Systems, such as organizational talent management systems, are upheld by people and people inherently have biases. In an effort to mitigate the disparities of recruiting, retaining, supporting and promoting staff, the IEDEIA team has conducted research with many organizations, to develop an effective approach to the employee lifecycle.

Ensuring that you have a diverse workforce is foundational to building a culture where everyone diverse voice and perspective can be included, which should be a high priority for all organizations.

While it’s important to focus on individual and organizational needs in talent management, remember that you’re not expected to be an expert on everything. BUT, in order to ensure that your organization delivers equitable practices, focuses on inclusion, including accessibility adjustments creating a toolkit to vital to ensure your talent management processes are inclusive and nurturing.

Create specific talent management STRATEGIES

Having a diverse workforce will be achieved when you incorporate a range of strategies (plural) for the various policies and practices within your HR organization. The strategies you develop will create a roadmap for ensuring your organization is centering equity and inclusion and will be embedded into your overall HR organizational strategy. Think of the entire talent management lifecycle and develop strategies for the following:

• Workforce planning strategy
• Recruitment and selection strategy
• Compensation strategy
• Mentoring and sponsorship strategy
• Training and development strategy
• Performance management strategy
• Promotion strategy
• Retention and succession planning strategy
• Corporate culture and well-being strategy

By taking multiple approaches to embedding equity into your talent management ecosystem, you’ll be sure to create equitable policies and practices that will be inclusive and lead to feelings of belonging. Let’s explore each further:

Workforce planning strategy:

Strategic Workforce Planning is the process of analyzing, forecasting and planning workforce supply and demand, assessing gaps, and determining targeted talent management interventions to ensure that an organization has the right people – with the right skills in the right places at the right time – to fulfill its mandate and strategic objectives.

Determining the strategic direction for your workforce plan involves understanding key mission goals and future objectives set by your organization’s leaders and then determining how to align your workforce needs to achieve the mission and objectives. Review the Workforce analysis section of the HR Strategy Development document to continue this process.

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Recruitment and selection strategy:

Recruitment: To establish diverse teams, a well-defined recruitment policies and processes will mitigate organizational and interpersonal biases and ensure that explicit or implicit biases are filtered. This includes each phase of the recruitment cycle: recruitment planning, candidate sourcing, screening, interviews, reference checks, selection and salary/benefits negotiations.

It’s also important to ensure your recruitment process is accessible by getting the right people into your organization in the first place. Think about what you’re recruiting for, how your job advertisements look, the inclusive language you’re using, and where you’re recruiting. You might also define how you’re letting potential candidates know you’re committed to diversity , equity and inclusion, as well as accessibility. Are you providing potential clients opportunities to get the reasonable accommodations they need during the application and interviewing stage?

As you develop your recruitment strategy, to address potential obstacles to recruitment for a diverse workplace: biases in recruitment planning expectations, biases in sourcing, and biases in the interview process, review the Recruitment tab located within this section.

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Compensation strategy:

This information is located on the pay equity tab in this category. You can view the content here.
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Mentoring and sponsorship strategies

Both mentoring and sponsorship plays an integral part of career development and are great tools for improving organizational culture even in organizations where people already feel connected and supported. Equity recognizes that everyone has had different opportunities and barriers, and then doing the work to provide people with what they need to be successful. To make systems more equitable through mentorship and sponsorship programs, your organization will seek those whose identities have been underserved or undervalued in the workplace.

What’s the difference between mentorship and sponsorship? Mentorship is usually a 1-1 relationship focused on personal and professional growth and is used to promote inclusion. When mentoring programs are effective, they can increase employee’s organizational commitment, decrease turnover rates, enhance recruitment, elevate company performance, create promotion opportunities, and facilitate sharing of knowledge.

Sponsorship is different than mentorship because it advocates for and highlights an employee with advancement potential to an audience they might not have easy access to such as  senior decision makers. Sponsorship is often identified as a key differentiator in creating visibility, overcoming barriers to advancement and gaining opportunities to showcase an employee’s knowledge, skills and abilities.

To develop your mentor and sponsor strategy, review the components here.

Training and development strategy

This information is located on the Training tab in this category. You can view the content here.

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Performance management strategy

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Over the last couple of decades, performance management has gone through an overhaul to make the process more equitable. But despite improvements to the system and process, employees still complain that performance reviews are biased. One survey found that only 29% of employees strongly agree that the performance reviews they receive are fair, and only 26% strongly agree that they are accurate, which has been substantiated. According to SHRM, nearly 90% of HR professionals consider them inaccurate and, when done poorly, performance reviews are subject to cognitive biases. These can include:

• • Recency bias, which is placing too much emphasis on new experiences, whether positive or negative, and not evaluating the experience of the employee’s full year.
  • The halo and horn effect influences the impressions you have of people and can influence the way you feel about them
  • Like me/Similar to me/Affinity bias occurs when you place more positive attributes, or feel more comfortable with people who are more like you
  • Gender prejudices
  • Racial stereotyping

As much as we try to be objective, everybody is biased. (see video “If You have a Brain, you have a Bias), which is why having multiple feedback data points from different people (peers, managers, direct reports) can help provide multiple perspectives for once-a-year review programs. Incorporating frequent feedback conversations with the employee, which will give you more data points, and working to eliminate bias toward a person that reports to a manager, will provide a more equitable outcome.

To create your performance management strategy, visit the performance management tab in this category. You can view the content here.

Promotion strategy

A recent Harvard Business Review survey of over 400,000 U.S. workers uncovered that when employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they are more than twice as likely to give extra effort at work and to plan a long-term future with their company. They are also five times as likely to believe leaders act with integrity. Employees today expect their organization to promote their people in an equitable way. But when they fail to promote people in a fair and equitable way, the organization risks losing talent, lower morale and productivity, and legal actions.

This starts with viewing talent management as a way to identify high-performers from within your current pool of talent. When you minimize biases toward people in your workforce, at every level of your organization and give the equitable opportunities and support strategies to every single one of your employees, people will FEEL they have been given the opportunity to succeed. (See the mentoring and sponsorship strategy.)

A strong promotion strategy is built on understanding and nurturing each person’s potential. To create your promotion strategy, visit the promotion tab in this category. You can view the content here.

Retention and succession planning strategy

Don’t just recruit, retain! You can put all of your energy into attracting and employing diverse talent, but if your organizational culture is not inclusive and welcoming, and processes and programs aren’t equitable, then good talent won’t stay. So it’s important to think bilaterally to both attract and retain your employees. In order to do this you must consider the environment the organization has developed and the culture the people are upholding to determine if it’s actually inclusive.

Succession plans identify future staffing needs and the people with the skills and potential to perform in these future roles. Succession planning strengthens the overall capability of the organization by:

• Identifying critical positions and highlighting potential vacancies;
• Selecting key competencies and skills necessary for business continuity;
• Focusing development of individuals to meet future business needs.

To create your retention and succession planning strategy, visit the retention/succession planning tab in this category. You can view the content here.

Corporate culture and well-being strategy

When leaders operate from a mindset that talent management is not about getting your employees to fit into the mold of one ‘ideal worker’ but to see their role as being responsible for nurturing every employee and ensuring they have an individualized plan for success and that they know they belong. When leaders see the performance management ecosystem as a way to support each individual to achieve their potential in your organization, the outcome will be amazing because people will WANT to be a part of your organization and WANT the organization to succeed. They’ll have ownership of the culture and drive organizational and individual well-being.

Managing talent and supporting wellbeing go hand in hand. Employees who know that their wellbeing is your top priority will feel more confident in bringing their talents to their work. They’ll feel confident in raising concerns about processes, about opportunities and more. When you embed a focus on wellbeing in every stage of your strategy it will provide your employees with an opportunity for themto thrive!

To create your retention and succession planning strategy, visit the retention/succession planning tab in this category. You can view the content here.

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How to identify diverse talent, a step by step guide

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Workforce planning involves analyzing, forecasting and planning your workforce supply and demand, and ensuring you have the proper staffing to meet the goals and mission of your organization. It also includes understanding how the workforce needs to be aligned to achieve those goals and mission. The process of conducting a workforce analysis will help you:

• Analyze your current workforce and predict future needs
• Retrain critical talent
• Identify skills gaps
• Recruit for talent with future needed skills
• Know where to target recruitment efforts

Building equity into your workforce analysis

Representation analysis: To build equity or uncover inequities in your workforce, it’s important to identify employee demographic trends by job type, level, or department. Keeping in mind that diversity is about representation, your analysis is key to understanding what your starting point is and provides an opportunity to measure progress towards diversity goals. This analysis should include:

• Ratio of men to women in each role
• # of each ethnicity/race of people in all roles, including executive roles
• # of disabled people
• # of people that represent other social categories (information provided voluntarily)

Capturing this type of information will help your organization determine if there are any unintended disparities. When there are disparities that are uncovered, the question should be raised, why do these disparities exist? This could be because of your recruiting and hiring practices not having equitable practices built in. (Review information on the recruiting tab)

Diversity benchmarking: involves comparing your internal demographic data to external labor pool data and sources such as U.S. Census or EEO-1 data. This is done to help your organization understand if your current workforce reflects the demographics of the communities you serve or that you work in. Benchmarking helps you identify gaps for your workforce demographics compared to what’s achievable for your industry. This can also help you develop what your workforce could and should look like. Then you’ll be able to set realistic, data-backed representation targets for the organization and your departments.

