“Equity Audits identify gaps in equity data and help put that information into action.”
Mark Brim/General Manager/Global SVP of Aquent's Services industry group, Aquent
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace is a top priority for employees and employers. Aquent’s Mark Brim shared his views and insights on this topic in a recent article he wrote for Employee Benefit News (EBN). Mark’s piece focuses on the subject of equity audits, a comprehensive benchmarking tool that can be used to assess equity and inclusion broadly within an organization. According to experts, an equity audit is the best way to identify problem areas in hiring, retention, and promotion of underrepresented populations. The article offers concrete guidance for conducting an equity audit. For example, organizations can start by gathering demographic hiring and retention data, as well as human resources demographics. But, Mark adds that the audit must do more than simply collect data that reduces people to numbers and categories. Anonymous internal surveys, focus groups, and interviews should be conducted to gather insights from all rungs of the company ladder. Mark also notes that it’s important for organizations to follow through on their efforts and that they need to do more than just give underrepresented populations an initial opportunity. It’s also important to monitor if those populations are meaningfully achieving professional growth within an organization and have a solid community support system behind them. Mark summarizes that while the business value of diverse teams is well established, additional efforts to ensure intellectual and experiential diversity are paramount to true professional fulfillment.
This article originally appeared on Employee Benefit News (EBN).
