Former business secretary Sir Vince Cable (right) this morning warned that performance criteria, measurements and benchmarks are critical to understanding if organisations are making any progress towards greater diversity & inclusiveness (D&I).

“You can have warm words and good aspirations, but unless you have […] performance criteria, you never know if anything is happening,” Cable told an audience of recruitment professionals this morning at a breakfast event in London, attended by Recruiter.

Cable went on to say that embedding D&I practices involving disability, notably mental health disability, was a particularly “tricky issue”. Many people suffering from mental health problems are capable of recovering fully and reintegrating into the workforce but at the same time, actual occurrences of this happening remained a “terribly difficult” problem in the UK, he said. 

During his tenure at the helm of the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), Cable said 50-50 gender diversity was achieved with his 200 most senior employees and even with the top 12 most senior employees. However, he acknowledged that achieving a similar impact in the desired ethnicity balance at BIS had remained elusive. 

Sir Vince was the headline speaker at the D&I event, hosted by learning & networking service provider Reconverse.

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