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Supply Analysis (People)

The first step in the workforce analysis process is the supply analysis phase. In this step you evaluate your current workforce in the following area:

• Job role
• Skill level
• Competencies that have been identified for the job
• Behaviors needed for the role

To further determine if there are any inequities based on social identities, you can gather the following demographic information:

• Race/Ethnicity
  • WHITE: All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.
  • BLACK: All persons having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
  • HISPANIC: All persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American origin, regardless of race.
  • ASIAN or PACIFIC ISLANDER: All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands. This area includes, for example, China, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, and Samoa.
  • AMERICAN INDIAN or ALASKAN NATIVE: All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America, and who maintain cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.
• Age
• Gender
  • Male
  • Female
  • Nonbinary
• Ability status

Examples of additional data types:

• Number and types of employees
• Pay grade
• Salary and benefits
• Competencies
• Workforce diversity (age, gender, race, etc.)
• Location
• Years of service
• Veteran status
• Retirement eligibility
• Turnover data

Questions you want to ask are:

• How many employees are at each organizational level?
• What are your attrition rates? How will turnover affect your organization’s ability to deliver services?
• How well does the current workforce align/support your business strategy?
• What is the current distribution of employee years of service?
• How much of your workforce will be retirement eligible in the coming years? Are these individuals in leadership/mission critical/hard to fill positions?

• How many employees are at each organization level?
• How will turnover of key staff affect your organization’s ability to deliver services?
• Where are my difficult positions to fill? Where am I challenged to fill positions with quality applicants?
• Are there local recruitment sources that can provide top talent?
• What new ways of working or skill mix would aid in recruitment?
• Can the workforce be arranged differently to better facilitate workload coverage?
• What is the current distribution of employee years of service?

• What are the costs of replacing talent internally vs. externally?

Conducting this analysis of your current workforce will help you understand how the projected changes in your organization might impact your ability to serve your clients or support the products you sell.

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Demand analysis (Work and workload)

In this step you forecast the needs of your organization’s workforce to prepare for the changing needs of the workload and/or knowledge, skills and abilities. needs by the company as well as changes in the level of staffing. Conducting a demand analysis allows your organization to provide the required supply to maintain balance in performing work processes. To do this your leaders must determine the amount and type of work each department and individual currently handles AND anticipate what the department  workload will be at a specific point in the future. This information will be used to project the number of staff resources (headcount and skills) needed to perform work in various job functions.

Questions to consider

• What is your organization/department short-term and long-term strategy?
• Identify your expected service and/or program changes over the next 1-3 years.
• Based on these changes, What will drive these changes?
• How are customer demands expected to change? (Increase, decrease, shift priorities?)
• What workload changes will this cause? Will this cause an expansion or reduction in your workforce?

• How many people does it take to accomplish the work performed in the department?

• Which skills and education will be needed for the changes in service or product offerings?
• Are job functions and competencies changing?
• Will you have the ability to train and upskill current staff?
• What technological enhancements will impact the number of people needed to serve your clients or produce your offering?
• What technology enhancement will impact the level of skill needed to serve your clients or produce your offering?
• How will you ensure equity in the process?

• What will the units of measurement be?
• Is this anticipated to change in the future due to efficiency enhancements, or program changes?
• Based on the strategic plan (or other projection of work), how much work is anticipated per year?

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Examples of workload metrics:

• Services provided
• Listing key tasks
• Programs offered
• Duplication of tasks
• Quotas to fill
• Priority of key tasks
• Units to produce
• Amount of time spent on tasks

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Gap Analysis

Depending on your particular supply and demand analysis, you could have workforce gaps in different areas such as skills, competencies, staff numbers, location, occupations, etc. This step uncovers gaps relative to the supply and demand of your workforce. You will also determine which have the greatest impact on your organization and your people, and determine the priority of each.

Questions to consider:

• What gaps do you see between your workforce supply and workforce demand data?
• What impact will each gap have on performance?
• Which gaps are most critical to meet your strategic goals?
• Which gap should you address first?

Common types of workforce gaps:

• Competency gap – Current staff doesn’t have the knowledge, skills or abilities needed to accomplish the work that is required.
• Staffing level – Current staffing levels exceeds or does not meet the required workload demand.

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As organizations begin to understand and place importance on building and sustaining diverse teams, diversity recruitment has become a high priority. But, many organizations place emphasis only on achieving diversity hiring goals so they have representation of all social identities. But we caution you that this practice is not the goal of having an equitable process that results in a diverse and inclusive workforce. That methodology is only performative at best and does nothing to retain the underrepresented talent you may hire. As you look at your overall talent management strategy, retention, performance monitoring, management and employee engagement are also part of the strategies you will employ.

Recruitment best practices

Keep in mind that your recruitment strategy is not just about the numbers of diverse people, but also about creating equity in the process to ensure you’re identifying and selecting the right talent. Implement changes in your hiring process to inclusive approaches to building your workforce can include the following best practices:

Attract a wide pool of applicants using inclusive language in job descriptions

According to Glassdoor, 67% of job seekers said that a diverse workforce is an important factor when choosing an employer. Attracting candidates from diverse experiences, identities, and personalities can be a daunting task for the best of recruiters. Inclusive language consists of words, terms and phrases that communicate a respect for diversity, sensitivity to differences among people from various backgrounds, and equitable opportunities for all people. While writing an inclusive job description can bring undeniable benefits to your business, reports show that over 80% of companies are merely going through the motions, without actually holding themselves accountable to DEI policy. HR professionals have been through a lot, and the temptation to put DEI on autopilot is very real. But no matter how fancy or feature-packed your cloud-based recruiting solution, there’s no amount of HR technology that can do this for you. Here are some ways to keep your message authentic:

• Use inclusive language everywhere. Your advertising, website, internal documentation, etc.
• Provide internal training to communicate your values and expectations around DEI. Provide additional performance management checks to ensure your managers uphold these values.
• Understand the impact of DEI beyond the legal ramifications. Don’t just lean on HR to mediate.
• Ask for feedback and actively listen to what your team has to say.
• Practice what you preach. Set inclusion goals, focusing heavily on diverse groups and leadership development.

So, how do you actually write an inclusive job description? Start by defining the guidelines you’ll use as a company.

1. Create an inclusive style guide for your company

Using the right terms in your everyday speech can promote inclusive language not just in your job descriptions, but within your entire company culture. While it’s up to every organization to decide which specific guidelines they want to uphold, there are some general rules you may want to keep in mind as you begin to create your inclusive language style guide. Here’s an overview of some of the words to avoid in your job descriptions, along with some inclusive alternatives to consider.

Parental Status:

When it comes to parental terms, male or female, be careful when discussing things such as “baby brain” or emphasizing the amount of time taken off during maternity or paternity leave.

• Use “parents / guardians” instead of “mother / father”
• Use “parenting” instead of “mothering / fathering”

Disability:

Keep in mind, not all disabilities are visible. The biggest point here is to make sure that your language around disability never implies that someone is weak or unable to do their job.

• Use “people with disabilities” instead of “the disabled / handicapped”
• Use “people without disabilities” instead of “able bodied / normal”
• Use “people who are blind” instead of “the blind”

Gender & Orientation:

Inclusive language around gender and orientation can help empower women and members of the LGBTQ community. Some companies are electing to have employees include their elective pronouns in email signatures to normalize the conversation, and provide an inclusive environment for everyone.

• Use “everyone” instead of “ladies and gentlemen’
• Use “partners / spouses” instead of “husband / wife”
• Use “sexual orientation / sexuality” instead of “sexual preference”
• Use “trans person / transgender” instead of “transvestite”
• Use “transitioning” instead of “sex change”
• Use “gay / lesbian / bisexual” instead of “homosexual”

Race:

Using adjectives rather than nouns is a good practice when speaking about race. Try to avoid racially-coded terms.

• Use “underrepresented groups” instead of “minorities”
• Use “other racial groups / people of color” instead of “colored people”
• Use “people from overseas” instead of “foreigners”

Neurodivergent:

There’s a bit of back and forth on the term “neurodivergent” possibly being an ableist term within the community. Though many continue to use “neurodiverse / neurodivergent”, it’s best to address individual ailments specifically where relevant.

