Organizational Psychologist, President at QuestionPro Workforce, helping employers build Empathy at Scale in their organizations.
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Based on the recent labor market statistics, it’s hard to be sure if it’s an employer's or employee's market. In recent months, we've seen an increasing number of layoffs. At the same time, we're seeing many jobs being added.
In this turbulent time, a piece of encouraging news has come from a recent LinkedIn report that showed that one of the fastest-growing roles was that of diversity and inclusion manager. It’s promising to see that even in challenging economic times, more companies are realizing how important diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is to their success, as well as to the well-being of their employees.
While it is great to see more energy being put into this area, there is a lot more work still to be done.
A study published by my company, QuestionPro, and EQ Community showed that 37% of workers would switch companies to be a part of a more diverse and inclusive culture. Additionally, 43% of workers were not satisfied with how much action was being taken to foster an inclusive culture inside their organization.
Since 2020, a growing number of women have been exiting the workforce, and a recent McKinsey and LeanIn study found that throughout 2022, women managers have been quitting their jobs at record rates. We have both a great challenge and a great opportunity ahead of us to make a significant impact on DEI across organizations. A key asset in making great strides in DEI initiatives is both in how we connect with our employees, as well as how we involve them in key initiatives to help move them forward.
Continuous listening is one of the most powerful ways to connect with employees—if done right. A key to executing successful employee surveys is to conduct them on an ongoing basis and ask intentional and actionable questions.
Here are some suggestions for some DEI items you can include in your next survey and the best time to ask your workers across the employee lifecycle. We recommend that you ask your employees to rate these statements on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree."
Onboarding
Who your new employees interact with when they start has as much, or more, impact on their experience than how quickly they received their equipment to start work. It’s important that they have meaningful interactions with their team and manager as early on as possible and that they meet other employees they can identify with who are doing well in the organization.
Here are some statements you can ask employees to rate to see how inclusive your onboarding program is:
• I felt welcome on my first day of work.
• I was satisfied with the connections I made during onboarding.
• My colleagues made me feel at ease when I asked them questions.
• I was asked for input on what else I needed to be successful at my job.
Annual Employee Experience Survey
While many organizations are experimenting with different survey programs and frequencies, the vast majority of organizations still have a flagship annual survey. Here are a few DEI statements to consider including as you prepare your next survey:
Diversity
• I have the opportunity to work alongside individuals with a variety of backgrounds.
• The company I work for values individuals with different perspectives.
• It is important to me that I work for a company that is highly diverse.
• I am satisfied with how frequently we discuss the importance of diversity in my organization.
Equity
• My performance is evaluated fairly.
• I have to work harder than others for my contribution to be valued.
• My opportunities for success are similar to those of my colleagues.
• My manager and I talk about my goals before they are set.
Inclusion
• My manager makes sure everyone’s voice is heard in meetings.
• I am comfortable proactively reaching out to my colleagues regardless of their title or position.
• I feel that my opinions and ideas are valued and considered in decision-making.
• I have found it easy to identify mentors and sponsors across the organization.
Exit
As mentioned before, 37% of workers would leave their organization to join one that is more diverse and inclusive. Yet, in my experience, most exit surveys don’t cover DEI-related topics. Here are a few important disagree/agree statements to add:
• I found it easy to work with colleagues who come from a different background than my own.
• I enjoyed learning from colleagues with different perspectives.
• I was satisfied with the effort my manager made to create an inclusive team environment.
• One of the reasons I am switching employers is to be part of a more inclusive culture.
Pulse
Most successful pulse surveys are based on the theme that you want to know more about, rather than focusing on the timing of asking questions.
For instance, you may come across interesting findings in your annual survey that you want to find more information about, which could happen rather immediately; or you may want to evaluate the effectiveness of an initiative, which will require time to pass for an initiative to have a chance of making an impact.
A Few Final Thoughts On Taking Action
Remember to break down bigger initiatives into a series of steps, where you yourself will feel more satisfied with the progress and be able to communicate more action to your workforce.
Because there are so many different ways that information can be communicated today, I would suggest asking your employees how they prefer to receive information and then using those mediums to keep them informed of the progress. Having them hear from employees with a variety of different backgrounds is an important part of the communication strategy, too.
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