Diversity survey: The need for action

WIPR has carried out its third annual global survey to learn more about readers’ thoughts and experiences of diversity and inclusion (D&I) in IP.

We sought your views as the COVID-19 pandemic wrought havoc worldwide, leading to extraordinary challenges for the majority of business sectors, including IP.

The pandemic coincided with the increased prominence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which has heightened awareness of systemic and historic racial injustices, so we included questions to gauge your views on the impact of these seismic events.

As occurred in the previous two surveys, the majority of our respondents were women (73%), with men and ‘other’ comprising 26% and 1%, respectively. Nearly three quarters of respondents (71%) work in private practice, while the rest come from in-house companies, service providers, IP offices and others.

The majority of respondents (80%) say that D&I is a stated value for their organisation, while more than half of respondents consider D&I to be “extremely important” (51%) or “very important” (38%) to their organisation’s success.

Outside private practice, D&I seems to have become more of a priority over the past year, with 79% of respondents working in those organisations citing it as a priority—a 9% year-on-year increase.

The percentage of respondents who say their firms have a D&I policy stands at 72%, compared to 65% of respondents in the 2019 and 2020 surveys. Despite this positive rise, however, only 41% of respondents feel the legal sector is doing well at improving diversity.

How important do you think D&I is to your organisation’s success?