• Use “ADHD / autistic / dyslexic, etc.” instead of “neurodivergent”
• Use “strengths and weaknesses” instead of “superpowers / disabilities”

2. Avoid gender-coded language

Words matter! It’s hard to believe something as small as a word can affect not only the number of applications a company can receive, but also who will apply. Some of the most foundational research on gender-coded language reveals that seemingly harmless terms can leave people feeling excluded. Here are some common gender-coded words to avoid:

• Active
• Aggressive
• Challenging
• Dominant
• Fearless
• Headstrong
• Compassionate
• Considerate
• Interpersonal
• Polite

The next time you sit down to write or edit your job descriptions for your ideal candidate, try this free gender decoder or scan the list of gender-coded words to make sure you’re not accidentally letting gender bias creep in. Tools like Textio and UnbiasMe can also help.

3. Remove jargon and offensive language

Most of the time, much of the bias that we see occurs on an unconscious level. When writing your job descriptions, you may want to minimize or avoid using industry jargon that isn’t completely relevant to the role, and take extra care to avoid using terms that may insult or alienate members of marginalized communities. If you’re not sure you’re using the right words, you can check out this great resource – The Conscious Style Guide.

CASE STUDY: Facebook’s non-gendered technical job description

Filling technical roles – like hiring developers – has been identified as being biased against women. Facebook does a great job of referring to the candidate in terms of the position. Even though the term “he” was once considered to also be gender-neutral, using terms such as “manager” and “individual” instead of “he / she” is a great example of inclusive language that can appeal to candidates of all genders.

4. Highlight inclusive benefits and accommodations

Another way to make your job postings more inclusive is to offer the perks and benefits that matter most to different groups of candidates. Consider including financial and work/life balance benefits like benefits coverage for domestic partners, parental leave for both men and women, environments and workspaces for neurodiverse talent and people with disabilities.

CASE STUDY: Xylem’s perks-driven inclusive job description

You can research the inclusive job listings from water technology provider Xylem lists the perks of the job, including access to employee networks that provide internal support for diversity and inclusion. They begin with ensuring that every applicant understands how important inclusion is to them and the culture of their organization.

They include various social identities they want to attract into their job descriptions. As an example, their jobs show when you type “LGBT” into Indeed’s search bar because they’ve included social identities that will attract various communities of people. If a potential candidate were actively looking for a company that was supportive of their community, a job listing like this one would be much easier for them to find.

5. Include an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) or fair hiring statement on your website and your job application.

Equal Employment Opportunity is the legally protected right of all people to work and progress based on merit, abilities and potential — and free from discrimination based on race, sex, age, religion, national origin, disability, or veteran status. EVERY EEO statement needs to include the following sentence:

• “[Company name] is an equal opportunity employer.”

And by law, employers must also guarantee that every job listing includes a statement of non-discriminatory practices. But when it comes to creating an inclusive job description, this is just the start. Consider incorporating language that highlights your commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in your EEO statement by adding inclusive terms and phrases such as:

• Mutual respect
• Inclusive environment
• Celebrate diversity
• Free of discrimination and harassment
• Assistance or accommodation due to a disability

CASE STUDY: Google’s EEO statement comes with an ‘Accommodations for Applicants form’

Google optimizes its EOO statement for inclusivity by encouraging applicants to fill out an ‘Accommodations for Applicants’ form, which shows that they are committed to providing a safe space for people with disabilities and other special considerations.

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Eliminate unnecessary and arbitrary job requirements

Inclusive descriptions also omit arbitrary job requirements such as years of experience, education and skills that can be learned on the job or do not have relevance to the tasks the potential employee will be performing. In place of subjective job requirements focus on the outcomes the candidate should achieve opposed to requirements. For example, instead of 10 years of experience as a Marketing Manager, your job requirements can state “experience designing and implementing successful marketing campaigns”. You will need to begin to ask yourself, what skills does having 10 years of experience in a specific area, as opposed to 5 years guarantee. The answer might be none. The change from arbitrary to outcome-focused job requirements encourages candidates with similar skills, but different experiences to apply.

Expand where you currently identify potential talent

You might ask employees for referrals, post a position through your alma mater, or share job postings within your network. To attract a diverse candidate pool, you want to go beyond traditional attraction methods and the networks you are in. Posting job opportunities to diverse professional networks and job boards allows recruiters to reach beyond their network and attract candidates with different experiences.

Create an equitable and inclusive environment during the interview

Interviews are spaces in which even the best recruiters can struggle with prioritizing candidate qualifications over personal preferences. Similar to application review, as recruiters learn more about a candidate’s identity, personality, and lifestyle, their unconscious biases can lead them to choose a candidate they prefer over a candidate that is qualified.

There are practices organizations can implement in the hiring process to tackle biases. Within this process, recruiters should consider using a candidate scorecard, standardizing the interview process, leveraging multiple interviewers, and communicating their DEI commitment in interviews.

• Standardize the interview process

A standardized interview process is a practice in which organizations mirror the interview process for each candidate. Every candidate is asked the same questions and allocated the same amount of time. A standardized interview process not only helps streamline conversations, but also levels the playing field for all candidates being interviewed.

• Use an interview rubric

Another Interview scorecards are rubrics in which recruiters grade all candidate responses against a predetermined scale. Iris Bohnet, Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, says, the goal of an interview is for the “interview to become a third independent data point”, where interviewers are able to objectively further assess the candidate after the initial screening process. These scorecards allowed for all interviewees to be fairly assessed against one another.

• Run dual interviews

A practice to further combat bias is to run dual interviews. In dual interviews, a candidate is interviewed by two recruiters, using the same questions and scorecard. The two interviewers or a third party would then review the scorecards to determine which candidates are successful. The goal of dual interviews is to complete objective evaluations of candidates and ensure the scores provided reflect the candidates true contributions. What might be a bias for one interviewer, may not be in another. In comparing the two scorecards, an organization can arrive at one source of truth.

In the interview, it is valuable for interviewers to illustrate company culture. This might include speaking about the organization’s DEI goals, mission statement, and core values. By introducing the organization’s culture to candidates, recruiters or interviewers can stimulate a genuine interest and response from the candidate, but also create expectations on both parties’ behalf.

• Provide accommodations for people living with disabilities

You will also want to identify the need and provide accommodations for people living with a disability. You will want to offer this to all applicants since all applicants since you will not know if there is a need, then explain who applicants should contact if they need accommodations during the application process. This individual or department should be available through multiple channels of communication such as phone and email. Prepare yourself for the accommodations that may be requested throughout the hiring process. Some accommodations people may request before interviews include:

• Advance copies of interview questions
• An American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter
• A quiet setting
• Interview scheduled during a time of day when the applicant is most focused or best able to communicate
• Location suitable for someone using a mobility device

There are also accessibility communication methods and various styles that may provide a environment for people living with disabilities to interview best. This might include speechreading, use of hearing aids, understanding straightforward language as opposed to figures of speech, not making eye contact or using Augmentative or Alternative Communication devices.

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EQUAL PAY ANALYSIS CHECKLIST

The Equal Pay Act requires men and women in the same workplace to be compensated with equal pay for equal or substantially similar work. However, the analysis is more complicated than comparing job titles. Instead, employers must look at job duties and determine if employees are tasked with “substantially equal” duties.

Employers must also keep in mind that equal pay encompasses far more than an employee’s base salary. Total compensation is examined for pay equality, including overtime pay, bonuses, stock options, profit sharing and bonus plans, life insurance, vacation and holiday pay, cleaning or gasoline allowances, hotel accommodations, reimbursement for travel expenses, and medical benefits.

The purpose of this checklist is to provide employers with a roadmap for planning and conducting an equal pay analysis. Keep in mind that conducting an equal pay analysis under state laws can involve different criteria than the federal standards.

Step 1: Creating a plan

Determine who should be involved in the analysis process and who can access employee databases and personnel files, with knowledge of relevant pay and grading arrangements and how these have changed over time. Legal counsel: partner with internal and/or external legal counsel and implement a privilege protocol to minimize the risk that the analysis and the discussions concerning the analysis become discoverable in litigation.

Set expectations

• Recognize and communicate to team members and senior management that an equal pay analysis is not a simple
  data collection exercise.
• Utilize the analysis team to plan and budget sufficient human and financial resources to effectively conduct and complete the analysis.
• Secure the backing of senior leadership. Many employers believe they are providing equal pay and do not expect an analysis to reveal inequalities. Ensure senior management has realistic expectations about the possibility that changes in pay may be necessary.

Determine the scope of the analysis

• Is it gender only?
• Does it include other protected classes such as race or ethnicity?

