Seven leading industry associations have joined forces with Ferguson Partners to create a global benchmark of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) metrics for the commercial real estate industry.
ANREV, INREV, NAREIM, NCREIF, PREA, REALPAC and ULI partnered to support and expand the Global Real Estate DEI Survey, a corporate benchmark of gender, ethnicity and nationality across seniority and job functions across commercial real estate globally. Ferguson Partners will conduct the survey on behalf of the organizations.
The Global Real Estate DEI Survey will launch on September 8, 2021 and remain open for data submissions until October 22. The final results will be released in December.
First created in 2017 as part of an annual compensation study by NAREIM and Ferguson and launched as a dedicated survey in 2020, the Global Real Estate DEI Survey will provide employee demographic and best practice metrics for Asia, Europe and North America. It will also expand the type of commercial real estate firms being tracked to include all players within the CRE asset class, from institutional investors to real estate investment managers, architects, developers and operating partners, to service providers and consultants.
'Having a holistic and thoughtful approach to DEI is an essential component of an effective human capital management strategy,' said Erin Green, managing director of Ferguson Partners, which is leading the data collection, validation and analysis on behalf of the Associations.
The Global Real Estate DEI Survey will track:
- DEI program structure, resources and ownership
- Policies focused on recruitment, retention, training and development, inclusivity, tracking and accountability and pay equity
- Employee demographics by gender, ethnicity and nationality, across seniority and job function, as well as DEI hiring, promotion and departure trends year-over-year.
In 2020, the DEI Survey – then completed by 74 real estate investment management organizations representing more than $2 trl of assets under management and 20,000 full-time employees – showed a majority of real estate investment management firms were prioritizing DEI within their organizations and dedicating more resources to DEI initiatives. It also revealed that women and minority professionals at the most senior levels – executive management – had increased their representation but still comprised just 15% of positions respectively.
