Two weeks ago we talked about how an assessment may be the missing step in your DEI journey. After all, the three components of an assessment – HR data, employee perceptions, and individual employee experiences –  provide a qualitative and quantitative data-driven understanding of your level of workplace inclusion, helping you identify areas to expand on your diversity, equity and inclusion commitments as well as celebrate what is working well. 

What is the value of these assessments in accomplishing your DEI goals?  Yes, data analytics are fundamental to getting a data-driven perspective on how your organization is doing, but assessment also tackles another issue that could be holding back your organization: employee perception of DEI. Your employees’ perceptions can be just as important as objective data, if not more. Consider this: even if the data shows your organization doesn’t have a pay equity problem but your employees believe there is one, it will affect engagement, belonging and productivity in the workplace. Knowing both the reality of the data and the perception of employees is key to how you solve issues. So in this example, transparency about HR data is the way to fix a perceived pay equity problem. 

To understand the organization holistically, we use the all-employee survey. With the all-employee survey, we’re able to look not only at aggregate data but also focus on individual demographic groups and how their answers may differ. As an example, Black women may report less informal mentorship opportunities than other groups, demonstrating there may be hidden bias in how development experiences are offered to employees. Talent development and performance management bias can be hidden in plain sight when an engagement survey fails to distinguish responses from a range of groups – aggregated responses are not enough to see the full picture.

We conduct one-on-one interviews with select employees from all levels in the organization, as well as across categories of race, gender, and more. Oftentimes change initiatives fail because employees don’t feel like their voices have been heard – and including employees in the process allows individuals to feel that they are contributing to the initiative.

Analyzing HR data from a statistical level allows us to detect subtle patterns of bias, which can sometimes be found through promotion velocity, as there can be a gender gap in numerical ratings, employee performance ranking, and “promotability”.

The one-on-one interviews along with HR data and all-employee survey results helps us create a scorecard report with 12 key performance indicator areas and corresponding actionable recommendations for each area. With a deep-dive into inclusion across and up the organization, you’ll be ready to improve workplace inclusion, by both tackling any equity or perception issues in your DEI initiatives.

The result? You get a data-driven approach to really making inclusion happen, increasing engagement and belonging.