A diverse workforce presents a number of benefits, not only for a company as a whole but for the employees who work there — and for the company’s clients or customers, as well. A diverse workplace includes employees across a range of racial backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and genders. While workplaces may vary, employees may also have different sexual orientations, educational backgrounds, religious beliefs, languages and skills.
These differences provide your company with a wider range of experiences, abilities and opinions that can help you thrive and grow. For example, having a diverse staff can help boost your company’s creativity. People from similar backgrounds are likely to have similar opinions and ideas, but the more diverse your staff is, the more likely you are to get a wider variety of ideas.
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The Importance of Measuring Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace
Studies have found that diverse workforces are also more productive than less diverse ones, possibly because a wider range of experiences and opinions helps employees meet customers’ needs more efficiently and effectively. Today’s marketplace consists of diverse customers, and a diverse workforce enables you to connect with those customers. A diverse workforce is also likely to have higher levels of morale, which in turn can help promote retention and reduce turnover, which helps lower your company’s overall operating costs. Research has also found that companies with diverse workforces generate more profits than less diverse ones.
How Is Diversity Measured?
So, how do you know if your company is truly diverse? By using metrics to measure diversity and inclusion. These kinds of key performance indicators, or KPIs, can help you track your company’s progress toward embracing a diverse workplace.
Diversity and Inclusion KPIs
There are a variety of quantitative measures of diversity and inclusion you can use to evaluate your company. These diversity metrics include:
- Recruitment figures. How many people apply for positions at your company from different groups? Do you receive applicants from a diverse set of backgrounds, or a more heterogenous group? Looking at recruitment figures can help you determine how biased or broad your recruitment efforts are. Additionally, you can see whether your company needs to adapt its recruitment strategies and advertisements to appeal to a wider range of candidates.
- Selection figures. How does your company fare when it comes to hiring candidates? Is your company hiring a wide range of candidates, or are certain groups over-represented? Comparing these figures to recruitment numbers can provide further insight into your company’s hiring processes.
- Promotion figures. Who gets promoted at your company? Are individuals from certain groups more likely to get promoted than others from underrepresented groups? Are there roadblocks to prevent certain people from achieving promotions? These statistics can help you determine if promotions are being awarded fairly and whether your company needs to put more effort into developing and supporting employees so that they are able to achieve professional growth.
- Pay comparisons. How do salaries and benefits of different employees compare? Are some groups of people making less than others? What about other benefits, such as PTO and health care? Examining these metrics can help you uncover bias regarding pay.
- Representation figures. Look at your entire organization. How diverse it is compared to your community, to other companies in your industry, and to the workforce as a whole? Are there groups of people who are underrepresented in your company compared to your community or industry? These figures can help you get the “big picture” when it comes to the diversity of your current workforce.
- Retention figures. Who tends to stay at your company, and who tends to leave? Even if you recruit and hire a diverse pool of talent, do those employees stay on, or do they leave relatively quickly? These figures can help you uncover management or culture issues that may hinder your growth and diversity.
- Employee engagement figures. How engaged are the members of your team? Do you see different levels of involvement from different people? Like retention figures, these stats can help you determine whether your company has biased practices that may be affecting some employees more than others.
- Customer diversity figures. How diverse is your customer or client base? Are there certain sectors or groups in your target market that you are failing to serve? These numbers could help you broaden your company’s reach.
- Supplier diversity figures. How diverse are your suppliers? Are there ways you can broaden your partnerships? Evaluate these relationships to help you decide whether to opt for new suppliers who can help improve the overall diversity of your company.
- Exit interviews. Exit interviews conducted with employees who are voluntarily leaving the organization can provide firsthand data about their experiences with your business. These experiences, combined with retention figures, can help uncover institutional bias or a culture that could be improved.
CoachDiversity Institute: Helping Your Organization Become More Inclusive and Diverse
Need assistance creating a more diverse workplace? CoachDiversity Institute offers a range of coaching programs designed to help you build a more inclusive culture at your company. We also offer diversity and inclusion training certification programs. Contact CoachDiversity Institute today to learn how we can help.