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Step 2: Collecting data – the initial collection should include the following

Each job, or job category, should be analyzed for:

• Job Level – Employers compare employees’ levels and the level at which they are compensated.
• Job Description – What is the role and responsibilities of all employees at the job level? What is the experience needed or the education needed?
• Hire date
• Gender – This will help you understand if there are any unintended disparities based on gender.
• Protected class identifiers such as race or ethnicity
• Job location – different geographic locations and their cost of living is often taken into consideration when determining pay.
• Total hours worked by each employee over the past 52 weeks
• Total compensation data – including overtime pay, bonuses, stock options, profit sharing and bonus plans, life insurance, vacation and holiday pay, and perks (e.g., travel and entertainment expenses, medical and insurance benefits)

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Step 3: Determining where men and women are doing equal or substantially similar work

Review job descriptions and job titles, interview managers and update job descriptions as necessary:

• Do the job titles and job descriptions accurately reflect the duties, experience, skills, education and training required
  to do the job?
• Do they accurately reflect the degree of responsibility and accountability required of the job?
• Do they accurately reflect the amount of physical or mental exertion necessary to perform the job?
• Do the job descriptions accurately reflect the physical surroundings in which the job is performed (e.g. temperature, ventilation, fumes, hazards, etc.)?

Determine pay analysis groups:

• Group employees by those who perform equal or substantially similar work.
• One place to start may be with existing major job categories or groupings of workers used by the organization such as job grades and levels, job families or wage and hour classification.
• Factors to examine in determining appropriate pay analysis groups include:
  • Skill: the duties, experience, skills, education and training required to do the job
  • Responsibility: the degree of responsibility and accountability required of the job
  • Effort: the amount of physical or mental exertion necessary to perform the job.
  • Working conditions: the physical surroundings in which the job is performed (e.g. temperature, ventilation, fumes, hazards, etc.).

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Step 4: Analyzing pay data by job grouping

Calculate the average total pay for each job grouping  There are many ways to calculate average earnings.

• Using the median as a measure of average earnings tends to be less affected by a small number of extremely high earners (which can skew the distribution of earnings).
• Using the mean can help capture differences across the distribution.

Calculate the difference between the total pay of women and men (or other categories) for each job grouping, then identify compensation disparities and determine whether disparities warrant a more sophisticated statistical analysis, such as a multiple regression analysis.

Coordinating with counsel in any outsourced statistical analysis may allow you to assert attorney client or work product privileges

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Step 5: Examine the causes of gender pay differences

Investigate why compensation disparities exist. Drill down on disparities to find the root cause. For example, if all upper-level managers are males, consider which jobs feed into those positions and determine whether females are included in those positions and are promotable. If the composition of the feeder suggests that there should be more women in some positions, a claim could be made that females are channeled into lower-paying, less prestigious jobs.

Determine whether there is a legitimate, legal reason for the disparity such as seniority; merit; quantity or quality of production, sales or revenue; or job-related education, training or experience. and it’s important to note that what constitutes a legitimate or legal justification for differences in pay varies under federal and state laws.

What are common root causes of pay inequities?

The four most common causes of the pay gap and how your company can address each of them.

1. Pay inequity

“Pay gaps” are not the same as “pay inequities.” It’s important to know the difference and measure both. When groups of employees who do substantially similar work are paid differently due to their gender, race, or ethnicity, that’s a pay inequity. When those inequities are not completely accounted for by differences due to neutral, job-related policies or practices, the pay inequities often require more attention.

If left unaddressed, pay inequity issues may lead to serious legal and brand risks. Not only do pay disparities negatively impact employees in their current roles but also inequities often compound over time, creating even larger disparities in wealth accumulation.

Pay inequity often isn’t the biggest driver of a company’s pay gap — and, in fact, some organizations can solve their pay inequity issues but may still have a persistent “all up” pay gap (more on that issue below). But, addressing this is where many organizations start in their efforts to close the pay gap and simultaneously address other important concerns.

That’s because pay inequity is entirely within the company’s control and is relatively easy to solve, assuming the company has the budget to increase compensation for underpaid employees. Plus, new pay equity analysis technology is giving compensation teams even more control over pay equity so they can incorporate fair pay into every employment decision.

2. Opportunity inequity

Another cause of the pay gap is unequal access to opportunities. When underrepresented groups of employees don’t have equal access to jobs, promotions, opportunities to collaborate on certain projects, and other forms of advancement, it hinders their chances of moving into higher-paying roles.

This leaves companies with a lack of representation at the highest levels of the business and also has a long-term negative impact on employees’ earning potential. This is exactly the situation referenced above; it’s how an organization that’s addressed the pay inequity problem could still have a persistent pay gap issue.

Similar to pay equity, opportunity equity is also largely within an organization’s control. To improve opportunity equity, companies must evaluate their recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and promotion policies and ensure they are consistently enforced for all employees and candidates.

The good news is that solving this problem is increasingly within reach. Emerging technology is helping companies:

• Analyze their current representation across departments and levels
• Determine what their representation should look like based on available talent
• Take the right steps to achieve optimal representation goals on an appropriate timeline

3. Pay differentials across functions

Pay differentials among different functions are another contributing factor to the pay gap. For example, IT employees (traditionally male-dominated) may be paid more than HR employees (traditionally female). While function-based pay differentials are typically informed by talent market dynamics, company policy does play a role.

When there are significant gender imbalances across functions, it’s useful to evaluate whether and why the organization ascribes appropriate value for the outputs of the work performed. Question whether “gendered jobs” are valued differently and if those justifications are valid — not from the perspective of what the work is worth on the external labor market but internally, relative to other functional outputs.

One way companies can start to de-gender jobs with persistent imbalances is by evaluating how they’re recruiting employees into the various functions. Are you using inclusive language in job descriptions? Are you promoting the job opening through job boards and organizations that have access to diverse talent pools? Does your organization offer sufficiently robust resources to ensure that there are opportunities to move laterally or upskill to new roles? These may seem like small adjustments, but they can have a big impact on diversity in your organization over time.

4. Employee-driven factors

There are some employee-driven factors that contribute to the pay gap (so called “labor supply effects”) — and while these aren’t fully within a company’s control, there are things you can do to address the problem.

For example, in some cases, women may be offered jobs or promotions at the same rates as men. But women may self-select out of offered opportunities (i.e., declining promotions) at a higher rate than men. Many companies observed this happening due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We saw record numbers of women and people of color leaving the workplace at higher rates than other groups, or otherwise bearing a disproportionate share of the increased burdens of kids being home all day for “zoom schooling” and related changes.

Additionally, some companies may draw in more men or white people due to how their industry or company brand is perceived. In this scenario, it’s important to partner with corporate branding teams in working to change these public perceptions. That is not an easy task, but it is important if this perception is going to change.

If your organization begins to see trends like this, it’s critical to try and understand why. By digging further into what’s driving the pattern, you may find opportunities to build in more inclusive policies, such as parental leave or on-site daycare, to address those issues.

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Step 6: Developing an action plan

• Partner with legal counsel to minimize the risk documents created in developing the plan are discoverable
• Determine how and when disparities will be remedied
  Note that employers are not permitted to lower the compensation of the higher paid gender to correct the disparity.
• Consider employee relations issues related to compensation changes and create a communications plan
• Secure senior management buy in and approval

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Performance management can be defined as the overall communication process between managers and employees that is centered on planning, observing, and reviewing the employee’s system of carrying out job duties. Your performance management strategy should include:

• Goal setting
• Performance monitoring
• Feedback loops
• Employee performance evaluation and appraisals
• Compensation

Below are steps to help you build an equitable performance management plan:

Lay the right foundation

Asking yourself the following questions will help you lay the right foundation for your performance management plan:

• What are the main objectives of the plan?
• How do you define equity in performance management?
• How will you incorporate the recognition of peoples’ unique disparities?
• How will you provide relevant support for overcoming barriers people face?
• How can the carrying out of the plan be made to blend in with daily work assignments?
• How does each part contribute to the success of the company as a whole?
• How can you develop a practical reward system?

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Involve the Employees in the Process

Incorporating your employees’ points of view in the performance management plan and inviting them to be involved in decision-making creates a sense of ownership and belonging for the employees. You can do this by either writing the plan and then ask employees to review it, or by having selected people involved in the process from the beginning.

Evaluate current performance management policies and practices to uncover potential inequities

Information coming soon

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Set SMARTIE Goals for Performance Management

Each member ought to work with their direct manager to set S.M.A.R.T goals. You can also use our SMARTIE goal worksheet to develop your goals. Goals are measurable as much as they are precise. Goals should be set at the organizational level as well as for departments and individuals.

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Build a System of Employee Feedback

To have a fair scale to grade employees’ performance it’s important to not only get the assessment of your managers, but also that of the employees also. Building a culture of employee feedback throughout the year in a two-way communication approach, will help the employee address any biases they believe is in the performance monitoring process and minimize surprises in performance at the review time. If done well, this system will have your employees bring their work to you for evaluation throughout the year, not just once a year. The three main qualities that you can build your ongoing performance review and feedback system on are Quality of work, Quantity of work, and Interpersonal skills.

Helping your staff learn the value of and providing them the skills to  give and receive respectful feedback will help enhance the company culture. It’s equally important to create an environment where your staff feels comfortable sharing this information, especially when they may have made a mistake, or have a questions about how to complete a task, need guidance, or want to provide feedback to a leader. This is called psychological safety. To learn more review the video on psychological safety.

