How do organisations respond to this data?

Section 6

How do organisations response to this data?

Formulating an evidence-based approach to D&I

Although there has been lots of positive activity, at times organisations have developed D&I initiatives which have not necessarily been implemented as part of a wider D&I strategy, or with a specific purpose or intention in mind. They have also often not been tested using data specific to the organisation. This means that, despite considerable activity and investment by many organisations, there has been little concrete output and these activities have not succeeded in “moving the dial” on its own.

Developing an evidence based approach to D&I (source: PwC)

Using your diversity data and combining this with a clear set of D&I priorities will help you identify the targeted actions and activities that will have the largest impact and generate the greatest return on investment.

You will also be able to test any hypotheses that may exist around the diversity of your organisation which will help dispel any myths and allow you to take a more evidence based approach to prioritising actions and formulating or refining your D&I strategy, policies and initiatives.

Whilst it is important to identify interventions and actions at a local level, organisations with an international presence should aim to look at this at a regional or global level in order to understand the priorities globally and in each territory. This will allow for better collaboration when dealing with these issues and help each territory through the sharing of success stories and positive interventions.

It is often helpful to socialise how the data was used to identify your actions. When communicating with leadership it helps improve buy-in and accountability when they can see the evidence behind any proposed interventions, making it easier to build the case for implementing them. With employees it will show how their data is being used to drive positive action and externally it shows an authentic and deliberate approach to D&I within your organisation.

Ongoing monitoring and target setting

Whilst it may be helpful to compare your organisation’s D&I data to other organisations within the industry, a comparison with your

own historic data is important to see how you are progressing over time.

It is important therefore to not treat diversity data collection and analysis as a one off exercise; you’ll need to ensure that you're continuously engaging with employees to collect this data, analysing to understand how things are changing and identifying whether the interventions you have implemented are having a meaningful impact. Integrating monitoring into the existing HR processes will help you do this in a successful way, e.g. having a diversity overlay when reviewing pay decisions and performance outcomes.

Organisations that have multiple years of diversity data can begin to understand how things are changing and use this to project their diversity data forwards and understand where diversity representation is trending towards, based on historical talent flows. This can be a useful exercise in setting realistic targets based on interventions that are achievable, focusing on inputs such as retention, recruitment and progression rather than a general representation figure.

Staying aware of developing regulations and reporting requirements in each of your territories is important as the number of requirements are increasing and this may impact the types of data you wish to collect. By working with local teams and external advisors, you can ensure awareness of any new requirements which will allow you to be prepared for them as they are introduced.

Inclusion and employee sentiment

Collecting, analysing and publishing diversity data is an important step in driving change, but at the same time it is important to recognise that this change will be hard to sustain and achieve if it does not occur within an inclusive culture. As such, it is important to also consider and measure the inclusiveness of your organisation to ensure that you create an environment and culture where people from any background can thrive.

Inclusion questions such as ‘do you feel part of a team?’, ‘do you feel valued?’ and ‘do you feel you can be yourself at work?’ can be used to gain a deep understanding of employee sentiment. These answers can then be broken

down by demographics such as location, grade, gender and other diversity metrics. This will help identify where your inclusion hotspots are and highlights development opportunities to prioritise in future.

In some cases, it may be useful to supplement survey data with focus groups, in order to understand the experiences of certain groups, explore challenges related to key processes, and identify experiences of, and barriers to, inclusion from employees. This can enable an understanding of themes of inclusion and provide greater insight into the challenges your employees may face. When designing focus groups, it is important to think about the format of the sessions and how to ensure employees are comfortable in sharing their experiences candidly.

Fidelity International

Fidelity International has a deep commitment to building a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture where everyone feels they belong and can thrive. As a data-driven company, we believe it is critical that we can use data to measure how we are doing on D&I and what we need to focus on.

In January 2020, we started to invite all employees globally to share information about their personal identity with us on a confidential and voluntary basis through our HR system. This involves them answering questions about their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or belief and whether they have a disability or health condition. We also included diversity monitoring questions in our anonymous Inclusion Survey.

We have set a global target to achieve 70% disclosure rates by December 2023. We have already seen the differences that this type of information can make. Tracking the gender balance in our global workforce over the last few years helped us to identify the right actions to drive progress on and exceed our global gender targets. We want to bring this insight to all aspects of D&I and use the information in an anonymised, aggregated format to:

Ensure we are treating everyone fairly and achieving the right outcomes for everyone
Build a more accurate understanding of the full diversity of our workforce
Track progress towards a broader range of diversity metrics
Understand any differences in perceptions of inclusion for diverse groups of employees
Hold leaders to account for achieving progress on D&I in their areas
Tailor our D&I activities to focus on the areas that need it the most
Respond to requests from stakeholders, such as regulators and customers, about our diversity

To ensure employees are informed, engaged and enabled about diversity monitoring, we developed the Count Yourself In campaign with the support of senior business leaders and our employee-led D&I networks. We have now reached a 52% disclosure rate and were able to use this data to set concrete targets in our Cultural Diversity Action Plan.

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Where are you with ethnicity data collection?

We don’t collect data on ethnicity from our employees
We try to collect ethnicity data, but response rates are low
We have some data, but are yet to report or set metrics
We have data and already report and set metrics