The ability to successfully manage diversity in the workplace depends on the ability to accurately measure today’s globalised workforces.

You cannot manage what you cannot measure.

The Failures of DEI

Poorly managed, diversity can lead to friction, resentment, backlash, conflict, high staff turnover and more, while effective management of diversity is a source of innovation, loyalty and engagement. All diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives aim to support effective management of workplace diversity, but their efforts often fall short or even backfire. This is a major reason why DEI is facing significant criticism and scrutiny, sometimes even from those it intends to benefit. The failures of DEI, outlined in book after book, are practically creating their own subgenre in the business literature space.

Traditionally, many DEI programs focused on activities like unconscious bias training, anti-racism workshops, and ‘courageous conversations’ – and while many of these approaches probably have value, there have been some famously poor results. By 2020, calls for a data-driven approach to DEI began to gain momentum.

Data-driven DEI efforts have become a popular topic. In a 2023 Financial Times podcast, prominent DEI consultant Lily Zheng says, ‘data is so, so important’, while her interviewer reflects that ‘None of this is particularly rocket science.’

Not all Data-Driven Approaches

Accurate measurement relies on accurate data.

As the world’s first holistic diversity data analysis tool, you might think we’d be thrilled by the rising advocacy for an evidence-based approach to DEI. However, not all data-driven approaches are the same: in fact, most data-driven efforts and advocacy are piecemeal, leading to patchy outcomes, confusion, backlash and resentment.

More than five years after our 2019 launch, we believe we are still the world’s only holistic diversity measurement tool – meaning that our tool is underpinned by democratised datasets that produce holistic data. Our tool allows clients to avoid grouping people into outdated and overly broad categories, especially racial categories, which create problems that the DEI field is riddled with.

10 Best Steps to Manage Diversity in the Workplace

Our CEO/Founder Peter Mousaferiadis has dedicated his career to understanding the interplay between identity, culture and diversity.

It may be that DEI is not rocket science, but human identity is highly complex. Too often, our identities are reduced to one or two dimensions. This is dehumanising.

We are multidimensional, constantly shifting in relation to others, time and place. Our identities are as unique to us as our fingerprints. Without this understanding, diversity is compromised and DEI efforts are bound to fall short.

Keeping in mind this complexity, we offer these ten steps to manage the diversity of your team:

1. Commit to an ethical process.

Ethical diversity measurement includes clear communication, informed consent and respect for privacy. Ensure employees understand the purpose of collecting data, how it will be used, and the value it brings.

2. Define what diversity means for your team.

In defining diversity, consider all the important dimensions of human identity. Are you paying enough attention to invisible aspects? Dimensions that may be invisible, like religion, or ancestry, can impact team dynamics as much if not more than visible aspects. There’s a general bias towards visible aspects of diversity that warrants interrogating.

The Diversity Atlas platform, based on years of research, bases its understanding of diversity on four key pillars: cultural heritage; country of birth; language; and worldview/religion. Added to this are gender, disability, age, sexuality, appearance, education level and job position.

These dimensions, underpinned by vast datasets, correspond to the Diversity Atlas core survey questions. We also assess workforce mutuality (how representative a workforce is of the community it serves).

If an organisation wishes to include additional questions not covered by these dimensions, we customise the survey to incorporate them. For instance, an organisation may want to know the range of education levels in their workforce.

Note that our platform does not use ‘race’ as such as a metric, since there is only one race: the human race. It is possible to identify racialised attributes such as ‘Black’ or ‘White’ in the cultural heritage question.

3. Collect data to measure your team’s diversity and establish your baseline.

Implement a voluntary, anonymised survey to gather accurate data on these dimensions. Diversity Atlas adheres to strict privacy and security standards, and our customers report high participation and satisfaction rates with the survey.

The data on your team’s current composition create a baseline for comparison.

4. Analyse representation across roles.

Review metrics by department, seniority, and role. Are underrepresented aspects of identity concentrated in junior or specific roles, or are they evenly distributed throughout the organisation?

5. Benchmark.

Compare your team’s metrics with your customer base, industry standards and national benchmarks. This helps you identify untapped assets, gaps and areas for improvement within your team.

6. Set targets.

Develop realistic goals for your teams.

7. Assess and monitor inclusion and belonging.

Use your survey results to understand inclusion levels, psychological safety and team members’ sense of belonging. Supplement quantitative data with informal or formal feedback.

8. Gather qualitative feedback.

Keep the lines of communication open in order to understand the lived experiences of different team members. Qualitative data provides context for the numbers.

9. Track recruitment and retention.

Conduct annual surveys to monitor diversity in hiring, promotions and retention rates. Look for patterns that may reveal bias or systemic barriers affecting underrepresented aspects of identity.

10. Regularly review and update.

Regularly review your data to track progress and adjust policies or initiatives over time. Effective diversity management is a dynamic process.

Humanity Now

By following these ten steps, organisations gain valuable insights into their workforce’s makeup, enabling them to unlock opportunities for growth. By committing to thoughtful, ethical data practices, companies create a culture where no one is othered or dehumanised and every employee feels valued, acknowledged and empowered in all their complexity as multidimensional humans.

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