How to get a better understanding of your employees with an Inclusion Survey
Is your organisation measuring how inclusive its culture is?
It’s one thing to measure the diversity of the workforce and another thing to understand the culture. Diversity is just one piece of the puzzle. Ideally, you also want to measure employee experiences of equality, inclusion, belonging, fairness and equity.
It’s vital to understand employee experiences if your organisation is genuinely committed to inclusion. Creating a workplace where all people can thrive, no matter what their background or how they identify.
Measuring inclusion isn’t as straightforward as measuring what percentage of women there are or how many employees identify as LGBTQ+ but it is possible.
Let’s explore inclusion surveys, how to get good engagement, what to include and what to do with the findings!
1. How to get good engagement
Don’t collect information that could make employees easily identifiable
With employee surveys, people typically want to know that they will be anonymous and that what they say will be kept confidential. Without this, they might not take part and if they do, they might not be completely honest.
This isn’t just about the employee’s name, other things like job titles can take the anonymity away e.g. if there’s only one Sales Analyst in the company
It’s useful to understand how culture differs for various parts of the organisation. So instead, collect information such as:
Which team/department they’re in
Their level of seniority
Their site or geographical location
Be sure that the number of employees allows you to do this anonymously.
Tip: People may feel more confident responding to a survey that’s hosted by an external provider where confidentiality is guaranteed.
Generate employee buy-in
Tell your people in advance, why you want their feedback. You can do this by referencing your EDI statement or strategy, and explaining how this survey fits into those goals. If you don't have those in place yet, reference your mission and values.
Emphasise that action will be taken in response to the findings.
Consider using wording like: ‘As an organisation, we are working to create an inclusive culture and this survey will help us to find out what the challenges are and inform what actions we take.’
Your employees need to know that tangible change is going to come from the responses that they give and that they’re not just filling in surveys as a box-ticking exercise.
“The problem isn’t survey fatigue. It’s inaction fatigue. Your employees get tired of filling in surveys when they don’t see any tangible change as a result.”
Tip: Your inclusion survey doesn’t need to be separate from an existing employee engagement survey. You can simply add new sections to broaden the focus.
Ensure all employees can take part
An employee survey is only useful when it reflects the perspectives of all employees. This means at all levels and across all roles. Think of your employees who work on shop floors, in kitchens, in warehouses etc.
If some of your employees don’t have a laptop, how will they complete the survey?
On a personal mobile device? Or will there be a drop-in where they can access a laptop to complete the survey? When can they set aside time to do it? Be clear about how they can take part.
The survey should reach as many people as possible, especially those who are less likely to engage and those from underrepresented groups.
2. What to include
Questions that will tell you something
“On a scale of 1 to 5, how inclusive are we?” This shouldn’t be your only question! It doesn’t tell us very much. If employees give a low score, what are they not happy about? If the score is high, what do they think is working well?
Ask questions that give you a clear picture of EDI-related issues. e.g. Are there barriers to progression? Have people experienced discrimination from customers? Do people feel leaders are setting a good example?
A good survey will include questions that allow employees to:
Rate different aspects of working life
Share their experiences of equality, discrimination, accessibility etc
Highlight what matters to them
Make suggestions about what can be done differently
Go beyond multiple choice questions, be sure to include free text boxes for people to type at will. Yes, I’m talking about qualitative data! This is often where the most valuable feedback is found.
Tip: Remind employees how to report specific incidents of discrimination and harassment. Yes, you want to understand if people are having such experiences and the general context. But an anonymous survey isn't the appropriate channel for reporting incidents because direct action can't be taken in response.
Diversity monitoring questions
It's not uncommon for different groups to experience the workplace culture in different ways. Including diversity monitoring questions in your survey allows you to look at who is saying what.
In the UK, the 9 protected characteristics are a good starting point for what questions to ask: age, disability, gender reassignment (trans identity), marriage and civil partnership, race and ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and pregnancy and maternity. Then going further by including questions about social-economic background, caring responsibilities, neurodiversity and mental health. This isn't an exhaustive list, it simply represents some aspects of a person's identity, background or status that could lead to discrimination.
These questions are sensitive and some people will be uncomfortable answering them, even when anonymous. Organisations can work with EDI specialists to understand how best to approach these questions. Using appropriate wording is very important. For each of these questions, we recommend including a "prefer not to say" option.
Tip: Check local legislation and cultural expectations on diversity data monitoring. Some countries have laws against collecting certain data and in other cases, it isn't culturally appropriate to do so.
3. Using the findings
Find the underrepresented voices
We know from research that those who belong to a majority group are less likely to encounter inequality and more likely to feel a sense of belonging. It shouldn't come as a surprise if employees from underrepresented groups share different perspectives than the wider workforce.
So, let's say 90% of your employees rate the organisation a 5 for inclusion (out of 5). For some, this is a reason to celebrate. But what can we learn about the 10% who gave a lower rating? What have their experiences been like? What groups do they represent? It's in digging deeper into those findings that you're likely to find specific workplace challenges that need to be addressed.
More detailed results might look like this:
“On average, our LGBTQ+ employees gave an inclusion rating of 3”
“Our employees with caring responsibilities said this about our flexible working policy”
“Our neurodiverse employees said this about our onboarding process”
Being able to explore the findings with more nuance allows for more focused and specific actions as a result. It takes time to analyse the data in this way but it will add value in the long run by ensuring the action you take addresses relevant issues within your organisation.
Develop your plan and communicate the findings
So now you have the results, how will you share them?
It pays to be transparent about the findings as this builds trust. Rather than sharing the findings on their own, it helps to outline priorities and the next steps.
The board, senior management and other key stakeholders are likely to benefit from a full summary. You can present your findings, identify key takeaways and develop an action plan.
You can also share tailored summaries based on how you segmented the survey per location, department, or team. This can help to hold the respective leaders accountable.
There may be obvious interventions and initiatives that would address the issues highlighted but sometimes it’s unclear what action to take. Consulting with EDI experts can help. It’s also valuable to engage internal EDI committees for ideas or facilitate focus groups to explore some of the findings in more depth.
For the rest of your employees, you can give them a brief summary that covers the main points. It’s likely that they're more interested in what’s going to change. Clearly outline the organisation's commitments. e.g. “You’ve said this, we commit to doing this”.
Tip: Along with the findings, include S.M.A.R.T goals and where relevant highlight upcoming opportunities for employees to get involved e.g. training, working groups, forums etc.
Do the work
Don’t make the mistake of presenting findings and then taking a break! Work with leadership to embed the learnings into the wider organisational strategy wherever possible. In most organisations, the actions shouldn’t just sit with an EDI lead or HR team, they should be owned by various people as it relates to their role and department. This approach is more likely to result in tangible culture change.
When introducing new ways of working, initiatives and processes clearly communicate that they are a result of employee feedback.
Tip: Connecting action with survey results can be as simple as adding, "Based on last year's survey...".
Finally, inclusion surveys are a great way for employees to be candid and open about their experiences and give feedback on how they want to see the organisation change. They help you to determine the successes of your EDI strategy, policies and initiatives. As well as promoting inclusion, developing trust and fostering a culture of feedback.
