DE&I Commitments: Do You Have The Data And Technology To Walk The Talk?

It’s up to HR to turn promises into real progress

The workplace fallout from the pandemic wasn’t the only challenge HR teams had to tackle in 2020 and are still working to resolve in 2021. Covid-19’s disparate health impact on people of color, the pandemic’s outsized negative economic effects on women in the workforce, and Black Lives Matter protests all emphasize the work that needs to be done to achieve equity, including in the workplace.

Last year, many leading CEOs made a commitment to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) at their companies, vowing to do more to increase representation and opportunities at their organizations. Some promised to take collective action to move forward through movements like the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion initiative. Now it’s up to HR to turn these promises into real progress.
 

Moving forward on DE&I commitments is the right thing to do from a societal standpoint, but it’s also good for business. It makes sense if you think about it: bringing people who have different experiences and perspectives into the decision-making process will result in better products and services for an increasingly diverse customer base. But commitments alone aren’t enough.

Why Data and Technology Matter

Data is essential in advancing DE&I goals, but not just any data; you’ll need high-quality information, and you’ll also need data around multiple dimensions to enable sound decision-making on DE&I initiatives. Too many companies currently rely on spreadsheets and multiple disconnected systems to manage employee information. If you’re serious about DE&I, now is the time to rethink that strategy.

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation for many companies when they rushed to deploy technology that would enable remote access to critical information for business continuity and reorganization purposes. These efforts can lead to revelations about data quality. In one real-world use case, an HR team that was deploying an organizational design and charting platform found that employee data from a legacy system didn’t match their recruiting information.

When they looked more closely, they found that temp positions hadn’t been removed from the company’s legacy system, which resulted in a data mismatch. Luckily, they found and corrected the error before making decisions on DE&I initiatives using inaccurate data. Deploying the organizational design and charting platform exposed the error, and it also provided context around the data and analysis tools that empowered the HR team to drive progress on DE&I and other projects.

The Growing Pressure to Track Equality Metrics

Organizations are facing increasing pressure to demonstrate pay equity relative to race, ethnicity and gender, in the U.S. and worldwide. Last year, France created new standards to promote professional equality in the workplace, introducing revised key performance indicators and establishing penalties for organizations that don’t address gender-based pay inequality.

In March, the new California pay equity reporting requirements will take effect, with the stated purpose of achieving equal pay for women and people of color. The heightened scrutiny should serve as an added incentive for companies to make progress on DE&I initiatives, and the reporting requirements these new laws impose emphasize the need for technology to accurately track and report equality metrics.

With diversity, inclusion and equality metrics at your fingertips, you can fulfill reporting requirements, measure program performance, identify new opportunities for improvement and keep stakeholders informed along the way. So, if your company made DE&I commitments that you want to turn into progress this year, make sure you have the data and technology you need to walk the talk. That’s the best way to drive real change that is not only good for society but great for business performance too.

Author Bio

E.J. Marin is Director of Solution Engineering, HCM, HANELLY at Nakisa. Connect E.J. Marin