The annual report by Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) says Ireland's labour market is strong - but not yet fair.
Its Elevate Workplace Pledge challenges more than 60 signatory companies to renew and sustain action to address persistant labour market inequalities.
The campaign was launched in 2021 in response to inequalities exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its says every hiring decision makes a difference.
The report found that female representation at Executive/C-Suite level remains stronger among its signatories than the national average.
However it noted that a decline from 45% in 2025 to 41% in 2026 illustrates how quickly progress can stall.
It also showed substantial increases in Disability, Ethnicity and LGBTQIA+ representation which it said was driven by improved disclosure and trust rather than transformational changes in hiring.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, BITCI Head of Social Inclusion Linda O'Sullivan said many companies believed they were genuinely inclusive, but without a diversity profile, they were working off assumptions.
"There was a fear about asking employees to share personal data, five years on we can see that employers now know how to ask for that data, and employees trust that the data is going to be used responsibly," said Ms O'Sullivan.
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"If I take disability as an example - 150,000 collective workforce, five years ago, 0.1%, so that's one in 1,000 people were disclosing a disability, and that number is up to 80 now, so 8%.
"So employers now that have signed up to Elevate can see who's represented, who's not represented, and really where the gaps are."
According to BITCI, the Elevate Pledge aims to "move the dial from ambition to action".
Ms O'Sullivan agreed that progress is slow but moving in the right direction.
The report found that while living wage performance is strong, limited socio-economic data hides deeper inequalities in access, progression and job quality.
"We can see from the report that most of the companies are paying the living wage which is very welcome but that has to be paired then with access to opportunity," she advised.
