Cross-Industry, Data Driven Approach to DEI

October 31, 2022

Cross-industry, Data Driven Approach to DEI

by Laura Brooks Dueland
Co-Founder, Inclusion Analytics

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) data analytics has long been lagging when compared to analytics in sales, marketing, and more. However, DEI is becoming a top priority for employees and potential job candidates alike and thus is essential for competitive recruitment and retainment. For example, in a 2020 study conducted by Glassdoor, about 76% of job seekers indicated that a diverse workforce is a priority when considering companies to work for.

Nevertheless, it can be intimidating for organizations to know where to start and how to track their progress. One great option is to engage in cross-industry data collection programs, such as benchmarking studies. Such opportunities provide organizations with best practices and peer comparisons to know what resources are available amongst their community. We recommend that any data-driven approach measures the factors below. 

Demographics

Using demographic data to identify disparities at decision points helps us establish where barriers to success exist. Are there obstacles to joining the organization or maybe to promotion? Knowing which decision points are resulting in inequity identifies where to start targeting changes. Once identified, it is time to examine the policies and practices that contribute to inequitable outcomes.

Policies

From the company’s vision to the entire employee lifecycle, companies can add or tweak policies to make them more inclusive. Knowing which policies your organization has established and where there are gaps can help to identify next best steps. Benchmarking studies help organizations identify what their industries peers are doing and where they may have a strategic advantage.

Employee Perceptions

We can’t rely on organization-level data alone. As leaders and tasks forces, we often sink immense amounts of time and resources into policy creation and implementation. Unfortunately, those efforts are wasted if employees are perceiving them negatively. Asking employees about their experiences helps leaders understand whether their efforts are impacting employees the way they intended.

Inclusion Culture

Finally, we recommend exploring your company's inclusion culture, which our research indicates includes four critical elements: belonging, exclusion, psychological safety, and fairness. Understanding these four areas of employee experience is critical to increasing performance, job satisfaction, and reducing turnover.

Engaging in benchmarking studies with industry peers help each organization identify where their peers are exceling and where they themselves have a strategic advantage. More impactfully, organizations will learn what resources are available in their area. Working together to improve DEI across companies helps to create a more inclusive community overall leading to attraction of a workforce. When it comes to DEI efforts within organizations, we are stronger together.

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