Report calls on engineering sector to work harder on developing culture of inclusivity

As the engineering skills gap continues to impact businesses across industry, it’s never been more important for engineering organisations to attract, develop and retain a diversity of engineers from all areas of society.

And yet, whilst three quarter of engineers believe that industry’s culture and inclusivity has improved in the past 5 years under-represented groups continue to experience a profession where microaggressions are overlooked and bullying, discrimination and harassment are still tolerated. These are the key findings of a new report published by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Based on responses from 1657 engineers and employers, The report, Inclusive Cultures in Engineering 2023, explores the relationship between culture, inclusion and diversity and, in particular, intersectional data from underrepresented groups (i.e.. data that takes account of the fact that human experience is jointly shaped by multiple social positions, such as race, gender, sexuality.)

The research highlights different facets of what an inclusive culture across the engineering profession looks like along with the values and behaviours that can either enable or inhibit the development of an inclusive culture.