Staff Management Toolkit

Diversity Audit

 

The first step in determining the diversity-related needs in your organization is to conduct a diversity audit. This will allow you to identify the current strengths and weaknesses in regards to diversity and inclusion exhibited by your organization, and help you to create a plan to address areas for improvement. There are four steps involved in the conducting the audit.

 

1. Develop a scope. Write one concise sentence that describes the purpose for the audit. A sample scope could be “This audit seeks to evaluate current diversity initiatives in the company”.

2. Identify what information you will need to conduct the audit. Possible resources could be employee questionnaires, focus groups, or company documents.

3. Establish an audit team and timeline. Team members responsible for the audit should be clearly identified and understand their roles. Set a timeline for completing the audit and for addressing its findings.

4. Communicate the goals and results of the audit to staff. Employees should be aware of the audit at all stages to ensure their participation and increase accountability for the auditing team. 

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Creating a Plan

 

After conducting the diversity audit, the next step in improving diversity and inclusion in your work place is to develop a strategic plan for moving forward. There are five steps for creating the strategic plan.

 

1. Create a task force with representatives from all organizational levels. Do not rely solely on high-ranked members of the company.

2. Review the results of the audit. This collected data will guide the team in identifying what areas to focus on.

3. Create a list of goals for improving diversity. Try to create a short list of goals that can be divided up into short-term and long-term.

4. Compile an action plan for achieving goals. The action items for this plan should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-specific) goals.

5. Decide who is responsible for overseeing each goal and what resources they will need. 

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Implementing a Corporate Policy for Diversity and Inclusion

 

In order to live out the company values of diversity and inclusion, it is necessary that there are accessible policies and procedures that reflect these ideals.  These policies will not only outline the manager’s responsibility to employees, but also address how employees should treat one another. There are five key steps in implementing a diversity and inclusion policy.

 

1. Ask employees how they wish to be treated by their colleagues and superiors.

2. Search for key themes among the employees’ answers.

3. Write a policy that includes the list of employee-identified behaviors.

4. Determine how to communicate this policy to employees and what trainings are necessary.

5. Deliver the policy training to staff and facilitate conversations about corporate diversity.