Almost half of U.K. employees are feeling excluded from opportunities at their organisation, with just 52 percent believing that everyone is on a level playing field when it comes to growing and developing their careers. These are the findings from , which analysed the perspectives of over 38,000 employees and leaders from 21 countries around the world including over 2,500 from the U.K.

The research reveals that organisations are stifling growth and development opportunities for some employees through both blatant and unintentional means. Nearly a quarter of employees (22 percent) have felt excluded from promotional opportunities, and 17 percent admit to witnessing instances of obvious discrimination. The same number (17 percent) have witnessed unintentional discrimination.

“Many organisations have diversity and inclusion high on their agendas, however with almost half of employees feeling excluded from furthering their careers, inclusivity efforts are clearly falling short”, says David Danzig, European Director from O.C. Tanner.

O.C. Tanner’s Culture Report advises that to achieve inclusivity, inclusion must be built into multiple aspects of the employee experience, rather than being seen as a separate ‘initiative’. From ensuring everyone is given a voice and leaders are taught how to lead with inclusion in mind, through to investing in the right technologies, inclusivity will only be fully achieved when it becomes an intentional priority.

With just 40 per cent of employees stating that their organisation is more interested in understanding them than categorising them, and just under half (48 percent) feeling that their opinions are fairly represented within their organisation’s leadership team, the research highlights that there’s still much to be done to build inclusivity into all aspects of the employee experience.

Danzig adds, “Leaders need to take a fresh look at their organisational cultures, and assess whether they’re fully inclusive, or whether their diversity and inclusion strategy is simply papering over the cracks. Only when many unique individuals are represented, respected, treated equally and integrated into everyday working life, can inclusivity efforts be viewed as truly working.”