Odgers Berndtson Diversity Dilemmas

Methodology:

During our Diversity Dilemma event, every organisation had the opportunity to present their Dilemma (their specific context, actions carried out to date, and the impact of a successful solution). Participants then “quietstorm” ideas from their own perspective, knowledge, and experience, before deep-diving the solution which the organisation believes will have the greatest impact.

Here we show the second example of dilemmas and solutions from our participating organisations.

Left-aligned Form Header

Form Content - Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

Title: Right-aligned Copy

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque nec metus eget ligula venenatis euismod vel sed risus. Sed dignissim placerat enim, sit amet egestas enim luctus id. Aliquam erat volutpat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque nec metus eget ligula venenatis euismod vel sed risus. Sed dignissim placerat enim, sit amet egestas enim luctus id. Aliquam erat volutpat.

Title: Left Aligned Copy

Dilemma 2: Capturing Employee Data

A UK based professional services organisation want to reach 100% employee disclosure data, they are currently at 85%.

Our Proposed Solutions:

1. Communicate the “why” to employees

Outline "why" the executive team is striving for 100% – collecting this data will enable the organisation to support under represented groups and enable positive action, for example, through targeted recruitment campaigns.
Ensure equity across corporate grades – enable initiatives to be put in place to address this.
Allows organisation to readdress their I&D strategy, are changes happening in the areas of focus? Are adaptations or tweaks required?

2. The data capture process

Explain to employees how the data is captured, how it is stored in an anonymous manner and compliant with GDPR regulations.
Make the process of entering personal data simple, at key moments in the employee lifecycle, for example on joining the organisation, appraisals, or embedding data entry forms before accessing key forms, for example, their pay slip or holiday request. Please always ensure there is an opt out option.

3. Leadership engagement

Ensure the CEO is talking about I&D: why it is important to the organisation? What is the strategy? What is everyone's role?
CEO to communicate what is their data, why they chose to share their protected characteristics, what they hope the difference will be.
Get influencers to run a “This is Me” campaign to encourage others to share their data.

4. Understand the 15% reasons

Explore the reasons why the 15% of employees have not disclosed.
Ask in an anonymous way, what would make you feel more comfortable to share your data? What are your concerns,? What other information do you need to make this important decision?
Executive team to challenge themselves - is the target realistic?

Our Clients Favourite Solution:

The organisation was most interested in the idea of exploring the reasons why employees (the 15%) were not declaring, to put in place actions to understand these and act accordingly.

Watch this space to follow next steps and actions.

This is not an exhaustive list, if you have any suggestions on how to encourage customers/clients to provide their personal information, please email us at [email protected] so we can share in our next newsletter.