National DEI research provides interesting insights…

Survey drills down into the benefits and opportunities around pursuing a comprehensive DEI strategy, as well as the costs and risks of a partial or fractured approach to DEI.

CPHR Canada recently engaged third-party survey company, RKI Insights to look at the progress organizations are making around the pursuit and implementation of a robust DEI strategy.

Key National Insights Include:

• 82% of HR professionals believe the benefits of an inclusive approach leads to better workplace culture; 68% believe the benefits also include more innovation/creativity; and 66% believe it increases authenticity.

• While senior leadership engagement and commitment is imperative with 81% of HR leaders stating that senior leaders need to support DEI efforts, accountability is spread out across the organization, with 82% of respondents stating senior leaders are accountable; 61% indicating accountability lies with HR departments overall; and 49 percent believing accountability lies with employees.

• Diversity appears to be the secret to retention with 93% of respondents at well-diversified companies indicating this to be so, versus 72% at less-diversified companies.

• In terms of the costs of not pursuing a robust DEI strategy or pursuing a partial DEI program, 70% reported the risk of homogeneity or group think; 61% reported losing access to the best talent; and 55% reported losing current good employees.

• On recruitment, 68% of respondents in well-diversified companies reported that using inclusive language is the top tactic for attracting all available talent (regardless of diversity within senior leadership), and 50% of them are also more likely to ensure their hiring panels are diverse.

• To retain talent from marginalized communities, 53% of respondents at well-diversified companies are much more likely to promote from within and leverage onboarding/mentorship options.

• Respondents also indicate that ensuring diversity at senior levels, through hiring (54%) or promotion (49%), are most commonly viewed as likely to bring change within an organization.

• And when it comes to retention, 41% of respondents at well-diversified companies and 65% at non-diversified companies, indicate that a lack of career advancement opportunities is the top reason for preventable loss of employees, regardless of diversity of senior leadership.

• The second reason cited as a challenge for retention, is mental health challenges due to workload/stress and trouble coping with work challenges, with 26% reporting this to be the case at well diversified companies while 49% reporting as such at non-diversified companies.

HR professionals across the country have a key role in ensuring that DEI efforts are authentic, sustainable, accountable, and evolving, especially since the data shows that DEI intersects with retention, recruitment, engagement, and drives an organization’s corporate culture more closely than it did in the past. Demographic differences also play an important role in how DEI efforts are perceived as well as received.

These are just a few of the valuable insights CPHR BC & Yukon will be using to influence our policies and programs. The full results are available to members on the website here as well as highlights of the national results here.