Equity is the concept of treating everyone fairly by acknowledging everyone’s unique situation and addressing systemic barriers that cause disparities. The aim of equity is to ensure that everyone has access to equal results and benefits. Conducting an equity audit can help reveal the disparities that have been created at the individual, institutional or systemic levels.

So now that you’ve planned the components of your equity audit, also known as an equity lens, it’s time to do the work. We’ll discuss the key aspects of how to conduct the audit, or to examine equity throughout your organization, in all of its systems.

Important components to keep in mind

An equity audit seeks to identify and uncover the fairness of the systems within an organization. The equity audit specifically looks at policies, programs, and practices that directly or indirectly impact staff or external stakeholders relative to their race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, color, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or other socio-culturally significant factors. In conducting the audit and to ensure you get useful and accurate data, there are several components to keep in mind:

Representation: It is critical to have representatives from the groups affected by the policies, programs, and practices that will be the focus of the audit(s). Without the right stakeholder involvement, the audit can have a negative perception of the overrepresented population (in numbers or in ideology) examining the underrepresented population, then developing guidance based on what they think the underrepresented population needs. In doing so, they often view the underrepresented population as “the problem that needs to be fixed.” The message surrounding the equity audit should be expressed as “we’re conducting this audit to provide data that will help us uncover the systems that are causing inequities and the extent of the disparities causes, then guide us in resolving them.”

Systems: To truly uncover inequities, there must be a comprehensive The focus needs to be on the systems that have caused inequities, not the people that have a disparate impact because of those systems.

Communicating the WHY: Unless people can see the need for an equity audit, they may not be supportive and may actively work against the activities. They need to acknowledge the importance of uncovering, exposing, dismantling and correcting disparities with race/ethnicity, gender, language, religion, disability, and other factors associated with social, political, economic, and educational disparities. They need to understand the language of equity — concepts such as implicit and explicit bias and stereotyping, institutional racism and sexism, and equality and equity. Those involved need to be open to examining their own views about culture, understand the variety in perspectives that others may have, appreciate the benefits that diversity can bring, and know strategies for dealing with differences.

Individual vs. Institutional biases that drive inequities

As you conduct your equity audit, also keep in mind that inequities can occur mainly on 2 different levels, individual and institutional. Both of these impact:

• Decision-making opportunities that influence outcomes

• How we minimize implicit bias and the status quo and invite people of all social identities into consideration when making policies, practices, and programs

Explicit Equity Outcomes

As we become more disciplined and consistent about equity across our organization, we will examine our systems and revamp our policies, processes and programs. Integrating equity more intentionally into your decision-making processes may prompt you to ask new questions, collect different data points, or shift how you think about outcomes, progress and success. This will encourage movement toward explicit equity.

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To uncover if your policies, practices and programs are equitable, it’s important to ALWAYS ask some  probing questions about organizational and departmental policies and practices. Consider discussing these questions at your next committee meeting and at ongoing intervals during the equity audit process.

• What is the ultimate goals for our stakeholders?
• Specifically, what are our goals when assessing our stakeholders?
• How many different approaches to an assessment are viable and realistic?
• How can we develop assessment practices that offer stakeholders meaningful opportunities to demonstrate their learning, their progress, skills, and understandings?

Graphic source: Captured from Multnomah County

Improving diversity is such a broad goal that it will be hard to gauge progress without first narrowing your focus on a few key metrics. Your metrics can include hiring, promotion, and retention of under-represented groups. It can also measure employee satisfaction and engagement. Here are examples of categories you can choose to measure (not an exhaustive list, provided as an example of internal measures of equity):

• Hiring — Percentage of hires by ethnicity who we extend job offers; and of those who accept the jobs (this could give us more information).
• Representation — Percentage of people with disabilities who make up your workforce
• Retention — Average length of time women of color stay at your company
• Advancement —  Percentage of people without a college degree who are promoted
• Job satisfaction and engagement — Percentage of people from the LGBTQ+ community who report being supported by their managers
• Employee resource group (ERG) participation — Rates of attendance per meeting
• Leadership — Percentage of women in executive leadership

Planning for equitable access requires effective stakeholder communication. Without strategic communication, it can impede people accepting the outcomes of the equity audit. Communication is not a one-time activity, but instead should take place at various critical checkpoints all stages of equity audit/lens planning and implementation and should begin on Day 1.