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Build equity into your disciplinary actions

When disciplinary actions are needed, it’s important that they are approached in a fair manner that aligns with the disciplinary policy. If a progressive performance management (disciplinary) policy doesn’t exist, then it allows for individual manager’s biases to creep in. To ensure consistency of disciplinary actions many organizations follow a standard process which they’ve documented as part of their HR strategy. BUT . . . this is only helpful if the bias in decision making has not influenced WHO is being disciplined. For example: if a manager has a bias against employees who have heavy accents, it would lead them to having negative thoughts about the employee’s performance, which in turn could lead to disciplinary actions. So this must be addressed FIRST. Once your has uncovered their own biases, acknowledged them, and is working to eliminate them, there still could be bias in your disciplinary process.

The progression of steps incorporates a fair and reasonable opportunity to be successful before further disciplinary action is imposed.

1. Verbal Counseling/Coaching Conversations (Non-Disciplinary)

Timely counseling/coaching by the immediate supervisor is the initial step to mentor or coach performance improvement. The immediate supervisor should consult with a Human Resources Representative or Employee and Labor Relations Representative and make a checklist of items to address in a subsequent in-person meeting with the employee.

The checklist should include the following items and the meeting should address each as follows:

• Confirm or clarify expectations regarding expected behavior, performance or conduct.
• Identify and explain the specific performance deficit or behavioral concern. Be clear if you are discussing a potential situation and clarifying expectations or if you are asserting that a specific behavior problem in fact happened. If asserting that a specific action occurred, you will need to share the information on which your assertion is based.
• Invite and allow opportunity for feedback/input from employee.
• Provide a timeline and benchmarks, as well as resources for improvement (e.g. restatement of expectations, training resources, checklists, weekly feedback etc.).  In the case of misconduct, immediate change should be expected.
• State that failure to improve may lead to further action on the part of the supervisor.
• Document conversation in the supervisory/management notes or file. Do not include it in the employee’s official personnel file.

1. Progressive Disciplinary Steps

Formal disciplinary action will typically begin after thorough and thoughtful counseling is completed and the employee has been given opportunity to demonstrate improved performance or lack thereof. The goal of progressive discipline is to place the employee on notice so that he/she understands that performance improvement is essential for continued employment. The progressive discipline also should state and/or clarify what is the appropriate level or form of performance.

The severity of discipline should increase with the repetition or seriousness of the violation. Formal disciplinary action usually begins at the lowest step in the progressive discipline process necessary to correct the performance deficiency or behavior. Employers should expect to use multiple corrective actions before suspending or terminating an employee.

At each disciplinary step, just cause to impose discipline must be established. The appropriate level of discipline administered by the employer must reasonably be related to the seriousness of the employee’s current offense. Employers should also consider the policies violated, and the nature and extent of the infractions when applying progressive discipline.

1. Determining Whether There is “Just Cause” for Discipline.

There should be just cause for the imposition of disciplinary action. “Just cause” means a legitimate business reason, such as wrongdoing or misconduct by the employee that gives the employer the right to discipline or terminate the employee. In other words, the disciplinary action is not arbitrary. Some questions that will aid in determining whether just cause exists include:

Did the employer have reasonable basis to conclude that a policy violation occurred and/or the employee’s job performance was unsatisfactory?

• Was the policy and/or performance expectation reasonable? Did the employee have knowledge of the expectation and potential consequences for non-compliance?
• Was the investigation fair, timely and objective? Was the investigation completed prior to making any decision related to discipline?
• Were the employee’s rights afforded to him/her during the investigatory process?
• Was the level of proof gained through the investigation sufficient for the action contemplated?

If the answer to the first question is yes, what factors support the disciplinary decision as being appropriate in nature and severity?

• Has the employer applied disciplinary penalties consistently for similar offenses and without protected class discrimination?
• Were other relevant factors considered in determining the level of disciplinary action, e.g. employee work history, impact of the offense/error, mitigating and/or aggravating factors, potential for future success, etc.?

1. Investigation and Notice of Discipline

The immediate supervisor is expected to consult a Human Resources Representative or an Employee and Labor Relations Representative before conducting an investigation or taking action. If management establishes that just cause exists, the employee should be presented with a formal Notice of Discipline.

The Notice of Discipline should contain the following elements:

• Describe how management’s expectations were previously communicated to the employee, i.e., initial onboarding, subsequent counseling sessions, etc.
• Describe previous efforts to correct the performance/behavior (e.g., prior formal discipline)
• Describe the most recent event(s) warranting the current discipline
• The rule/policy violated
• The level of discipline being imposed
• Notice that continued failure to meet expectations or comply with rules/policies may result in further discipline, up to and including termination
• Signatures of supervisory authority and the date the discipline was imposed.

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Conducting exit interviews

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Exit interviews are a valuable tool to help you better understand employee turnover by helping you uncover why employees leave, gather honest feedback and highlight any trends in organizational culture (positive, neutral and negative). They can also help you understand if your policies and practices are not agreeable to your employees and need revising. You can identify if employees have concerns about specific management behaviors that might lead to feelings of exclusion or negatively impact the company culture and feelings of belonging.  Lastly, it can feed you quantitative and qualitative data on how to improve retention.

BUT, exit interviews can strike fear into the leaving employee (even though they’re heading out the door) as well as the employer. But, if you craft the right exit interview questions and create a comfortable environment for them to be open and comfortable, it provides you with a great opportunity to learn.

If an employee agrees to an exit interview (and they have every right to decline), make sure that it adds value to the employee experience and your company. Carefully consider what information you want from an exit interview and how you’ll use it. Also, remember that the information you’re receiving from the employee is valuable and they’re doing you a favor by providing you with honest feedback. So, craft the interview in a way that shows your gratitude, and keep your exit interview questions on-topic.

Crafting your exit interview questions?

If you just have a generic list of questions, you’re not likely to get ex-employees to provide you with much detail. That’s why it’s important to craft your exit interview questions to uncover EXACTLY what you want to know. And not only should your exit interview questions should be well thought out and directed at the specific employee who’s leaving, while incorporating their  specific  circumstances. Exit interview questions aren’t a one-size-fits-all, as there are many conditional factors that should play a role in choosing your questions. Some questions for exit interview questions are broad, but others narrow down to gain insight into specific topics.

These include:

• Reason for leaving
• Job responsibilities
• Pay and compensation
• Job satisfaction
• Management
• Team or colleagues
• Work environment and culture
• Organization as a whole

Examples of exit interview questions for all staff

As you customize any of the questions below, just remember that your employee who has chosen to leave might still could be a little guarded because they don’t want to jeopardize the possibility of being rehired. There could be an underlying fear that saying too much could result in poor past employment references further down the line.

Exit interview questions for general staff

• What was the motivation for you to re-enter the job market? Or what prompted you to search for another opportunity?
  
  This helps you understand why your employee started “looking around” for a new role. It can also help you identify if there are patterns to why people leave the organization.
• What were the best and least desirable parts of your role? The organization?
  
  The employee’s response will help identify what future candidates and current employees may enjoy or dislike about the role and the organization. This can help you set the right expectations for the position.
• How much of your decision was motivated by money? How much was motivated by the workplace environment? Please provide examples.

This question will help you understand the employee’s motivation. If salary was the problem, is there any movement in the budget? However, if the workplace was the problem, ask more questions to get a deeper understanding of why.

• Did you get the tools, resources, and support you needed to succeed in your role here? Follow-up question: What improvements would you consider that we might be able to make?
  The first question is a simple yes or no response and should be used as quantitative data. should be elaborated on. The follow-up question provides the insight you need to make it actionable.

• Were you given adequate training to keep your skills updated, or for new responsibilities?This question will highlight your career progression and personal development strategies. If there’s a problem, it could lead to dissatisfaction.

• Did your role evolve from your original job description and were you happy with that? Follow up by asking them to explain.
  The first question will provide a quantitative result if you prompt them to respond yes or no. This will help you understand if the employee felt they were given tasks that weren’t a part of their job description and was too much workload. The follow up question will help you to think about actionable strategies to avoid this in the future?

• Did you ever feel that you couldn’t cope with the volume of your workload?In 2021, burnout was the leading reasonwhy employees quit their job. So, if the answer is “yes”, proactively asking other employees how they feel can help you put an intervention strategy in place.

• Do you feel the culture and environment of the organization was psychologically safe and you were able to let your thoughts be heard without fear of repercussions? Were you able to give management feedback and feel they listened?Psychological safety is a keen reason your staff doesn’t feel included. When their voices aren’t taken into consideration, especially in decisions that impact them, or when they identify improvement opportunities or concerns, they feel dismissed.

• Did you get regular feedback? Was there effective performance management?Having a lack of feedback – be that positive or negative – can be frustrating. Especially when it’s asked for and not provided. This is made worse when something goes wrong but could have been prevented by performance management and/or feedback.
• Was feedback, in general, more positive, neutral or negative?
  
