ILPA Inclusive Culture & Accountability Roadmap
In today’s evolving legal and market landscape, private equity firms and institutional investors are rethinking how they foster high-performing, respectful, and inclusive workplaces. The offers a comprehensive, voluntary framework to help organizations strengthen internal culture, expand talent pathways, and engage constructively across industry.
ILPA Inclusive Culture & Accountability Roadmap (2025 Edition)
This roadmap provides a set of voluntary practices for institutional investors and asset managers committed to inclusive culture building and responsible organizational stewardship. These practices are intended to align with and reflect global best practices for fostering a respectful, transparent, and performance-driven workplace culture.
Disclaimer: Organizations are encouraged to adopt or adapt practices in this roadmap to the extent consistent with their independently-determined policies and in accordance with local, state, federal, and international laws. ILPA does not mandate any practice. Implementation is voluntary, and we encourage organizations to engage legal counsel to address any questions regarding implementation of the roadmap or related materials and their compliance with applicable law.
I. Organizational Commitment
Recommended Practices:
- Share a statement outlining your organization’s commitment to building a respectful, transparent, and performance-driven workplace culture.
- Appoint a senior leader accountable for advancing inclusive workplace practices.
- Establish a formal policy addressing workplace conduct, harassment, and nondiscrimination.
- Create an internal working group to support inclusive culture initiatives and track outcomes.
Examples Resources:
- “At ILPA, we are committed to fostering a workplace where every individual feels valued, respected, and empowered to thrive. We believe that inclusion and professional growth are essential to our success. Our policies, culture, and leadership practices are rooted in mutual respect and a commitment to fairness and opportunity. We are proud to invest in training, mentorship, and ongoing education to support every team member’s development.”
- ILPA Guide to Creating a Code of Conduct
II. Workplace Practices and Talent Development
Recommended Practices:
- Use structured and transparent hiring and promotion frameworks. Implement structured candidate evaluation protocols that further fairness and opportunity in the hiring process.
- Broaden talent outreach by partnering with academic institutions and organizations that engage underrepresented disciplines, geographies and candidate populations.
- Offer mentoring and sponsorship opportunities open to all employees.
- Offer voluntary employee-led resource groups and professional development forums (and ensure that all employee resource groups are open to all employees).
- Monitor internal hiring and promotion patterns to identify barriers to equal employment opportunity, and collect self-reported demographic data to comply with applicable reporting laws.
III. Inclusive Work Environments
Recommended Practices:
- Adopt flexible work and family leave policies that accommodate a variety of personal needs.
- Designate inclusive workspace accommodations (e.g., quiet rooms, lactation rooms).
- Support ongoing learning with training opportunities focused on fair and objective decision making processes (such as hiring, communication and leadership).
- Promote inclusive language across all policies, job descriptions, and communications.
IV. Investment Stewardship and Industry Engagement
Recommended Practices:
- Encourage inclusive practices among service providers and portfolio companies.
- Voluntarily participate in industry-wide research or benchmarking efforts on workforce trends.
- Engage with partner organizations committed to inclusive leadership development.
- Promote participation in private markets industry events focused on leadership, access, and innovation.
- Support and scale programs that identify, invest in and build the capacity of emerging fund managers (“Emerging Manager Programs”).
Examples Resources:
V. Accountability and Continuous Improvement
Recommended Practices:
- Monitor internal implementation of respectful, transparent, and performance-driven workplace culture and update regularly.
- Encourage voluntary employee feedback and review data where legally permissible.
- Consider performance evaluations that reflect inclusive leadership behaviors.
- Promote transparency in communications around organizational values.
Examples Resources:
Stay Tuned In on the DIA Conversation
Be part of the ongoing dialogue shaping inclusion in private markets. Stay connected with ILPA to access the latest insights, upcoming events, and community updates from DIA initiative. Don’t miss your chance to engage with peers, share best practices, and advance meaningful progress across the industry. If you would like to hear more from ILPA on our work, let us know by filling out the interest form.
Submit New Initiatives and Resources
The Roadmap is intended to be a clearing house of best practices and resources that reflects the ongoing development and evolution of successful inclusive culture efforts within the PE industry. Therefore, we rely on industry leaders to submit new initiatives and additional resources that could prove helpful to others. ILPA encourages submissions and will review them in a timely manner.
Submit New Initiatives and Resources
- All submissions must be accompanied by complete contact information.
- Best practices or Resources that fall outside private markets will be considered for publication on a case by case basis. Applicability to private markets will be paramount to acceptance.
- When submitting a new Best Practice for consideration, please include at least one resource which helps to define or implement the practice.
- When submitting a Resource, please include the necessary links to the resource in question. All links must be available publicly; ILPA will not link to resources behind paywalls or firewalls. Resource submissions without links cannot be published.
- ILPA staff will respond to all submissions within 10 business days.