Examples of key communication checkpoints

• Beginning – to help stakeholders understand what an equity audit/lens is and what it entails
• When the team is formed – to introduce everyone to who will be participating, and why they were selected
• Ask for input in identifying the components that should be assessed
• Provide an update in measuring progress that is being made
• Thank people for participating and giving input
• Communicate the outcome of the equity audit/lens

A strategic communication plan helps keep track of the many aspects of communication with stakeholders, and the broader community, to ensure they are informed about the steps and progress with addressing equitable access. The communication plan includes five steps:

1. Identify audiences for communication
2. Identify communication goals
3. Identify communication method
4. Develop key messages for communication
5. Monitor the effectiveness of communication

Communications Planning Template

Building Communication Loops

A critical piece of the communication planning is to develop communication and feedback loops. Feedback loops provide stakeholders directly affected by a policy, program or practice with the opportunity to focus on its impact and potential areas for improvements. Some of these mechanisms for communication can serve the purpose of sharing progress and celebrating milestones with stakeholders, communicating opportunities for continuous improvement, and how to provide feedback. A few ways to initiate continuous feedback loops include:

• Website
• Online platform (e.g., website, Google Docs) to make materials (e.g., agendas, minutes, handouts, datasets) available to participants or consideration
• Dedicated e-mail address
• Stakeholder feedback meetings and events
• Annual surveys to stakeholder groups
• Group forums to share measured progress

The measures of success that you gather and communicate through these feedback loops is intended to be done continuously over time. Communicating and celebrating small changes as they happen will be key to maintaining momentum and support for the work.

Questions to consider when developing communication checkpoints

1. Have we considered all possible audiences? Who has been historically excluded?
2. What specific communication strategies ensure historically excluded groups are heard and reached? (e.g., working with community leaders, direct outreach, bulletin boards, community newspapers, social media).
3. How do the messages we are communicating foster inclusion, respect, and equity?
4. Are the messages we communicate inclusive, respectful, truthful, and equitable across all audiences?
5. Are there concepts or terms that may be culturally specific and need to be changed to make them more accessible?
6. Is the medium easily accessible and understood by the full diversity of our audience? (e.g. plain language, accessible formats, graphics, multiple languages, both online and print, phone messaging and voicemail).
7. Have we considered what populations will be missed by only using certain methods? (e.g. online, email or social media communications) Do we use successful approaches?
8. Have we considered if there is a budget or alternative resources for translation services?
9. Do images represent the full diversity of employees and communities? Ask…
   • Do they capture the diversity within specific communities of people?
   • Will the people portrayed in the images relate to and feel included in the way they are represented?
   • Is everyone portrayed in positive images that promote equity and break stereotypes?
   • Consider: who is active and passive, who is at the center, and who is serving and being served.

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A few of the answers that will be discussed are:

• How will we track  metrics against your organization’s stated goals?
• How will you clearly communicate progress to your stakeholders and community?

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If a change is to be effective, it will generate questions. Recognize that not all questioning
is “resistance” (though some will be). Wanting to understand before committing to change
is a good thing. This is especially true for equity changes. There are two major ways of decreasing resistance to change: increase the tension of not supporting the change (for example, document thoroughly the need for change) or decrease the tension related to trying the new way (for example, determine the concerns of the resisters and respond with appropriate actions).

Perhaps change is seen as disruptive and negative, something to be avoided. Questions, reluctance, and other forms of “resistance” can be a barometer of the potential impact of the change. Knowing the source and type of potential resistance can help you respond positively rather than defensively. We always say that objections and resistance can be an indicator that you need to address a need of your stakeholder(s).

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