What is your age?

How long have you worked here?

What is your gender?

Which is your ethnic/racial category?

These questions seem innocuous enough, but can make some respondents uncomfortable. The same people that will tell you they have plans to resign from the organization get a little “squeamish” when asked some demographic questions (e.g. race/ethnicity). It is important to note that diversity encompasses all of the ways in which someone can differ from someone else. Diversity can include demographic topics such as age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, religion, physical ability, and race/ethnicity. In this article, however, we will focus only on the benefits of including race/ethnicity coding in your next employee survey.

Why race/ethnicity employee survey data matters

Race is still a charged category but that doesn’t mean organizations should steer clear of understanding their data through the lens of race/ethnicity. Only through race-based coding can you uncover if employees respond differently to crucial items regarding the quality of service, communication, and their willingness to recommend the organization. For example, race/ethnic coding may uncover that employees that speak Spanish only may respond differently to the communication items possibly indicating the need for alternate communication methods to assure that clear communication reaches all.

A racially/ethnically diverse staff can help organizations “cover all the bases” and possess diverse knowledge, solutions, and sensitivity which can serve to fortify your organization. Don’t believe me? Just ask Steven Seanor, former editor of Golfweek Magazine, who was fired after deciding to put an image of a noose on the magazine’s cover highlighting the controversy surrounding racially insensitive comments made by a Golf Channel anchorwoman. Sports commentator, Stephen A. Smith, poignantly asked, would the offensive image been approved if there was a diverse group of decision-makers involved? If you’re wondering whether analyzing your opinion data by race matters, the answer is unequivocally, yes. Armed with race/ethnic demographic knowledge, an organization is better equipped to deploy measures to avoid pitfalls, address opportunities, and attend to inequities.

Why race/ethnicity data is not collected

In our experience, the collection of race-based normative data has been complicated by the lack of a universal willingness to collect data by race/ethnic categories. As one goes from organization to organization, there have been numerous race-based categories or the complete absence of race/ethnic coding thus making the collection of data across companies impossible.

In addition, some organizations refrain from using racial/ethnic coding because they fear it will uncover some societal problems which they will be unable to resolve. However, we feel that coding by demographics such as race can be instrumental for organizations in identifying a need for different communication avenues (perhaps due to ethnicity), more frequent performance evaluations (perhaps due to gender or generational differences), and/or flexible training methods (generational differences).

One of our Best-in-Class clients (clients scoring at or above the 90th percentile), The Boys & Girls Clubs of America, has made it a practice to code for race/ethnicity and ask diversity-related items on its employee opinion surveys. The organization values the ability to analyze data by race/ethnicity as part of its diversity initiative. Teri Dorsey – Director of Organizational Development – explains that “Over the past five years, we have focused our benefit programs, training programs, and our employee relations programs on creating just that environment [that promotes a sense of competence, belonging, influence, and usefulness]. While we are not there yet, we were pleased to see that on our last employee satisfaction survey, we scored in the 92nd percentile. I believe our diversity efforts, focused on creating that positive environment for everyone, have much to do with our current success.”

How to collect demographic coding

First and foremost, some employees may feel that certain demographic questions are “too personal” or that the information could be used to identify them as individuals. Organizations often rely on third-party survey specialists to assuage employees’ confidentiality concerns. It is crucial that employees understand upfront that demographic data will be used to explore aggregate data for groups, not individuals. The goal should be to understand how different groups feel about important topics, not how individuals feel. Therefore, in keeping with this approach, the organization should establish a minimum threshold in order for data to be created; this ensures that smaller groups feel that their confidentiality is protected.

The Office of Management and Budget at the U.S. Census Bureau altered their methods for collecting race/ethnicity coding in the late 1990s allowing respondents to select more than one race due to “evidence of increasing numbers of children from interracial unions and the need to measure the increased diversity in the United States.” In fact, Census Bureau data confirms the inevitability of an increasingly racially-diverse America. According to Census Bureau estimates, by 2030, 43% of the U.S. population will qualify as racially diverse (Hispanic, African American, Asian, Native American or multiracial).

We choose to follow the federal guidelines for race and ethnicity which are outlined in the following tables.

Federal Categories for Race

1. American Indian and Alaska Native
2. Asian
3. Black or African American
4. Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
5. White or Caucasian

Federal Categories for Ethnicity

1. Hispanic or Latino
2. Not-Hispanic or Latino

 Conclusion

As evidenced by the aforementioned examples, demographic coding can highlight the need for a different approach to creating workplace engagement and promoting workplace diversity.

HR Solutions encourages all organizations to include demographic questions, such as race/ethnicity, to their survey instruments in order to better understand and address the myriad factors (e.g. gender, age, ethnic, and socioeconomic) which can come into play.

Collecting race/ethnicity metrics is vital to any survey of employees or customers. If we ignore it, it simply will not just go away. In fact, if we ignore race/ethnicity, the ones that will go away may be your employees and customers.




 US Census website: http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj/