Beginning a measurement process: A tool for DEI leaders
Executive summary
Why Measure?
Like so many company leaders, you may be ramping up your efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). One survey found that 79% of companies planned to increase their DEI spending in 2022.1 Yet many employees see their companies’ policies as performative rather than sincere. Recent Catalyst research has found that 75% of employees find their companies’ racial equity policies to be insincere—which can lead to declines in performance and productivity.2
To go beyond the performative, a company must hold itself accountable to concrete, measurable goals—to measure what is actually happening in the organization and leverage that data to create change.
Although measurement is a cornerstone of strong DEI commitment, it is far from a universal practice. Additionally, there is a trend toward increased transparency both internally and externally through disclosure of information (workforce demographics and goals, pay equity processes, etc.) and Catalyst believes that disclosure illustrates a deep strategic commitment to a fair environment and should be a universal corporate practice. And with so much data to measure—e.g., workforce representation, pay equity, experiences of inclusion, employee engagement—it can be hard for an organization to know where to start.
Catalyst has decades of experience researching and advising organizations on these issues, so we know that measuring workforce representation numbers is key to making progress. Once you have gained a clear understanding of who your employees are and how they are moving through the organization, you can develop effective DEI programs grounded in data that can then support deeper inquiries into pay equity and inclusion.
By creating mechanisms to measure your workforce representation precisely, you will be able to identify the drivers that led to your current levels of representation and pinpoint specific areas where change is needed. For example, are women and employees from marginalized racial and ethnic groups equitably represented throughout all areas of the organization and at all levels of management? Where does representation fall off? Are you attracting, retaining, and promoting talent from a range of backgrounds? Are there differences not just across groups but within groups based on intersectional identities?
Let’s get started.