Having the right policies in place and talking a good equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) game in the annual report don’t mean much if the organisation isn’t walking the walk in the workplace. If the numbers don’t stack up in terms of the people working for the organisation and their career progress, the policies are meaningless.
In a world where non-financial reporting is becoming ever more important to investors, consumers and other stakeholders, companies need to back up their worthy statements of intent with hard data. And that data goes beyond gender pay gap report numbers or statistics on the number of nationalities employed or overall gender balance in the workplace.
According to the Netherlands-based Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR), companies should look for data across the three dimensions of EDI. Diversity data relates to the identities and demographics of stakeholders including information on gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Equity data reveals whether all stakeholders have equal opportunity to access what the organisation offers to succeed, such as employment, promotional opportunities, benefits, products or services. Inclusion data discloses how included and respected stakeholders feel during their interactions and experience with an organisation.
In theory, having this data will inform employers about the make-up and sentiments of their workforce and give them a basis for improving their EDI performance. Very importantly, it can improve employee engagement while supporting compliance with regulatory requirements.
Career and coaching psychologist Sinéad Brady believes employers need to take a broad view of what defines data.
“There is a conception and a misconception that what is measured is important and what is not measured is not important,” Brady contends. “We need to look at EDI through a different lens. We often talk about minority groups but they are not minorities, they are underrepresented groups. For example, women are not a minority, and we need to ask why they are underrepresented.”
It’s not the fault of the people, she continues: “There is nothing wrong with underrepresented people. We need to look at the systemic barriers in place in organisations. Often policies are set at a high level and are seen as bulletproof but can actually be a factor in underrepresentation. You can have the best EDI policies and metrics but if the lived experience of the people on the ground is not changing, they are not working. We need to think about it very differently. We need to look at what organisations are doing in practice to shift the dial.”
Data gathering begins with recruitment and career development policies and where they are formed. Better representation at EDI policymaking level is important for data gathering and indeed for the development of effective policies.
“Are people hired for cultural fit or cultural add?” she asks. “Are the people making the decisions part of the over-represented group? You need people who are impacted sitting at the decision-making table.”
That doesn’t mean organisations are deliberately doing the wrong things or don’t have the best intentions, of course. She cites the famed quote from Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
“Organisations need to look for culture add and diverse perspectives. They need to ask what perspectives they don’t have at the table when setting EDI policies. Then they can look at how recruitment, retention and career progression practices work for underrepresented people.
“Current structures struggle to support anyone who is not seen as the ideal worker – someone who can come in nine to five, stay late, and be present and visible. The world of work is structured around that. We need to think about remote and hybrid and multiple different ways of working. You can have all the fancy policies but it’s when the rubber hits the road that counts.
“What is the experience of underrepresented people? How can you make sure they have a voice and access and a place at the table. Organisations need to talk to their people to get the data they need on EDI.”
Robert Mac Giolla Phadraig, founder and chief executive of performance skills and leadership development streaming platform SkillStack, believes the ultimate test of EDI success is the company’s bottom line.
“What is an organisation?” he asks. “By definition, it’s a collection of individuals and their combined performance needs to be greater than the sum of the parts. The ultimate measure of any diversity initiatives should be corporate performance. If it adds to performance, it’s sustainable. It comes back to that. You can get metrics on retention, internal mobility, career progression and so on but ultimately the initiatives have to drive profit.”
While this may sound somewhat hard-nosed, it is not at all surprising. After all, research has consistently pointed to diversity supporting improved corporate performance. Indeed, the most recent McKinsey Diversity Matters report published in December 2023 found that companies with the most advanced EDI policies had a 39 per cent greater likelihood of financial outperformance than their least advanced counterparts.