The Science Of Inclusion

Why companies need to measure D&I to make change

One in four employees feels like they don’t belong at their current company—a statistic that becomes one in three when you’re asking Black workers. Companies have a long way to go when it comes to building a workplace where all of our employees feel truly comfortable.
 

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) make for stronger innovation and better financial performance. More importantly, creating fair hiring practices and supporting employees from underrepresented groups is the right thing to do. But as HR teams step up and take D&I to heart, the “D” part has gotten a little more traction than the “I.”
 
Diversity can’t thrive without inclusion. People from underrepresented groups need to know that they have a path forward at your company, that they’ll be able to learn and grow there, and that they truly belong. D&I leaders are calling for companies to pay more attention to inclusion—but without hard numbers, it’s difficult to hold employers accountable.
 
That’s why measuring inclusion matters. It’s hard to make positive changes to your culture if you’re just guessing at what your employees are feeling. At SurveyMonkey, we partnered with Stanford University researchers to build a survey for understanding inclusion and measuring it to create actionable insights.

The Current State of Inclusion

We used our survey to ask over 10,000 U.S. workers about their experiences of belonging and inclusion. The results were eye-opening. The feeling of “not belonging” is widespread, and when you ask workers if they’re treated fairly, the answer changes depending on who you ask.
 
Twenty-eight percent of people of color felt that their employer didn’t empower them to learn and grow—but only 17 percent of white respondents felt so limited. Similarly, only 48 percent of Black employees felt fairly compensated—far below the 60 percent average.

Inclusion as a Retention Tool

One of the most interesting findings in the survey came from comparing responses from men and women who plan to stick with their jobs with people planning to leave. Among those who planned on staying the course, women and men tended to have similar answers to questions like, “Are you respected at work?” and “Are you paid fairly relative to your peers?” But when we looked at responses from people who weren’t happy, women were far less likely to believe they were treated fairly and respected at work.

When asked if promotion decisions were fair at their company, 43 percent of men and only 33 percent of women agreed. Half of the male workers who don’t think they’ll stick around at their current workplace still say their opinions are valued, while only 36 percent of women in a similar situation said the same.

What does this mean? Building an inclusive environment could be a powerful retention tool. Overall, people who anticipate staying at their company for the long haul are more than twice as likely to say they belong in their workplace, compared to employees who plan to leave.  If you aren’t actively checking in with all of your employees and looking at the data through the lens of different groups you could be overlooking something vital about their experience.

What Counts as Inclusion?

You can think about inclusion in three main parts: objectivity, Growth Mindset, and belonging.

An inclusive workplace is one in which every employee can say they experience all three of the elements above. Answering these questions is part of an ongoing conversation that you need to keep having throughout their employment.

When you measure inclusion, it’s easier to build actionable strategies for improvement, similar to what many organizations are already doing with diversity. You’ll know for certain if employees feel they belong if they believe they’re treated fairly and if they have a path to growth—and you can set benchmarks to track how those things improve.
 
HR professionals have to make hard choices constantly—deciding whether to invest in new training programs, ask for more budget, build out mentorship opportunities, rewrite old policies—and part of their process usually includes convincing others as well. Data makes that an easier battle to win.
 
According to McKinsey & Company, companies in the top quartile for racial diversity are 35 percent more likely to have above-average financial returns. But diversity without inclusion is a hollow victory. If employees don’t feel like their opinions are respected, why would they speak up? If they don’t feel like there’s a path forward for them at the company, why would they stay?
 
If companies want to enjoy the business and ethical benefits of diversity, they need to prioritize inclusion, by measuring do employees feel safe? Do they feel respected? Do they feel empowered to learn and grow? The only way to answer those questions with certainty is to ask.

Sarah Cho is the Director of Research at SurveyMonkey. Connect Sarah Cho Visit www.surveymonkey.com