Pearl Meyer's summer 2020 survey of more than 200 organizations (50% public | 36% private | 14% not-for-profit) on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) revealed these and other noteworthy findings:
Organizational priorities, responsibility & processes
- More than 75% of organizations identified D&I and gender pay equity as among their highest or important priorities. Fewer organizations (50%) cited closing the gender pay gap as among their highest or important priorities.
- Nearly half of organizations have an individual charged with responsibility for D&I.
- Only 13% have a formal process in place to increase female and minority representation in upper-level management and executive positions.
- While over half of organizations maintain a D&I dashboard for management, other diversity measures and training are less common, as shown here:
Measuring D&I outcomes
- 44% of organizations measure D&I outcomes, most commonly counting the number of diverse hires (74%), followed by measuring the number of promotions of diverse candidates (63%), and comparing the turnover rate of diverse employees to the overall turnover rate (51%). Just 8.5% tie D&I outcomes to executive incentive pay.
- The report notes somewhat of a disconnect between prioritization and results that may be reduced with the implementation of measurement and accountability practices.
Gender and minority representation by level
- Females and minorities comprise 48% and 23%, respectively, of the overall workforce, but just 28% and 10%, respectively, of executive positions, and 42% and 18%, respectively, of first/mid-level management positions.
Programs, policies, and processes
- Less than 13% of organizations have a formal process to increase female and minority representation in management and executive positions; however, looking at specific industries, nearly 38% of Consumer/Discr/Staples organizations and nearly 28% of Industrials/Materials/Manufacturing organizations have such formal programs.
- Nearly 40% of organizations overall have programs/policies/processes to increase diversity at the recruitment stage. Looking at specific industries, 60% of Consumer/Discr/Staples organizations and 53% of Healthcare/Biotech/Pharma organizations have such programs/policies/processes.
Communication
- D&I-related information shared with top management and employees is focused on overall philosophy and goals and learning and development opportunities. Most organizations share additional information, such as workforce demographics, pay equity data, and pay gap practices and data, with management (not employees).
- Nearly 69% of organizations provide information on D&I-related issues to the board, as detailed here:
The report includes data-informed tips throughout to help organizations make progress in all of these areas. The full report is available for purchase here.
See our recent reports: "Survey Shows Companies Acting, Planning to Act, on DE&I," "Racial DE&I: Company Initiatives," and "Benchmarking: D&I Pay Metrics" and additional information & resources on our Human Capital/Workforce Management and Racial Equality & Diversity pages.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!