Among the survey findings:

Companies are making changes to advance diversity. To achieve greater diversity in hiring, the most common tactic is using an online platform to evaluate applications at scale (45 percent), followed by eliminating bias in job postings (43 percent). Other approaches include posting jobs via non-traditional outlets (37 percent), replacing educational requirements with core competencies (36 percent) and standardizing interview questions (34 percent).
The pandemic shaped companies' long-term approaches. Six in 10 employers said they provided accommodations, opportunities and tools for employees to succeed based on their specific needs, and more than half said they introduced flexible policies. Fifty-two percent also worked to make sure employee pay was equal across titles or positions.
Inclusion efforts are becoming more formalized. More than half have formalized a DEI strategy for their organization, while 47 percent have created or reviewed their existing DEI policies and communicated them to employees. In addition, 44 percent have made actionable changes to hiring policies.
Employers are improving communications. To convey their ongoing DEI initiatives to employees, employers are adding descriptions of their DEI efforts to their homepage (64 percent), sharing changes across companywide channels (51 percent) and updating their employee handbooks to reflect changes (45 percent)
HR and managers share the responsibility of keeping employees Informed. In addition to providing proactive communication, most employers reported that managers and HR teams are sharing the burden when it comes to DEI inquiries from employees. Sixty-seven percent of organizations instruct employees to discuss questions with their direct manager, and 73 percent urge employees to reach out to the HR team.

"What's key to remember is that DEI is not a project or a problem to solve — it's an ongoing, ever-evolving effort that involves every individual at an organization and touches nearly every aspect of work," the report concluded. "To see long-term change, we need to keep moving forward, measuring results, learning from past results and, of course, correcting as needed."

Instant Insights /

More than half of employers say DEI a high priority: survey

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