Join us TODAY at 2pm Eastern Time for the first of our 3-part DEI workshop series – “Collecting Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Data: What to Measure & Why” – to hear DiversityIQ’s Cheryl Cole, Fossil Group’s Sheri Crosby Wheeler, Aon’s Aria Glasgow, Pipeline Equity’s Katica Roy, Fortune’s Ruth Umoh, and yours truly discuss what data points are useful in driving DEI strategy & progress; how to measure diversity, equity & inclusion; how to account for intersectionality; data traps to avoid; and how to use data to develop a unique business case for your corporate DEI initiative. If you’ve not yet registered, you can still sign up here. This PracticalESG.com workshop is free, courtesy of our wonderful sponsors, Morrison & Foerster and Holmes Murphy.
We planned this workshop session around data because it is one of the most useful – but also one of the most misunderstood – tools in the corporate DEI toolkit. While there are many benefits for organizations to take on diversity, equity, and inclusion work – including better decision-making, innovation and employee satisfaction – most practitioners in this space will tell you that measurable outcomes among underrepresented employees are their primary goal. At their core, corporate DEI initiatives are typically judged by whether they lead to greater workforce and industry diversity, greater policy equity, and more inclusion for marginalized groups – all of which can be measured.
To counteract baked-in practices that tend to favor dominant groups, we must use metrics to discover where we are falling short and shine a light on the path to getting more equitable outcomes. Metrics allow us to understand when we’ve made progress, when we’re moving in the opposite direction, and when we’ve met our goal. The data that a company opts to collect may vary based on its specific goals, resources, and priorities. Without collecting relevant data, your DEI strategy will encounter various challenges, including the inability to:
- Understand your workforce demographics and needs
- Provide accountability for the DEI outcome
- Get buy-in from executive leaders
- Give direction to your DEI goals
- Create visibility on progress so you can pivot and improve your strategy to achieve your DEI goals better
- Quantify the return on your DEI investments
With so many risks to lacking data, it’s no wonder that there’s currently a big focus among DEI practitioners on what data to collect. Organizations are still figuring out what data points will be useful to monitor and how to measure them. We hope you’ll join us today for an engaging and practical conversation, which will be useful to anyone in the DEI, HR, ESG or corporate disclosure and communications space.
