17. Januar 2024

Driving Change: Managing DE&I through Goals and KPIs

Cultivating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace is a journey that requires assessing the current situation, identifying strategic focus areas, defining realistic goals and using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track progress.

Why are DE&I metrics indispensable for your DE&I Initiatives?

DE&I metrics provide a framework for measuring progress and success in DE&I initiatives. Regularly assessing the company’s DE&I journey through a range of quantitative and qualitative metrics enable a company to identify strategic focus areas and to define realistic goals and KPIs to track against them. Measurable goals promote accountability and ensure that DE&I efforts are treated like any other business objective.

The foundation to drive change - a selection of DE&I metrics:

Here is a metrics list which can help you systematically measure and enhance your DE&I strategy/initiatives:

1. Gender Diversity in Management: Regularly monitor the proportion of women in management roles compared to the proportion of women in the overall workforce to measure progress towards gender equality.
   Use the Glass Ceiling Index to assess how the potential of female talent is used and how significant the hurdles to reach a management position are
2. Analyzing the Gender Pay Gap: Essential for assessing pay equity and pinpointing improvement areas.
   Identify specific business units, management levels or roles where the gender pay gap is most pronounced and define measures for equitable compensation.
3. Retention of Diverse Groups with an Intersectional Approach: Examine retention rates combining different diversity dimensions, such as gender and age, to identify trends and address areas of concern.
   Use retention rate as a first indicator to assess inclusion of specific employee groups (e.g. young non-swiss women).
4. Evaluating Parental Leave: Analyze the return rates of mothers and fathers from parental leave.
   Besides the return rates, analyze the duration of parental leave of men and women in your company, compared to the legal requirements and your peers, and the potential change in employment percentage after returning to work.
5. Analyze how employees perceive inclusion: Utilize employee surveys to measure workplace inclusivity.
   Key questions should focus on perceptions of belonging, diversity of viewpoints, and equal opportunities. Analyze responses to identify strengths and areas needing improvement in creating an inclusive environment.
6. Inclusion in HR processes: Examine HR practices across the employee lifecycle, from hiring to promotions.
   Assess diversity in recruitment and equity in performance evaluations and promotions. Identifying biases and disparities in these areas is crucial for advancing true workplace inclusivity.
7. Equity in Training and Development: Monitor who has access to professional development programs, leadership training, mentoring and sponsorship, aiming for equal access of all employee groups.
   Encourage training programs and further education policies based on an inclusive talent definition “every employee is a talent”, continuous learning and upskilling for clear career paths within the organization.

In order to assess these data points and to develop meaningful KPIs, companies often need to make an effort to close data gaps and to invest in people analytics that allow a regular, ideally monthly or quarterly monitoring of KPIs.

How can you best record and analyse the DE&I metrics in your company?

Not understanding where to begin and how to track progress effectively can be daunting. This is where a specialized platform becomes invaluable. A tool that offers comprehensive diversity analysis combined with a benchmark against your peers and different industries can be a game-changer. DIVERSITY WORKS (provides a starting point for assessing DE&I, measuring progress, linking DE&I efforts to realistic goals, and ensuring sustainable change. For those looking for a starting point with objective data and a full range of diversity metrics, finding the right tool is the key first step.

Remember, effective management begins with precise measurement!