{"id":118951,"date":"2024-09-24T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/?post_type=magazine&p=118951"},"modified":"2024-09-30T11:22:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T15:22:45","slug":"beyond-diversity-metrics-a-framework-for-measuring-the-value-of-inclusion-and-belonging","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/magazine\/fall-2024\/beyond-diversity-metrics-a-framework-for-measuring-the-value-of-inclusion-and-belonging\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Diversity Metrics: A Framework for Measuring the Value of Inclusion and Belonging"},"author":52,"featured_media":118959,"template":"","tags":[23881,2702,33740],"class_list":["post-118951","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dei-metrics","tag-inclusive-training","tag-measuring-inclusivity","global_topic_tax-diversity-equity-and-inclusion","magazine_issue_tax-fall-2024","magazine_article_type_tax-feature"],"acf":{"sponsored":false,"gated":false,"gated_content_type":"","file_attachment":null,"gated_content":"","form_instruction_header":"To access the full article, please fill out the form below:","pardot_html_embed":"","author_override":true,"author_name":"Cheryl Flink, Ph.D.","author_image":"","author_bio":"Cheryl Flink, Ph.D., is the director of research at the Truist Leadership Institute. She conducts research that informs approaches to leadership development and measures organizational impact. Email Cheryl.\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/strong>","excerpt":"Over the past five years, views of appropriate ways to account for human capital have undergone a remarkable shift, moving from treating human capital as a cost to an asset.","main_content":"Over the past five years, views of appropriate ways to account for human capital have undergone a remarkable shift, moving from treating human capital as a cost to an asset. Emerging guidelines from the SEC<\/a> point out that, in 1973, over 80% of the S&P 500\u2019s market capitalization was held in tangible assets (like property, manufacturing plants, and equipment). \u00a0However, by 2020, 90% of the S&P 500 was based on intangible assets like human capital. This focus on understanding the asset of human capital has challenged all organizations \u2014 whether public or private \u2014 to think about how they measure and report on human capital, the investments in their workforce, and the impact of those investments.\r\n

Organizations are Shifting From DEI to Inclusion and Belonging Frameworks<\/h2>\r\nThe 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision on affirmative action has also driven changes in how organizations frame the value of human capital. In response to that decision, many organizations moved toward focusing on metrics that measure inclusivity while demonstrating that their organizations continue to \u201caccess and develop new sources of talent<\/a>, and to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis evolving landscape creates an imperative for human resource leaders to have a clear strategic framework for measuring belonging and inclusion and tying these data to business outcomes. That framework must include demographics, attitudinal data and business metrics with a strong focus on pattern-seeking, analytics and inspiration. Let\u2019s explore those ideas.\r\n

Start With Demographic Data \u2014 But Remember They are a Rear-View Mirror<\/h2>\r\nDemographic data provide insights into whether organizations successfully develop the diverse and inclusive workforce they need to compete. These demographic variables are readily available and represent many social identity categories, including veteran status, age, disability status, socioeconomic status, race and gender. They are the starting point for describing the organization\u2019s current workforce and setting benchmarks to measure change over time.\r\n\r\nDemographic data are foundational to understanding inclusion and belonging. However, they tend to be lag indicators \u2014 a rear-view mirror that reflects past hiring decisions, promotions and the overall composition of the organization. Reviewing demographic trends over time is a solid way to look at whether the organization is progressing toward its inclusion goals. However, relying solely on demographic data can hide opportunities. Supplementing demographics with other data will deepen understanding of the organization\u2019s inclusivity culture. Below, we offer suggestions for exploring demographic data and adding new data to create insights.\r\n

Get Curious and Explore Data Patterns in Your Demographic Data<\/h2>\r\nTake time to explore your existing demographic data. Be thoughtful and creative in how you can slice data to find both challenges and opportunities. Do you see different patterns of data by organizational function? By specific regions or locations? By specific managers and leaders? As you look, ask the question why<\/em>: Why do some functions have greater representation than others? What actions do some managers take that result in that greater representation? Get curious about what is happening and investigate. Your goal is to find patterns in the demographic data so you can dig in to ask new questions.\r\n

Add Data From Employee Engagement and Organizational Culture Surveys<\/h2>\r\nMost companies collect employee engagement data, typically on an annual basis. Engagement surveys typically measure two things: 1) soft outcome metrics, for example, likelihood to recommend the company as a place to work, stay intention and engagement itself; and 2) key drivers of those outcomes, such as relationships with managers, role clarity and perceptions of pay equity. These additional driver questions often measure perceptions of inclusion and belonging: Do employees believe their organization has created an inclusive culture? Do they feel like they belong? Inclusion culture surveys can also measure feelings of belonging.\r\n\r\nThese attitudinal questions ground the next step of linking inclusive cultures to hard business metrics.\r\n

Tie Inclusion to Business Outcomes<\/h2>\r\nWith the foundation of demographic data and perceptions of inclusive cultures, the framework can now extend to focus on business outcomes. What is the impact of diverse teams (measured by demographic data) and perceptions of belonging and inclusion (measured by attitudinal data) on a specific business outcome?\r\n\r\nYou must now append hard business metrics by working with your internal human resources information system (HRIS) business partners. Only request data that answer relevant questions you have generated from your initial data explorations. Do not take unnecessary time and resources, and always adhere to your organization\u2019s required policies and procedures for collecting and handling personally identifiable information (PII data).\r\n\r\nCategories of hard business metrics appear below, and as you explore the metrics, you will once again seek patterns in the data: Do the business outcomes differ by demographic segment? By perceptions of belonging and inclusivity?\r\n\r\nBegin appending and exploring the metrics that specific business functions own and explore patterns within each function. For example, sales may own \u201cnew revenue contracted\u201d or \u201cnumber of contracts in the pipeline.\u201d Examine whether the scores for revenue and contracts differ by sales groups \u2014 and whether those sales groups differ in their demographics or measures of inclusion and belonging. What patterns do you see?\r\n\r\nAppending business metrics can help the organization get specific on which areas of the business have opportunities to improve their hard business metrics while investing more in inclusion and belonging. These categories represent a rich suite of metrics and data that can become predictors of those outcomes \u2014 the levers of change. They form a world of possibilities for seeing the impact of diversity, inclusion and belonging on important business outcomes. Examples might include:\r\n