Forbes’ expert panel member Heather Smith recently said, “In light of the recent societal spotlight on racial justice and equality, many businesses have taken a renewed interest in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). For these efforts to be truly successful, however, there must be buy-in from the entire organization.”
Smith is right. And thousands of businesses are making giant leaps, not just paying lip service to DEI, but also practicing what they preach. After all, your workforce wants to feel your commitment to a company culture where everybody is accepted and heard, regardless of background and protected characteristics.
In addition, so do your candidates.
Ashley Stahl also explained to Forbes, “To be competitive in recruiting, companies need to prioritize DEI. Data shows clearly that DEI is a priority for workers and job seekers, with 67% of people on the job market stating that racial and gender diversity is an important factor in their job search. Furthermore, 50% of current employees want their company to commit more energy toward promoting diversity.”
But, putting your future-fit ideals into practice it’s easier said than done if you don’t have future-fit tools for analyzing your current state of play.
For this purpose, analytics are playing an increasingly important role in talent acquisition. Why? Because the need to be aligned with shifting cultural norms – and the impact they have on the people part of your business – is fundamental to your ongoing success.
There are two game-changing ways in which DEI analytics support your overall people strategy, by:
- Baking DEI into your recruitment processes for better candidate attraction and recruitment planning
- Continuously benchmarking your ongoing performance around DEI
Let’s take a closer look.
Using Analytics for Levelled Up Diverse Recruiting and Retention
Imagine having the ability to explore and examine your existing HR recruitment data in minute detail. It’s gives you intricate insight in to where you’re currently at with your DEI strategy. And it enables you to streamline your processes with your current position.
In addition, analytics shine a spotlight on the channels that give you the most impressive ROI. So, forearmed with this knowledge, you can focus your attention on the strategies that are working, and also reshape and remodel the ones that aren’t.
But you’re mistaken if you think DEI analytics are a box ticking exercise. On the contrary, they provide you with a comprehensive overview of how you’re doing as a business in terms of DEI, across the end-to-end employee life cycle.
With that in mind, think about the boost you’d benefit from by accessing non-complex and hassle-free insights around:
- Attracting and Hiring Diverse Candidates, including:
- Number of candidates by diversity category
- Number of successful new hires, by diversity category, across different seniority levels
- Most successful channel by diversity category, e.g. agency, job board or social media platform
- Wages and salary analysis by diversity category
- Retaining, Developing and Promoting Diverse Talent, including:
- L&D (learning and development) opportunities by diversity category
- Ratio of promotions by diversity category
- Staff churn amongst diverse talent, by diversity category, by role, department, duration, line manager, and any other breakdowns that are relevant to your specific needs
How Analytics are the Plot Line of Your DEI Story
DEI analytics are an entirely different beast from the transactional data on spreadsheets that you might be used to. This is because they enable you to add context.
In short, you can take a much deeper dive in to the true, real-time story of your DEI performance, by building an in-depth understanding that brings your story to vivid life. For example:
- Identifying and Eradicating Unconscious Bias, including:
- Pinpointing where unconscious bias might be causing a bottleneck to your diverse recruiting efforts or a barrier to diverse retention
- Opening up a narrative about DEI in the workplace and encouraging employees to be honest about any conscious or potential unconscious bias that might be influencing their actions and decisions
- Reviewing your employer branding and the language and tone you use in your job ads, across the recruitment process, in interviews, and also in internal comms and performance review
So, with living and breathing analytics at your fingertips, you’re empowered to align and re-align again and again with evolving cultural norms, as often you need to. In doing so, you can take the people part of your business to previously unscaled heights. And when the people part of your business is in great shape, your business as a whole is better equipped to advance and prosper.
At HireRoad, our analytics platform can skyrocket your diversity recruitment and retention levels. But there’s so much more to it. When you’re strategically and demonstrably on top of DEI, your employer branding is boosted. And this, in turn, puts a blast on the quality of candidates who are attracted to your business.
Intrigued by the possibilities that improved cultural alignment of your workforce presents? We should talk. Get in touch so we can arrange for a ‘show and tell’ session.