  Many leaders only give feedback to employees when there is something negative or developmental the employee needs to adjust. BUT, it’s important to balance feedback to keep up employee morale. You can also ask a follow up question to understand if their goals were clear.

• Did you ever face any overwhelming challenge because of a lack of support? Follow up question, please explain the situation and what support was lacking.If an employee feels the work they are given is impossible because of lack of support, this needs immediate attention. In order for employees to be successful, feel included and a sense of belonging, support is mandatory.

• Were you given the authority and autonomy to meet your responsibilities and succeed?
  
  Being micromanaged is incredibly frustrating and can cause an employee to leave. Employers need to feel a sense of trust that they’ll get the job done, and this trust diminishes when they’re not allowed the freedom to complete a task without high levels of intervention.
• Were you given recognition and acknowledgment for your contributions?Employees need to feel recognized for their efforts. That’s not to say you should go overboard – that then becomes a little forced. However, better to go for too much than too little. Not having any acknowledgment for their efforts can cause a trace of bitterness. They’ve worked hard for the development of your company, and even if they are being paid for it, they deserve gratitude.
• Was there anything about your job responsibilities that could have been changed?
  
  The answer to this exit interview question will map out areas of a role that need working on.
• Was there a clear career development path mapped out and discussed with you?People must feel that their role has a path of progression to walk down. If they feel they’re stuck at the same level for the rest of their working lives, their ambition is not being considered.
• How did you experience the workplace environment?The workplace environment will reflect the company culture. If there are any issues with team members, this may be reflected here.

• Was communication, collaboration, and teamwork encouraged?
  
  These 3 concepts will show how big a role teamwork plays within the organization. If the answer is “no”, then it’s best to hold a training session and monitor its impact.
• Was the environment in your department and in the company inclusive?
  
  Inclusion plays a huge role in employees feeling that they are cared for, their voices are heard and that they belong. If the answer is “no”. Ask for more details.
• Is our company culture true to how we promote our employer brand?If the company’s culture doesn’t reflect the organization’s brand, employees will feel they’ve been tricked over time, and your turnover rate will reflect this.
• Did you ever feel intimidated or threatened by any colleagues or management?This exit interview question reveals a lot about your company’s safety (physically or psychologically). However, ONLY ASK THIS QUESTION at an exit interview if there have not been any reported violations reassure the employee that their response will not be attributed to them personally and ask for full details.
• Were there any actions in your department or the company that made you feel uncomfortable?Same rationale as the previous question. Make sure you stress confidentiality, show empathy and understanding, and demonstrate no judgment.
• Was workplace safety a concern for you at any stage?Company safety is crucial for employees. It’s a basic human right. If they’re attending your office and they don’t feel safe, there’s a very real chance that others feel that way, too. Turnover rate aside, this needs to be addressed as a matter of importance.
• Was morale good with your colleagues/department?Is there a sense of negativity looming in the department? If so, you need to get to the bottom of it. No one wants to work in a negative atmosphere.
• How do you think we improve the working environment in your department/the company?The answer to this exit interview question will be incredibly useful if patterns begin to emerge. Even as an individual answer, assessing the changes they recommend will be a good use of your time, as they’ll be demonstrating changes that emerged from a very clear problem they experienced.
• Are our company policies and procedures easily accessible and user-friendly?Company policies can be hard to understand, hard to locate or not accessible unless requested. If that’s the case with your organization, you should reassess their impact.

• How did working here improve your skills, experience, and career prospects, if at all?The answer to this exit interview question will show the employee’s satisfaction with the job role and progression opportunities. If “no”, it’s important to ask for specific feedback. Then, you can take their points on board and make changes.
• What did you enjoy most about working here?You can learn a lot about your employee’s experiences by asking what they did enjoy. Plus, they’ll be far more likely to open up as it’s a positive question. You can follow up with “what would’ve made you like enjoy it even more?” It simply adds to that positive framing of the previous question.
• Would you refer a friend or family member to work for us? Would you recommend us as an employer of choice?This is the same as the Net Promoter Score. Employee recommendations should play a role in your hiring process. If the answer is “no”, you can ask a follow up question to understand why.
• How can we improve the employee experience and engagement?Specific feedback with open questions gives you greater things to work on. The employee experience may need clarifying, so be sure to provide some examples.
• Would you ever consider working for our company again?A simple “yes” or “no” answer will reveal the employee’s experience. Ask for elaboration on either end. If “yes”, ask what changes would need to take place for this to happen. If “no”, try for further elaboration.
• Is there anything else that you would like to add?This is an opportunity for the employee to raise any worries, concerns, or bad experiences. It’s important to listen, take on board what they say, and allow them to feel safe and unjudged.

Exit interview questions for management and executives

• Why did you initially decide to work for our company?This exit interview question will show the appealing areas inside your job descriptions and recruitment ads. These areas are clearly strong, as they resulted in the candidate’s application. So, they’re elements you should continue to use and build upon.
• What changed and made you decide to look for other opportunities?
  
  The reason for leaving could be one of many. It’s important to understand their key motivation for leaving, as you can rectify it and avoid good talent slipping through the net in the future.
• Were you given the support you needed to meet KPIs and succeed?
  
  Management and executives need as much support as interns. It’s just that they need it in a different way. If the answer is “no”, ask them to follow up – if they can – with an example. Being able to picture it with a real-life example will unravel further issues.
• Was communication, collaboration, autonomy, and innovation encouraged?
  
  This question speaks volumes about teamwork. If someone feels their creativity isn’t valued or they aren’t trusted to get the job done, it can quickly lead to frustration. Further, if a reluctance to change is extreme, it can feel like a losing battle.
• Were your recommendations and ideas heard and given adequate consideration?As a rule, people are change-adverse. They recognize the risk level, and it sometimes prevents changes from being implemented. If your employee is struggling to implement any changes, it can lead to feeling like they can’t do right for doing wrong. That becomes overwhelming and frustrating and can be a root cause for leaving a company.
• How is the morale of the management team and executives in general?
  
  Positivity starts from the top. Management teams need to create a positive atmosphere and boost morale. If this isn’t happening, there needs to be some changes, as it’ll drip feed into other members of the company.
• Was the salary and benefits package you received competitive and market-related?
  
  If your advertised salary is considerably lower than your competitors, you’ll need to address this. It’s unlikely that people will apply for your role when another company is advertising the same role at a higher salary.
• What made you accept the new job offer to work for that company in particular?
  
  Knowing what your competitors are doing to attract employees will be infinitely valuable. Don’t copy, but gain influence.
• What was your decision motivated by?
  
  This exit interview question is open to the individual. Their response will highlight areas of lost opportunity for your company and where those opportunities have been gained in other organizations.
• Was there anything that we could have changed to prevent you from leaving?
  
  This will highlight the key areas of dissatisfaction. While there may be a list, the first 1 or 2 responses they give will often be the areas they struggled with most. Make sure to take this on board and look for patterns in other exit interviews.
• Do you think that the company culture and vision have evolved adequately to still be competitive enough?
  
  This question should be asked in tangent to the previous one. Should the vision of the company have evolved, you should ask for clarification and their opinion.
• From your viewpoint, do we have a culture that attracts and retains the talent we need to succeed? Why, why not?At management level, they’ll have further opinions on company culture and recruitment tactics. Their response will be useful, especially when asked for further details.
• Would you recommend our company to anyone else?
  Recommendations are key in your hiring process. If the answer is “no”, that speaks volumes about their experience and should be acted on. Equally, you can discover your areas of strength should they say “yes”.
• Is there anything else that you would like to add?This final question should allow the employee to have their voice heard and address any points they’ve yet to mention. It’s crucial to listen and create a judgment-free, safe space.

Sub expandable under – What you should avoid asking in an exit interview?

There are some rules of thumb when it comes to creating your exit interview questions. So, here’s what not to ask in an exit interview:

• Are you leaving because of [sharing a specific employee’s name]?
• Why were you unhappy at work?
• Do you feel you’ve given your best at our organization?
• Do you believe you’ll experience better working conditions at another company?
• What did you say about [name your company] in your interview?

The main rule is to ask questions related to the employee, their time at your organization, and how to improve. It should never revolve making a candidate feel guilty, unsafe, or judged. These questions demonstrate all 3 of those negative elements.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Exit Interviews

DOs

• HR should manage this process and conduct the interview.
• Use questions from the lists below, based on what you want to uncover.
• Create questions specific to the employee’s circumstances.
• Ask the employee if they’re willing to participate.
• Create an online version of the exit interview in case they’re not willing to discuss their opinions in person.
• Create a comfortable and safe environment for the exiting employee to be open and honest.
• Tell employees that you’re not here to judge what they say, but instead want their open and honest opinion.
• Tell the employees how  their comments will help improve (culture, policies, processes, etc.).
• If the information is anonymous, let them know that. This will encourage open and honest feedback.
• Thank them for their feedback and let them know how much it is appreciated. Follow it up with a formal note of appreciation.

