As our recent webinar showed – if you don’t measure, you don’t know. We all know diversity and inclusion are important, so how do we measure them and act on results effectively? Start with identifying the right data points, assess them, and make an action plan. Here are our top tips to help you start the data collection journey!
Without measuring, how will you improve?
It’s easy to say you value diversity and inclusion and that you’re committed to improving. But it’s harder to improve it if you don’t have a baseline to work from. By surveying employees, it may raise red flags about issues your organisation has and didn’t even know existed. Measurement can also help to uncover opportunities to empower employees through internal programs.
Be truly inclusive.
Before you analyse the data from your employees, talk to them about what you’re doing. Explain how important it is to recognise staff as individuals and that by measuring you’ll clearly see the makeup of the company and any potential red flags that need addressing (such as the distribution of project leads, who’s utilising flexible working, if a gender pay gap exists, etc.)
Take the opportunity to listen.
If you plan to survey staff to get their input, then make sure you include a comment box at the end to encourage staff to give their thoughts on the business and suggestions to make your workplace more inclusive. A good idea to ensure you don’t exclude anyone is to include an “other” option in your questions so that employees can write in their own identities.
Share your findings.
Be open and honest. Arrange a team meeting to present the data you’ve collected. This will show you’re committed to being transparent with your employees and help them feel part of the journey. When you have your results, you’ll know more about where to focus your hiring efforts and how to support the needs of the employees you already have in your workforce. Sharing results is also a great way to be held accountable for change.
Do something.
A month or so after you’ve presented the findings to your employees, arrange a follow-up meeting. In this, explain the steps you are going to put in place as a result of the data. It might be you’ll commit to closing any identified pay gaps, explain an updated recruitment policy, or announce how you plan to make team events more inclusive.
