Talent acquisition and retention is the leading operational reason that companies have been ramping up their diversity initiatives, according to (32 percent) of respondents in the (ISC)² study.

Nearly one in three (29 percent) added that diversity is important to their organization because the workforce should represent the demographics in society:

• Nearly three quarters of organizations surveyed (74 percent) instituted a stated diversity value or program in the last 2-5 years. On top of this, a further 16 percent have followed suit in the last 12 months.
• Overall, 40 percent of survey respondents stated that the HR department is the primary driver of diversity and inclusivity efforts, including measuring employee diversity goals. This compares to just under one quarter (23 percent) who said it was the senior management team and just 10 percent that said it was the C-suite driving diversity initiatives.
• 60 percent said that up to 20 percent of the current vacancies in their organizations are IT and/or cybersecurity-based. A further quarter (26 percent) said these roles constituted between 21-50 percent of their workforce.

Hiring Cyber Roles:

• 77 percent of respondents said that cybersecurity roles were recruited for in their organizations in the last 12 months. The number of roles filled ranged from 1 to 31 across the responses, although nearly 55 percent of the respondents said that up to 10 cybersecurity personnel were hired by their organization over the last 12 months. 18 percent said that between 11 and 30 roles were hired in the last year.
• 37 percent say just 6-20 percent of their IT department employees are aged 18-21, while 35 percent say none of their IT department employees are aged 18-21. This indicates a struggle to bring enough new talent into the department that can learn from their experienced peers. 
• 24 percent said that up to half the IT department staff in their organization were aged 31-40, with 20 percent of respondents suggesting that up to 35 percent were aged 41-50.