DON’Ts

• Conduct an exit interview but not use the information or feedback the employee provides.
• Don’t enter the exit interview thinking the employee MUST participate. This is their choice and their feedback will help the organization.
• Don’t assume the employee’s feedback is not true because they are upset and therefore leaving the organization.
• Don’t allow your biases about the employee (based on what you’ve heard from their manager, to guide your questions or thoughts of the employee’s responses.
• Don’t ask questions in a way that would make the employee feel you have preconceived thoughts about them.
• Don’t expect to ask a list of generic exit interview questions and expect to get information about the employee’s specific situation.
• Don’t forget to thank the employee after their exit interview.

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One way to create more welcoming workplaces that respect differences and give a voice to people who are often underrepresented is to implement company DEI training (DEI) programs.

DEI training has the potential to positively address biases and prejudice within organizations. These benefits can lead to some real financial gains for companies as well, according to a 40 year research project conducted by McKinsey & Co. The study found that organizations with diverse workforces are 35% more likely to have above-average profit margins than companies with more homogenous employee bases.

A DEI training program will encourage increased collaboration, enhance interpersonal skills and empower underrepresented groups to feel more valued and respected in the workplace. However, to arrive at these successful outcomes, you must carry out the training responsibly.

While diversity training has been touted as a strong solution to many race- and diversity-related issues in the workplace, there is some speculation as to whether diversity training actually works as intended. Most companies with diversity training programs have not officially measured their efficacy, and there is evidence that diversity training can backfire by putting people on the defensive. Here are some reasons a diversity training program might fail:

• There is an expectation that participants will shed their biases – which is often not possible or realistic.
• Companies use negative messaging, like implied threats, or negative consequences, such as legal action against the company.
• Making the training mandatory can instill animosity and resentment.
• Trainings are used as remedial actions or perceived as punishments for failing to meet expectations.

To investigate the effectiveness of diversity training, writers at the Harvard Business Review conducted their own study, in which they created a diversity training program and tested the results. Here are some of their findings:

1. The training positively affected employees who were unsupportive of women in the workplace by making them more likely to acknowledge discrimination against women, show support for policies designed to help women and acknowledge their own biases.
2. There was no backlash from employees who were already supportive of women.
3. Diversity training has little effect on the behavior of men or white employees in general.
4. The training prompted women to be more proactive about their own advancement by seeking out mentorships.
5. Employees who participated in the training were more likely to acknowledge their own racial biases and recognize the work of their peers who were racial minorities.

The results of the study suggest that there is no one-size-fits-all diversity training and that it takes a lot of careful thought and design to make the program work. Focus on tailoring the training to your own company by addressing your company’s unique problems, and think about how your employees might respond to the different variables of a training (such as making it mandatory versus voluntary, or online versus in person). Taking the time to customize the training could go a long way in making the program successful.

Diversity training can work, but only if the program is tailored to your team, your organization AND addresses individual beliefs and behaviors. We take a different approach to DEI training by DECONSTRUCTING the ideologies and barriers to inclusion that people have. To learn more, visit Deconstructing Diversity.

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When to develop a DEI training plan

Like any product you roll out to your organization, DEI work needs to be well-planned, well-executed, and monitored for success. Once you’ve selected your DEI goals, they must be implemented as part of a comprehensive strategy that includes an approach to measuring outcomes, sustainable org-wide support, accountability, and long-term planning.

Before diving directly into a DEI training program, make sure that the following actions have been successfully communicated to your organization:

• Start the discussion about DEI. Transparency is a primary factor in fostering trust and rebuilding a culture of inclusion. To act otherwise leaves open the possibility for anger and resentment. Be very clear to your staff about your intentions and objectives
• Let employees know they’ve been heard and that you are carefully considering options in response to their enthusiasm or concern. Maintain a healthy balance between your commitment to diversity, equality, inclusion and the needs of your business.
• Be mindful about your message and determine where your greatest opportunities are; be clear about what you intend to do about them, and be laser focused in your approach to closing any gaps in representation.
• Make commitments and dedicate resources to change. While sharing and promoting dialogue is important, there must be an organizational commitment to identifying and meeting goals and objectives (i.e. if it is determined that your organization could do more to diversify it’s leadership, have a plan with metrics and dedicate the resources necessary to impact change and meet your objectives).

First, the Executive Leadership of your organization must develop an understanding of exactly what DEI Training is.

So what is it?  DEI training is any program designed to facilitate positive intergroup interaction, reduce prejudice and discrimination, and generally teach individuals who are different from others how to work together effectively.  Diversity training is often aimed to meet objectives such as attracting and retaining customers and productive workers; maintaining high employee morale; and/or fostering understanding and harmony between workers. Diversity is getting employees from various demographics and with different life experiences through the door. Inclusion is getting those employees to stay, but more than stay, to feel so comfortable, hear their own music, and feel so seen that they’re willing to dance. Equity involves understanding that not everyone’s path in life is the same.

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CREATING AN EFFECTIVE DEI TRAINING CURRICULUM

Step 1: Conduct a needs analysis for your DEI Training.

Step 2: Evaluate existing content for your training content development process.

Step 3: Incorporate the prior knowledge of learners.

Step 4: Create a course outline/curriculum.

Step 5: Design or Purchase your custom learning experience.

Step 6: Choose the right team to get it done.

Step 7: Project manage your training material development.

Step 8: The Final Product: Know what good looks like.

Step 9: Measure the ROI of your training material development.

A true partner will provide quality training across a variety of topics to fit your employees’ needs and fulfill your organization’s training initiatives.

Whether you choose a custom program or an off the shelf, your DEI training must be based upon Gagne’s Model of Instructional Design.

• Gaining attention: Starting the lesson with a thought-provoking question or interesting fact
• Informing the learner of the objective: e “upon completing this lesson you will be able to…”
• Stimulating recall of prerequisite learning: getting the learners to think about what they already know
• Presenting the stimulus material: This event is where the new content is actually presented to the learner
• Providing learning guidance: help learners encode information for long-term storage by making the stimulus as meaningful as possible. Demonstrate the behavior.
• Eliciting the performance: the learner should practice the new skill or behaviour. i.e. role play
• Providing feedback: provide individual and immediate feedback and guidance to the learner
• Assessing the performance: the learner demonstrates what they have learned without receiving coaching
• Enhancing retention and transfer: The repetition of learned concepts is an effective means of enhancing retention. Transfer of knowledge and skills to new problems and situations is the goal.

Ask Yourself:   Have we determined specific and measurable DEI Training goals?

What is a training objective? Training objectives tie a training program with actual business results. Establishing clear, realistic, and measurable training goals at the onset of the training development process will play a big part in ensuring the success of your course.

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Conduct a needs assessment

Conduct an organizational needs Assessment. The purpose of a training needs assessment is to identify performance requirements and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by an organization’s workforce to achieve the requirements. An effective training needs assessment will help direct resources to areas of greatest demand.

There are three levels of a training needs assessment:

• Organizational assessment evaluates the level of organizational performance. An assessment of this type will determine what skills, knowledge, and abilities an agency needs. It determines what is required to alleviate the problems and weaknesses of the agency as well as to enhance strengths and competencies.
• Occupational/Departmental assessment examines the skills, knowledge, and abilities required for affected occupational groups. Occupational assessment identifies how and which occupational discrepancies or gaps exist, potentially introduced by the new direction of an agency. It also examines new ways to do work that can eliminate the discrepancies or gaps.
• Individual assessment analyzes how well an individual employee is doing a job and determines the individual’s capacity to do new or different work.

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Develop clear goals of the program

Establishing a DEI training program for your organization starts with developing a clear, detailed definition of what the program should entail.

A comprehensive DEI training program provides concrete ways to engage in respectful and positive interactions in the workplace while reducing discrimination and prejudice based on factors such as gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age, religion, physical and mental ability, and socioeconomic status.

DEI training programs should target all employees and address a range of issues, including unconscious bias, microaggressions and cross-cultural communications. Effective training moves beyond simply encouraging employees to tolerate differences to teaching employees how to work well together while embracing diverse perspectives.

DEI training programs  should tie DEI to the vision, mission, values and goals of the organization, and then move into how to value all aspects of diversity with co-workers, clients, customers and the community at large.

How to set training goals:

1. Define the “Why”

Before you can begin creating and implementing training goals for your team, you must first identify the “Why” that supports your reasoning behind creating these goals in the first place. For example, you could define the following goals:

• Implement training goals to eliminate representation gaps
• Develop a training program that teaches team members a new skill to be used for an upcoming project or as part of an overall strategic plan

Identifying the reason why can allow you to know exactly what types of goals to set and what the desired outcomes for each goal will be.

2. Identify any gaps

After defining the “Why,” identify any gaps concerning employee performance or lack of skills. This is sometimes referred to as a training needs analysis and allows you to pinpoint specific areas of weakness within your team. Consider if your team members possess or have access to the abilities and skills necessary to accomplish a desired goal.

