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Navigating DEI Rollbacks: How People Analytics Can Sustain Inclusive Workplaces

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Navigating DEI Rollbacks: How People Analytics Can Sustain Inclusive Workplaces

The current socio-political landscape is a tough one for companies to navigate. In recent times, shifts in public sentiment, tightening regulations, and the impacts of new political decisions have led to increasing rollbacks of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Corporate giants that once championed these efforts are publicly scaling back their commitments and eliminating dedicated DEI roles.

Still, while external pressures present significant roadblocks to DEI progress, HR leaders are left to figure out how to keep employee morale, retention rates, productivity, performance, and engagement at high levels. Though it may come as a surprise, pushing back with differing opinions may not be the way to go.

Instead, let the data do the talking. Leveraging people analytics can help HR and business leaders track diversity metrics and identify inequities in pay and promotions, ultimately proving the business case for continued DEI investment. 

Discover what you need to know about using people analytics to maintain momentum in your DEI efforts in the midst of global uncertainty.

The Current Landscape of DEI Rollbacks

DEI rollbacks have been spurred on by a number of events, including:

Recent Supreme Court decisions on the use of affirmative action and racial preferences in college admissions

State-level bans on using affirmative action in hiring and other crucial decisions

Political scrutiny related to the fairness and efficacy of corporate DEI policies

As a result of these issues, high-profile companies like Target have begun to re-evaluate their DEI goals, programs, and commitments. Some have moved to cut DEI-focused roles, remove public diversity targets, and stop all external DEI reporting.

While many of these companies have cited a need to comply with recent regulatory changes, their leadership teams also recognize that scaling back DEI efforts may negatively impact employee engagement and turnover. Furthermore, it can result in reputational damage that leads to revenue loss.

The Role of People Analytics in Preserving DEI

DEI analytics is the practice of using data to measure and evaluate your organization’s progress toward diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Because it’s challenging to manage what you can’t or don’t measure, DEI analytics helps you identify areas for improvement in your DEI efforts and make data-driven decisions around launching initiatives.

Tracking DEI analytics data also helps HR leaders provide data-based justification for DEI programming. With data in hand, senior leadership, employees, and external stakeholders can rest assured that DEI decisions are made fairly and without bias. Not only can this reduce compliance risk, but it also helps build trust across the organization and with the general public.

To this end, it’s essential to know which key diversity metrics will achieve these goals. Some you may want to consider tracking include:

Representation: The rates at which particular demographics are being hired and promoted

Retention: Understanding which demographics are leaving your organization and at what rates

Pay Equity: Analyzing whether there are compensation gaps and pay disparities among different groups

Leadership Diversity: Tracking the rates at which certain groups are represented in senior roles

Case Studies: Companies Using Data to Sustain DEI

Alternative financial services company goeasy knows how transformative data can be in creating effective HR strategies. In 2016, the company experienced turnover highs of nearly 60%, with 800 employees leaving the company in just one year. 

Part of their strategy to correct this issue included leveraging data from PeopleInsight to track workforce composition, employee engagement, and talent retention rates. The platform allowed them to integrate this data with external Canadian census numbers, resulting in a greater ability to identify opportunities to increase diversity. 

Not only did PeopleInsight data help goeasy HR leaders make a case for DEI-based hiring initiatives, but it also assisted them in better allocating their budget for Employee Resource Groups, which can be highly effective at ensuring every employee has the support they need to thrive.

PepsiCo is yet another example of a company that has made a commitment to measuring and leveraging DEI data to drive workforce inclusivity efforts. The company collects and publishes demographic data on its workforce in order to demonstrate yearly progress toward its goals. 

Their HR leaders use this data to build targeted initiatives like Employee Resource Groups and career development programs to achieve their goals of gender and racial parity in management roles.

Practical Steps for HR Leaders to Leverage People Analytics

If you’re wondering how to balance regulatory compliance with your commitment to building an inclusive workplace, you’re not alone. Here are a few practical steps you can take to find your footing in the current DEI landscape and create a positive culture where everyone can thrive.

Collect and Analyze Diversity Data

Using a human resources information system or applicant tracking system allows you to capture demographic data about your candidates and employees. 

Start by identifying your end goals and defining the data points that will help you reach them. As you configure your systems to collect this data, ensure that there is alignment across platforms so that your insights are consistent and you end up with a full picture.

Start Small and Scale Later

If you try to collect and measure every data point at once, your efforts will easily become overwhelming. You won’t be able to change everything in your organization overnight. Instead, find one or two key metrics that will help you identify gaps and create strategic initiatives to address them. 

Tracking these metrics over time will show measurable progress against baselines. You can then connect this data back to business metrics like productivity, performance, engagement, and profitability to demonstrate real business impact.

Build Accountability

Your leadership team is focused on one thing: business outcomes. DEI dashboards like those offered in PeopleInsight can help you effectively share your people analytics KPIs and data with senior leadership to show how DEI-focused programs are enhancing business goals and objectives. 

Customization options allow you to focus conversations around a particular business unit or metric and tailor insight for various stakeholders.

People Analytics Makes the Case for What Matters Most

As an HR leader, you understand that your company’s greatest asset is the people who offer their time and talents to help you achieve business goals. While you want to ensure they’re supported, you know that you must do so in a way that avoids raising compliance risk or negatively impacting the employer brand.

Fortunately, large-scale DEI rollbacks don’t have to spell the end of your efforts to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. You can leverage people analytics software to provide data-backed support for your DEI programs. 

In turn, this allows you to achieve the goals of ensuring regulatory compliance, maintaining the brand image, and making employees feel heard and included.

Contact us today to book a free demo with PeopleInsight and see how HireRoad can help you future-proof your HR strategy while maintaining compliance and equity in your workforce management.