their opinions on workplace initiatives relating to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), according to a new survey by MM+M (Medical Marketing + Media).
Nearly one-third of survey participants say the amount of attention that their organisation gives to boosting EDI at work is “too much”.
Another 22 per cent said those efforts are “too little”, while 23 per cent chose “about right”.
One participant noted that although the business sector is claiming “diversity fatigue” – “we as a nation have not even begun to scratch the surface in equality”.
In the poll, some people criticised EDI for “going overboard” while others demanded that it continue to be a “strategic imperative” despite the survey’s poor progress.
Following the George Floyd incident, diversity initiatives substantially increased, and over the last three years, businesses have improved educational training, extended talent recruiting, and promoted more inclusive cultures.
Though studies show that when it comes to other types of equality, such as race/ethnic and sexual orientation, results have been slow to materialise across agencies, drugmakers, and medical device companies, progress had been made in the area of gender equality prior to 2020, including in the boardroom.
Data now indicate that such initiatives’ vigour may have diminished.
In the MM+M poll, nearly one in five respondents claimed that EDI projects in their organisations have reached a plateau.
However, 64 per cent of respondents said that these programmes were either strong and gaining traction or moderately effective.
Separately, 43 per cent of respondents claimed that their companies have improved their employment and promotion of persons of colour.
The study, which was conducted from mid-July to mid-August, reveals that there were tensions among the public even before the Supreme Court’s historic decision to abolish affirmative action in June.
* Medical Marketing + Media (MM+M), is a pharmaceutical marketing and commercialisation media brand in the US.
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