ISE’s special report on EDI provides vital insight and recommendations for employers seeking to boost their strategies.
ISE is committed to supporting the EDI goals of its members and empowering diverse career talent to fulfil their potential. To improve our understanding of the challenges members are facing, we have published a special report ISE EDI Survey 2026.
Our data reveals how employers are approaching diversity and inclusion in early careers - what actions they are taking across attraction, selection and retention, which interventions are proving most effective, and where progress remains uneven across different groups.
Key findings:
- EDI commitment remains strong with signs of repositioning in response to external pressures.
- Two-thirds of respondents see a positive link between EDI and their early talent needs.
- Social mobility has joined gender and ethnicity as a core priority.
- Employers focus their EDI strategies most heavily on attraction with the least focus on retention.
- Interventions rated highest for impact are not the most widely adopted by employers.
- Targeted and structured interventions perform the strongest in improving EDI outcomes.
- Persistent data gaps continue to limit insight, confidence and progress.
- Taking action on EDI does not always translate into measurable progress, and many employers do not know whether their EDI efforts are successful.
- Progress continues to vary considerably by demographic group and sector.
- The most significant changes in representation during recruitment processes occur for ethnicity, where minority groups see reduced representation from application to hire.
- Black candidates are significantly underrepresented in graduate hiring pools compared to the university student population.
- Disabled candidates also appear significantly underrepresented in applicant pools, either due to being less likely to apply and/or less likely to disclose their disability.
- High levels of uncertainty surround the impact of AI on diversity.
Recommendations for employers
Based on the findings of the survey, we’ve outlined our top recommendations for employers to inform EDI strategy development.
1. Review which interventions are delivering the strongest results
The EDI interventions rated most highly for impact are not always those most widely adopted. Review what is working well across the talent lifecycle, and where there may be scope to expand or adapt approaches, to help strengthen outcomes.
Prioritise evidence-based approaches, or those that industry peers rate highly for impact, including:
- Targeted outreach and partnerships for attraction
- Contextual recruitment and skills-based approaches for selection
- Structured career development programmes for retention
Reallocating effort towards these types of targeted and structural interventions may help strengthen overall impact.
2. Strengthen data collection to diagnose where change is needed and ‘what works’ for improving outcomes
Data gaps remain a major barrier to progress, limiting employers’ ability to track outcomes and assess impact. Many employers do not know whether their EDI strategies are successful.
Strengthening data and insight can support more confident decision-making and clearer evaluation of what works to improve EDI outcomes.
This includes:
- Improving the consistency of demographic data collection and candidate disclosure, particularly for disability, LGBTQIA+ and social background.
- Collecting demographic data on applicants (successful and unsuccessful ones), not only on hires.
- Enhancing both applicant and employee disclosure rates through inclusive culture, clearer communication and trust-building.
- Benchmarking recruitment outcomes against sector and wider student population data to understand whether representation gaps reflect pipeline challenges or recruitment processes.
- Monitoring progression rates between recruitment stages from application to hire by demographic group to identify where disparities emerge.
- Expanding tracking beyond application and hiring through to career progression and retention.
- Using data to test and refine interventions to support maximum impact.
Using data in these ways to translate high levels of commitment to EDI into measurable progress, whether through targets, tracking or regular review, can reveal where change is happening and where further focus is needed.
Taking a more diagnostic, stage-by-stage approach can help identify where barriers are most pronounced and where action is likely to have the greatest impact.
3. Take a targeted approach for different groups
Progress varies across demographic groups. Approaches for gender and ethnicity are generally more established, while strategies for disabled, neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ candidates are often less widely embedded or are still evolving.
There is also growing attention on social mobility, although activity to support candidates from lower socioeconomic backgrounds is not yet consistently integrated across attraction, selection and retention.
Reflecting on where your organisation is seeing the most, and least, progress, and tailoring evidence-based interventions accordingly, can help strengthen outcomes for specific groups and accelerate impact.
4.Rebalance effort across the full talent lifecycle
Much employer activity remains focused on attraction, where progress is more visible. More emphasis on selection and retention is required to address some of the biggest opportunities for impact.
Improving representation at entry-level is only part of the picture. Without sustained focus on progression and retention, early gains are unlikely to translate into long-term workforce diversity.
There is clear evidence that action on selection and retention can make a difference, although impact is not always consistent. This again highlights the importance of investing in the most effective approaches.
5. Keep AI under review as its role develops
With uncertainty around how AI may affect diversity outcomes, consider monitoring its impact during recruitment and reviewing whether additional guidance or support for candidates could be helpful over time.
In summary
There is strong engagement with EDI among the early careers recruitment teams that responded to the survey, underpinned by a clear belief that EDI activity enhances both the availability and quality of talent within organisations.
The next phase of progress will come from focusing effort where impact is greatest, tailoring approaches more effectively to different groups, and strengthening the data needed to track, evaluate and refine activity over time.
Thank you to the ISE EDI working group for their input into the survey design and to all ISE employer members who responded to the survey. Download the report to see the full analysis and recommendations.