Diversity Report: Summer 2020

Lush UK&I Diversity Report: Summer 2020

In June 2020, we put into motion a diversity monitoring survey in each area of the business (Lush UK&I Retail, Lush Ltd, Lush Manufacturing, Lush Digital and Cosmetic Warriors) to get a better understanding of what the makeup of our UK&I business is. This report states the findings and figures from that survey.

The survey was sent to Lush UK&I employees to voluntarily complete. The response rate was 48.7% – 1,964 employees out of 4,030 employed at the time of surveying (July – August 2020). 639 of 1,964 (32.5%) of Lush UK&I employees who completed the survey confirmed their job role as a management position. 

It is important to note that self-identification was used throughout the survey. In accordance with this, employees were asked to confirm their management positions based on the following criteria:

‘We pride ourselves on internal progression within Lush, and will continue to nurture and invest in your development. That being said we must work on increasing management opportunities to those underrepresented groups. By confirming if you are in a position of management, we will gather a better understanding of the progression. In this case, management is defined as directing, leading and supporting others.’

For the purposes of this report, we have further analysed and clarified the information. 

We acknowledge that by simplifying the groupings into these narrow terms we run the risk of losing detail on the reality of culture, identity, language, and lived experience. Grouping the information in this way is only for the purposes of communicating our diversity and representation statistics, and it cannot fully define Lush staff.

This survey is the beginning of regular diversity monitoring and measuring at Lush, and was initiated as part of our commitment to becoming an anti-racist, intersectional and inclusive business. Please also see Lush UK&I Diversity: Race and Ethnicity Report Summer 2020

Age

Each respondent was asked, What is your age? with an open box or the option to prefer not to say. To communicate the data, we have the collated responses into age groups. In the table below, you can find how many respondents confirmed their age, and how age groups have been organised for the purpose of the report. Further below, you can find a breakdown of percentages for all employees.

 

 

1964
Respondents
What is your age? (All)

Aged 16-2427.7%
Aged 25-3441.8%
Aged 35-4416.3%
Aged 45-648.5%
65 and over0.4%
Prefer not to say5.3%

639
Respondents
What is your age? (Management)

Aged 16-2418.5%
Aged 25-3453.7%
Aged 35-4418.5%
Aged 45-647.5%
65 and over0%
Prefer not to say1.9%

Disability

Each respondent was asked, Would you define yourself as disabled (either mentally or physically)? with the option to respond: yes, no or prefer not to disclose. In the table below, you can find how many respondents replied per option. Further below, you can find a breakdown of percentages for all employees and for management. 

 

Would you define yourself as disabled (either mentally or physically)?All RespondentsManagement
Yes20049
No1652563
Prefer not to disclose11227
Total:1964639

 

 

1964
Respondents
Would you define yourself as disabled? (All)

Do not identify as disabled84.1%
Identify as disabled10.2%
Chose not to disclose5.7%

639
Respondents
Would you define yourself as disabled? (Management)

Identify as disabled7.7%
Do not identify 83.9%
Chose not to disclose4.2%

Gender

Each respondent was asked, How would you best describe your gender? with the options to respond: female, male, Non-Binary, prefer not to disclose and prefer to describe. In the Gender section, respondents were also asked, Do you identify with the gender identity you were assigned at birth? with the options to respond: yes, no and prefer not to disclose.

In the tables below, you can find how many respondents replied per option. Further below, you can find a breakdown of percentages for all employees and for management.

 

How would you best describe your gender?All RespondentsManagement
Female1390459
Male495164
Non-Binary5112
Prefer not to disclose212
Prefer to describe72
Total:1964639

 

Do you identify with the gender identity you were assigned at birth?All RespondentsManagement
Yes1845617
No7618
Prefer not to disclose434
Total:1964639

 

1964
Respondents
How would you best describe your gender? (All)

Female70.8%
Male25.2%
Non-Binary2.6%
Prefer not to disclose1.1%
Prefer to describe0.3%

1964
Respondents
Do you identify with the gender identity you were assigned at birth? (All)

Yes93.9%
No3.9%
Prefer not to disclose2.2%

639
Respondents
How would you best describe your gender? (Management)

Female71.8%
Male25.7%
Non-Binary1.9%
Prefer not to disclose0.3%
Prefer to describe0.3%

639
Respondents
Do you identify with the gender identity you were assigned at birth? (Management)

Yes96.6%
No2.8%
Prefer not to disclose0.6%

Marriage and Civil Partnership

Each respondent was asked, Are you married or in a civil partnership? with the options to respond: yes, no or prefer not to disclose. In the table below, you can find how many respondents replied per option. Further below, you can find a breakdown of percentages for all employees and for management. 

 

Are you married or in a civil partnership? All RespondentsManagement
Yes542187
No1388447
Prefer not to disclose345
Total:1964639

 

1964
Respondents
Are you married or in a civil partnership? (All)

Yes27.6%
No70.7%
Prefer not to disclose1.7%

639
Respondents
Are you married or in a civil partnership? (Management)

Yes29.3%
No70%
Prefer not to disclose0.7%

Pregnancy and Maternity

Each respondent was asked, Are you currently or have you previously been pregnant whilst working for Lush? with the options to respond: yes, no, prefer to describe or prefer not to disclose. In the table below, you can find how many respondents replied per option. Further below, you can find a breakdown of percentages for all employees and for management.

