Caselton Clark are IP Inclusive EDI Charter signatories and specialist IP sector recruiters. In their annual salary survey for 2025 they included several questions relating to EDI and wellbeing in the IP workplace. Their Director of European Intellectual Property Recruitment, Stephen Gill, has kindly provided a summary of the results that might interest IP Inclusive. Whilst there is cause for optimism about the progress being made, inconsistency and uncertainty are still eroding people’s confidence in their employers’ commitment to these important issues.
Stephen writes:
In our 2026 IP Salary Survey we wanted to explore policies and initiatives around EDI in the workplace, how important this is to people and what the reality looks like. We are increasingly finding this an important factor influencing a candidate’s decision to join or remain in a role and we received mixed responses and feelings towards it.
The data suggests the IP industry is making progress, but with uneven and limited confidence in key areas.
Workplace wellbeing is now a core employment factor. While over two-thirds of respondents say wellbeing initiatives influence their decision making, one in five report no wellbeing provision at all.
EDI policies remain important to a majority, but views are more mixed. This indicates that policy statements alone are insufficient; what matters is how inclusion is experienced in practice.
Another consistent theme is uncertainty. Only a quarter of respondents say reasonable adjustments are clearly communicated and accessible, while others report unclear processes or are unsure if they exist. Similar patterns appear around parental leave and flexible or religious accommodation policies.
What is interesting is that industry-level confidence is weakest in terms of support for neurodivergent and disabled professionals. Only 10% of respondents believe the IP sector is equipped to support them and psychological safety is also fragile, with only one-third feeling consistently comfortable speaking openly about mental health.
Overall, the findings point not to a lack of policy, but to inconsistency, communication gaps, and difficulty in identifying what provisions there are, how to approach this and concerns around the impact if someone needs additional support.
While there is no evidence of this, we suspect that some people may choose not to discuss disability and neurodiversity in the workplace due to concerns about these being personal matters or not wanting to attract attention. Equally, if a business is lacking a strong EDI policy, training and communication, this may allow for negative unconscious bias towards EDI to exist.
Please click here to download our 2026 IP Salary Survey, or visit www.caseltonclark.co.uk.
IP Inclusive note:
If you’re concerned about EDI or wellbeing issues at work, please reach out to the IP Inclusive communities for support (in particular IP Ability for neurodivergent or disabled people or carers), or to LawCare for help with mental health-related worries.