London Mayor Ken Livingstone's 'Diversity Works for London' programme has secured the backing of twenty-seven leading UK companies, including Coca-Cola, Pearsons and KPMG. The announcement, made today by Pearson's Sir David Bell, chair of the Diversity Works for London Advisory Board, marks a key milestone in the programme which will provide £10m of practical measures to London-based businesses over four years to help them harness the benefits of having a diverse workforce. The 27 employers have signed up to participate in the first pilot for the Diversity Works for London's Diversity Dividend diagnostic tool.

The Diversity Dividend is an on-line tool that allows companies to self-assess their current diversity performance and identify areas where further progress may be needed. It is designed to measure a company's diversity performance both in terms of their workforce profile and supply chain. The LDA is providing a comprehensive package of support to assist companies in adapting their approach in order to ensure real step change occurs. This is a real business service in the traditional sense of the LDA, servicing both the needs of large corporates as well as SMEs.

The Diversity Dividend has the potential to equip companies to better participate in tendering for the commercial opportunities the Olympic and Paralympic Games represent. This is particularly important for ensuring that all companies and SMEs including those from the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities (BAME), can benefit from the economic opportunity the Olympics represents.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: "London's diversity is its greatest strength and was crucial in winning the race to host the Olympic and Paralympics Games in 2012. I want to ensure that London businesses really harness and make the most of the opportunities that diversity in the workplace can deliver. Businesses participating in the Diversity Dividend will be better equipped to prove their measurable commitment and delivery of diversity within their workforce and throughout their suppliers. I am therefore pleased that twenty-seven leading UK companies have already signed up to the pilot and look forward to many more following this lead."

London Development Agency CEO Manny Lewis said: "We are very pleased that twenty-seven companies have already signed up to the pilot. People from ethnic minorities will account for half of the growth in Britain's working age population between 1999 and 2009, and half of Britain's ethnic minority population lives in London. On average there is a fifteen per cent gap in the employment rate of ethnic minorities and that of the overall population. There are huge opportunities for businesses to harness the entrepreneurial talents of the wealth of new SMEs that the traditional approaches still employed in many firms to procurement fail to fully harness. This programme is about helping businesses remove the barriers that ultimately hamper themselves."

ABOUT DIVERSITY WORKS FOR LONDON

Diversity Works for London (DWforL) is the Mayor of London's campaign to help organisations develop and enjoy the benefits of having a diverse workforce. This four-year campaign aims to provide excluded Londoners with a second chance to share in the city's opportunities and prosperity.

The campaign aims to provide:

• an easy to use online tool that allows companies to self-assess their current diversity performance, and identify areas where further support may benefit the bottom line.
• high quality, subsidised consultancy services from workforce diversity specialists, including a one-stop advisory service on compliance with equality related legislation, and a telephone helpline
• leadership programmes for Boards, Chief Executive Officers and senior managers that supports their role as the driving force for change
• networking opportunities between large corporates and SMEs
• contact programmes to put businesses in touch with their local community
• secondment schemes, training and development programmes
• trainee and modern apprenticeship schemes
• a range of best practice guides, developed in conjunction with the business community and equality experts, which steer companies through the maze of issues that might prevent them from reaping the rewards of a diverse workforce
• The Diversity Exchange, an online forum designed to enable thousands of companies to share and promote their good practice and to benchmark their performance within their respective sectors. The Exchange will measure company performance against seven key criteria for success: people; systems; resources; leadership; stakeholders; society and results. The concept is similar to that of share price quotations on the London Stock Exchange, and companies' ratings will be arrived through a combination of on-line questionnaires and factual evidence to support entries. A reward and recognition scheme, including an awards ceremony led by the Mayor of London, is also planned to encourage exceptional performance.