You don't know where you're going

Here's the latest Travel Alert on your Inclusion Journey:

80% of businesses are not tracking inclusion impact

We're pretty much all agreed that diversity and inclusion is an important factor in an organisation's success - 78% of leaders say that diversity and inclusion offer a competitive advantage, and we know that diverse teams are 35% more likely to outperform their competitors. That's why so many organisations have been working on diversity and inclusion lately, with 96% having a diversity and inclusion policy in place and 57% considering it a strategic priority.

Yet, despite all that, just under half of all employers don't have an actual strategy for diversity and inclusion. Only 28% of businesses have someone leading on diversity and inclusion internally, and a massive 80% aren't measuring the impact of the diversity and inclusion work they're doing. That means there are a fair few organisations out there that consider diversity and inclusion to be a priority, and maybe even have a strategy for it, but don't have anyone to make it happen and aren't tracking whether it's working.

With the greatest of respect, how is that ever going to work?

So this week we are covering:

?Why it's important to measure the impact of your work

??How to put together a diversity and inclusion strategy

??What we've learned this week about the impact of measurement

Why it's important to measure the impact of your work

If you're going to work on diversity and inclusion, then you're going to need to invest time, resource and budget into doing the work. You need to know that all of that has been invested in the right place.

Additionally, if you know what you got back from your investment, you can make informed calculations as to how much more you want to invest in future, and where best to focus those precious resources. It might seem, on the surface, that diversity and inclusion is simply a "nice to have", but if you can see that it is transforming your productivity, or your recruitment, or your marketing, or your project delivery, then suddenly the picture looks very different.

Take Richmond Hill Hotel, for example. After a year of working with us on a tailored and targeted inclusion strategy, their retention rate had improved from 46% to 72%! They are confident this can be attributed predominantly to their inclusion efforts. What would it mean to your organisation to increase your retention rate that much? Think of the saved recruitment costs, the savings on training and upskilling new employees, the retained knowledge and experience... Read more about Richmond Hill's experience here:

Not only that, but your internal and external audiences want to hear about the impact of your work. It's all very well you knowing that you're working hard on diversity and inclusion, but this is long-term work, the benefits of which are not always immediately obvious. You need to show your staff, potential future staff, customers / clients and potential future customers / clients that you are truly doing the work and not just paying lip-service to it. 50% of purchasing decisions are influenced by perception of diversity and inclusion, and employees who don't believe their organisation is committed to inclusion are three times more likely to leave. You'd better start convincing people, quick.

As you progress on this journey, you also need to review the data to understand where you are now and where you need to go next. It's only with measurement, informed by quantitative and qualitative data, that you'll understand where the gaps are in your organisation and what actions you need to take to address them. Otherwise you're just choosing work to do at random and hoping for the best, and that's not good for anyone.

We'd love to hear your thoughts:

Does your organisation have a diversity and inclusion strategy, and are you measuring its impact?

Let us know in the comments!

How to put together a diversity and inclusion strategy

Here are some top tips for getting started with a meaningful strategy:

• Collect data - you can't know where you currently stand when it comes to diversity and inclusion, and you won't be able to track whether you're moving forward, unless you start collecting data. You can use our Inclusion Journey Location Finder to get you started in understanding how you currently compare to other organisations.
• Ask for input - as leaders, we often have a rose-tinted view of our organisation, but we need to speak to our staff to understand their experiences and what they want to see from this work. Our Discovery Workshops are a great way to gather inputs from across your organisation and get a clear picture of where your priorities lie. Contact us to find out more.
• Set a budget - you're going to need resources and external support to move this work forward, so clarify what you can invest so that you can make some practical decisions. As you measure the impact of this work, you might find the investment can increase as you recognise what it's giving you back.
• Assign a leader - someone is going to need to coordinate this work internally, otherwise it won't happen. They need to have time and space to do this work, you can't simply pile it on top of someone's already full load. Something has to come out if you want to put something else in. They should also have objectives related to this work, as what gets measured is what gets done.
• Put together a working group - the internal lead doesn't have to do all this alone. Find a group of employees across the organisation who will support them, and who will champion the work within their teams.
• Set goals and targets - your strategy should include clear, measurable goals that are supported by your data.
• Align with your objectives - those goals should align to your broader business objectives so that everything is pulling in the same direction. You can find a guide to mapping your inclusion goals to your organisational objectives here:

If you're ready to get clear on your plans for the future, our Inclusion Strategy workshops walk you through the key areas that you need to define, and support you in putting together a plan for moving forward.

Email [email protected] for more information.

In the meantime, this Inclusion Strategy Checklist might be helpful in seeing how much you need to do, and how much you already have covered:

What we've learned this week about... the impact of measurement

Here's our learnings from relevant recent news stories. If you want to get all the latest diversity and inclusion headlines in your inbox, subscribe to our email updates .

One thousand UK workers to join first four-day week trial under Labour - The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/nov/04/one-thousand-uk-workers-to-join-first-four-day-week-trial-under-labour

One thousand workers in the UK will get extra time off with no loss of pay in the first official pilot by the four-day week campaign under the Labour government.

The trial will involve 17 businesses, who will mostly implement the four-day week, although some have opted to test a shorter working week or a nine-day fortnight, in which workers get an extra day off every two weeks. Four more businesses will join the trial later.

There have been fears surrounding whether a four-day week would impact productivity, and speculation that Labour may be reluctant to adopt the policy because of political perception. However, trials like this are producing meaningful data that will help to lessen the impact of emotional reactions and fear-based responses, as we'll know exactly how this way of working impacts businesses.

What can you learn from this story?

• Be open-minded to new suggestions - test the impact rather than having a knee-jerk reaction based on fear or emotion.
• Read research that has already been published - there is mounting evidence that a four-day week increases productivity, retention, staff wellbeing and motivation, as well as making cost savings for businesses.
• Consider a range of solutions - perhaps a four-day week isn't for you, but shorter hours across the week might work better, or staff having the option to take one day of their choosing off every two weeks. Get creative!
• Talk to your team - find out why flexible working matters to them and what impact it would make to their lives. That will help you design the solution that's best for everyone.

'Mrs Begum' syndrome: The medical stereotype hurting south Asian women - Leicester Gazette

https://www.leicester.news/mrs-begum-syndrome-the-medical-stereotype-hurting-south-asian-women/

Asian women experience significantly worse health outcomes than white women due to racist and stereotypes that lead medical professionals to unconsciously assume that they are exaggerating their symptoms.

The mortality rate during pregnancy and childbirth for Asian women is double that of white women, and Asian women lower survival rates for breast cancer.

One research report published in 2022 by Muslim Women’s Network (MWN) found that there was a lack of accurate ethnicity data, which “misses the differences in health inequalities between the different subgroups of women and is an example of systemic discrimination.”

What can you learn from this story?

• When you are gathering data, it is vital that it is segmented by different demographic factors (and other relevant factors, such as seniority or deparment) to identify any trends or issues.
• Unconscious bias impacts all of us, and it's easy to follow stereotypical thinking without realising it, but the consequences can be devastating - we need to regularly check our assumptions to see if the data backs them up.
• For that reason, everyone on your team needs unconscious bias training to help them mitigate its impact.

That's it from us for this week!

If you have any questions on your inclusion journey, you can always reach out to us at [email protected] , call us on 01273 044834, or head to our website watchthisspace.uk for information on everything we have to offer!

Get started with measuring your work right now:

Take the Inclusion Journey Location Finder

See you next week.