 

Are you currently or have you previously been pregnant whilst working for Lush?All RespondentsManagement
Yes18889
No1746544
Prefer to describe81
Prefer to not disclose225
Total:1964639

 

1964
Respondents
Are you currently or have you previously been pregnant whilst working for Lush? (All)

Yes9.6%
No88.9%
Prefer to describe0.4%
Prefer not to disclose1.1%

639
Respondents
Are you currently or have you previously been pregnant whilst working for Lush? (Management)

Yes13.9%
No85.1%
Prefer to describe0.2%
Prefer not to disclose0.8%

Race and Ethnicity

Each respondent was asked how they identify their race and/or ethnicity, with options based on the groupings used by the Office of National Statistics and UK Census. Below you will find the breakdown of percentages for Lush employees’ race and ethnicity representation. For a comprehensive report, please also refer to Lush UK&I Diversity: Race and Ethnicity Report Summer 2020

1964
Respondents
Race and Ethnicity (All)

Black2.0%
Asian3.7%
Mixed ethnicity4.4%
Self-identify as other 2.1%
White87.8%

639
Respondents
Race and Ethnicity (Management)

Black1.1%
Asian2.5%
Mixed ethnicity4.2%
Self-identify as other 1.4%
White90.8%

Religion

Each respondent was asked, What is your religion? with the option to respond: Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, no religion, and any other religion. In the table below, you can find how many respondents replied per option. Further below, you can find a breakdown of percentages for all employees and for management.

 

What is your religion?All RespondentsManagement
Buddhist299
Christian425101
Hindu51
Jewish41
Muslim445
Sikh71
No Religion1307483
Any other religion13536
No response82
Total:1964639

 

1964
Respondents
Religion (All)

Jewish0.2%
Hindu0.3%
Sikh0.4%
Buddhist1.5%
Muslim2.2%
Other beliefs6.8%
Christian21.6%
Not religious66.6%
No response0.4%

639
Respondents
Religion (Management)

Jewish0.2%
Hindu0.2%
Sikh0.2%
Buddhist1.4%
Muslim0.8%
Other beliefs5.6%
Christian15.8%
Not religious75.6%
No response0.3%

Sexual Orientation

Each respondent was asked to please describe their sexual orientation, with the options to respond: Bi, Gay man, Gay woman/Lesbian, heterosexual/straight, prefer not to say, and prefer to self describe. In the table below, you can find how many respondents replied per option. Further below, you can find a breakdown of percentages for all employees and for management. 

 

Please describe your sexual orientation.All RespondentsManagement
Bi33398
Gay Man13972
Gay Woman / Lesbian459
Heterosexual / Straight1264406
Prefer not to say8819
Prefer to self describe8733
No response82
Total:1964639

 

1964
Respondents
Sexual orientation (All)

Bi17%
Gay Man7%
Gay woman / Lesbian2.3%
Heterosexual/straight64.4%
Prefer not to say4.5%
Prefer to self describe4.4%
No response0.4%

639
Respondents
Sexual orientation (Management)

Bi15.3%
Gay Man11.3%
Gay woman / Lesbian1.4%
Heterosexual/straight63.5%
Prefer not to say3%
Prefer to self describe5.2%
No response0.3%

Summary

Learnings We acknowledge that the data is not complete and this report is our first effort at taking a snapshot of where our company is. Our main areas of learning are understanding who makes up Lush UK&I, and in future how we can gather the most accurate information on a larger scale to understand who makes up Lush globally. We understand how important terminology and language can be to our identities, so providing room to self-identify is going to continue to be a priority as we build on diversity monitoring at Lush.

Future Strategy

Diversity enriches our lives and our business, and our future aim is to regularly capture Lush’s global diversity and representation data.

As part of our future strategy we want to invest in and elevate employee voice and make evidence-based decisions. The diversity monitoring survey will be a part of this approach to gather evidence. We will use this information to analyse and compare alongside the responses to our Lush Listens engagement survey (details below). This way we are capturing both who makes up Lush, and how they experience Lush as a workplace. The Lush Listens engagement survey is one part of championing employee voice, where all employees are asked to evaluate and comment on their experience and life inside Lush. 

In 2017, we began an employee ownership scheme, Lush Employee Benefit Trust (EBT), across all of Lush’s 22 Group countries (those owned by Lush Ltd), where 10% of company shares are held on behalf of the staff. Because the EBT functions across continents and cultures, this gives Lush not just a global reach, but an accessible way to collaborate with employees. Intersectional Approach

In the Introduction, we highlighted our motive behind diversity monitoring at Lush. This was in response to and support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and the wider call for transparency. Please also see Diversity: Race & Ethnicity Summer 2020 Report.

We do not want to remain silent in the face of structural racism. However we understand that a large part of this is doing the required internal work. When it comes to equity, diversity and inclusion at Lush, we want to encourage all Lush staff to bring their full selves to work. Moving forward, we now feel in a more informed position to approach this work, understanding the intersectionality of identity, and celebrating all the ways in which the People of Lush are human.

Active Inclusion through Community Networking

We understand diversity as one pillar of our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. To accompany the above surveying aims, we have identified four areas of action and opportunity that we see as ongoing work to improve equity, diversity and inclusion:

  1. Ensuring safety, wellbeing and transparency through policy, guidelines and practice. 
  2. Building on representation, innovation and creativity through products, recruitment, retention and mentoring.
  3. Providing knowledge and toolkits through learning and development.
  4. Creating meaningful connections through lived and shared experience with the EBT and the Lush Community Network.

In particular, we want to be active in creating meaningful connections and a sense of belonging within Lush. We aim to do this by growing our internal community network through dedicated spaces for community meet ups. Regular diversity monitoring will support us to understand what community spaces can be provided and invested to contribute to inclusion and belonging at Lush.

This will be the company we want it to be.

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