BUILDING
   DIVERSITY

What gets measured, gets done

 

DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) is at the top of nearly every HR leader’s mind. But many struggle to make a difference. In fact, gender and ethnic diversity in leadership rose less than 5% over a five year span, according to McKinsey & Company. Why is it important? McKinsey also found companies with the highest gender, racial and ethnic diversity financially perform as much as 35% better than similar companies. “We have to intentionally and thoughtfully work on creating a community, a culture and an organization where everybody feels seen, valued and heard,” said Shelly McNamara, head of equality and inclusion at Procter & Gamble in the Harvard Business Review. One thing about diversity that makes it different from equity and inclusion is that diversity can be measured. Here’s how ...

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Set goals and ways to measure them

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You know that what gets measured gets done. So you want to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for every aspect of your diversity efforts.

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Some common goals:

 

■ Representation. Compare how different groups are represented in terms of market or industry demographics and your company. Then you can set KPIs to improve representation by job level, role or in general.

■ Talent acquisition. Set sourcing, connecting or interviewing goals to reach and hire more people from underrepresented groups.

■ Retention. Compare the average employee tenure by demographic to determine who stays. More importantly, look at exit survey data to find out why they stay or go. Set new goals for retention based on what you find.

■ Promotions. Consider job level and promotion rate by demographic and tenure. What KPIs can you reset so underrepresented groups excel?

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Get serious about goals. Setting diversity goals is just one step in the DEI process. You’ll want to involve leaders throughout the organization in planning and implementing plans to get there.