When training goals are shared with others, team members are more likely to stay motivated and accountable for reaching those goals. Make the training goals you set public or encourage team members to share their specific goals with others on their team.

Ask Yourself:      What content must be included in the courses? How do we determine the number of courses needed? How do we determine the duration of each course? What method will be used to deliver each course? (In person, video, e-learning, instructor lead, etc.) Are there any course prerequisites?

Ask Yourself:  How do we determine which courses each level of staff will be required to attend?

Develop SMART goals

SMART goals, which stand for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound goals, are much more effective and powerful than goals with no clear objective or timeline. Setting SMART goals is a great way to keep track of each goal’s progress as well as identify any areas of improvement when necessary.

• Specific: Make sure your goal is clearly defined and easily understandable by all team members. Avoid generalized or vague goals that offer clear direction.
• Measurable: Determine how you’ll measure each goal as your team members progress. This could include statistics, amounts or dates. For example, a measurable goal would be that all team members should know how to perform basic functions on a new software by a specific date.
• Attainable: It’s important to ensure that the goals you set for your team are actually attainable. Goals that can’t be met can result in discouragement or reduced confidence in team members.
• Relevant: The goals you create for your team should be relevant to the overall goal of your department or organization. Keeping your training goals aligned with the business objectives of the organization ensures that not only the employees benefit but that the company as a whole also benefits from employee training.
• Time-bound: Every training goal you establish should have a deadline. This not only keeps each goal on track but also creates a sense of urgency and increases the probability of achievement among team members.

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Audit existing courses and determine course development strategy

Ask Yourself:   Should we purchase an ‘off the shelf’ training program or invest in    developing        custom courses? How to find a course developer if custom courses are desired?

Off-the-shelf training is ready-made content you can plug directly into your existing development program. Unlike content, which you create yourself, either with an internal team or with an outside vendor, pre-built courses are ready to use right out of the box.  Off-the-shelf content will likely fit all or most of your organization’s skills development, compliance, and continuing education needs.  

There are many benefits to off the shelf training, including:

• Reduced training costs. Ready-made courses are more affordable and less labor-intensive.
• Outside expertise. Off-the-shelf courses are created and presented by subject matter experts in those specific industries.
• Stay current on industry trends. Ensure your content is relevant by regularly including new topical training courses.

However, you might prefer custom development when you want to:

• Train your teams on company-specific topics or promote your brand
• Train employees on internal policies or procedures
• Kick off a new company-wide initiative
• Onboard new employees

You may also want to invest in building custom training when you have internal expertise on a specific training topic. For example, if your organization has a Human Resources or Training Team with experience in DEI, you may want the internal developers involved in creating training around it.

Finding a Course Developer

A training partner’s main purpose is, of course, to provide training content. But as you know, your organizational needs are not always so cut and dry.

The best training companies will listen to your needs, develop a structure for the content that will be delivered, and will be very clear about what you can expect to experience as far as the training itself and results.  Work with a content vendor that not only provides quality training but will also act as a supportive partner to your organization. Consider your current employee training demands as well as what you may need in the future.  Make sure your content provider fits all of your needs and more:

1. Do they offer custom course options my company can utilize either now or later?
2. Can they keep up with our demands as our organization grows and training needs increase?
3. Are they willing to scale up or down according to our current or future training needs?

When looking at curriculum development and design, you may want to include a chart of potential DEI topics and which specific levels of employee would benefit from each course.

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Extend and maintain DEI training over time.

For diversity training to be as successful as possible, it needs to be delivered over an extended period of time. In Bezrukova’s study, diversity training had positive effects on employees’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors toward diverse groups, but over time, their attitudes regressed to what they were before the training.

“The attitudes this training attempts to change are generally strong, emotion-driven and tied to our personal identities, and we found little evidence that long-term effects to them are sustainable,” Bezrukova said. “However, when people are reminded of scenarios covered in training by their colleagues or even the media, they are able to retain or expand on the information they learned.”

To be most useful, DEI training cannot be a once-a-year event that checks off the box for corporate compliance.

“Diversity awareness and focus must be a part of a company’s culture in all aspects … For training to be effective, the message must be reinforced regularly, and managers must coach their employees when they see behaviors and attitudes that contradict an inclusive environment,” said Shane Green, an organizational and corporate culture coach and author of Culture Hacker (Wiley, 2017).

Instead of planning one-time workshops or an annual day of training, roll out a series of programs, events, celebrations, mentoring opportunities and other experiences for continual learning. Ingrain DEI into the fabric of your business so it becomes the norm. This way, it becomes more about reinforcement of positive behavior than an annual lecture of all of the prohibitive rules. The most successful companies don’t view workshops as a one-and-done event but an opportunity to reinforce and build on a larger cultural commitment. The program matters, but the message and the messenger matter, too.

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Tailor DEI training to your company

DEI training should be tailor-made for the organization conducting it. To accomplish this, businesses can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to their training program. Each company must take the time to look inward, conduct some fact-gathering initiatives, assess the current company culture, and identify any unresolved conflicts and issues employees face. Surveys, focus groups and other employee audits are some ways to gather information.

If needed, bringing in some objective outside help to guide you through the data collection and analysis. Before effective training can be developed and implemented, the company should conduct a thorough self-assessment. The most useful such assessments are conducted by outside experts who bring fresh perspective, objectivity and a commitment to identify key DEI barriers, without regard to ‘but that’s the way we have always done it’ mentality. Once you’ve done your research, analyzed the data, and developed objectives and goals, you can design a program for the unique needs, history and culture of your company. Your program content should leverage data and examples specific to your organization, Coffin said.

“Part of creating a space of understanding is putting the implications of bias into a context that all of your employees can understand,” he said. “For instance, rather than talking about bias or microaggression in the abstract, you can draw on data or excerpts from your own employee survey to use real-life examples that your employees can relate to. If these issues become about their colleagues, about people they care about, the long-term impact will be much stronger.”

Tailoring training to your organization does not necessarily mean that custom course development is required. Most off the shelf training programs can easily be adapted to the particular needs of your organization.

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Plan an integrated approach

Training leaders have discovered that employees responded more favorably to diversity training when it used several methods of instruction, including lectures, discussions and exercises. In other words, employers should vary how they present the training, taking a blended or hybrid approach. Diversity programs have the greatest impact when they are delivered as part of a series of related initiatives, such as mentoring or networking groups for minority professionals.

You can integrate DEI training with sessions that discuss company culture, employee satisfaction and retention, or career development. Additionally, this training should be infused into the company culture in a way that it becomes a part of new employees’ onboarding process. There are many traditional ways to reach your intended audience – such as in person, by webinar or over video – as well as more contemporary delivery methods, such as gamification and mobile learning. Regardless of your approach, the goal should always be to engage participants as much as possible.

Your training sessions should incorporate reality-based scenarios and role-playing (when facilitated in person) so that participants can better understand the concepts being presented. Interactive exercises also help to keep participants engaged during the training. Another method for delivering DEI training is e-learning or micro-learning courses which are shorter courses that can be presented throughout the year and serve as reinforcement to a longer version of training.

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Include workers of all levels

Training should not be mandatory only for lower-level workers. All employees, regardless of their status in the company, can and should benefit from the sessions.

All employees must participate, including senior executives. Workplace diversity is weakest at the leadership level. Leaders of all races, genders and sexual orientations must participate in any training program for their benefit and to make it clear that the organization is committed. Even if you’re the CEO of your business, you need to participate in the diversity training like everyone else. By doing so, you not only show others how serious you are about the issue but also acknowledge that everyone can better themselves with training. It’s also important to understand that the goal of diversity training is less about agreeing with another person’s perspective or orientation [than] about accepting that we are all different, and those differences should not preclude us from minimizing that person’s abilities, opportunities or being a part of the team.

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Consider hiring an expert.

To provide quality, professional training for your workers, look to an expert to run the program.

“Assigning a team member, such as the HRO or CFO, to lead the session is tempting, but it is often not the best approach,” Greenberg said. “Instead, bring on someone who is independent, has experience leading these specific sessions, serves as an authority figure based on expertise and doesn’t bring any institutional ‘baggage’ because [they are] not an employee.”

To help ensure that your diversity training is successful, you should customize it to your company, have an integrated approach and continue your training over a long period.

Mentoring and Sponsorship

Effective mentor/mentee relationships serve as a safe and open space to raise and explore concerns and ideas without risk, which usually means avoiding matching individuals who have direct reporting lines. They are reciprocal learning opportunities, where both mentee and mentor sets out goals for what they wish to achieve. It’s important to encourage and allow diverse mentees to opt-in to the program, and then match for both compatibility of needs and increased diversity.

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• Reducing bias in performance management worksheet
• DEI Core competencies
• Talent retention and advancement plan template
• Resource: Reducing hiring manager bias – most common biases in recruitment – pdf
• TOOL: Recruitment Preplanning Checklist – pdf
• TOOL: Interview Scoring Rubric -pdf

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