As programs promoting diversity, equity, and an inclusive (DEI) workforce become widespread, the need for analytic support for these initiatives has grown, as well. Statisticians and data scientists now play a vital role in collecting, curating, and analyzing employee data to produce data-driven assessments and recommendations that create and support greater diversity.
Employee initiatives come with a particular set of ground rules. It all starts with the human resources department or, in smaller organizations, the operations lead. As it’s likely your organization already has a DEI initiative, you will want to work within the existing framework.
Begin by reaching out to your department head or manager to discuss how your expertise can help with these important and highly visible initiatives. Most human resources leaders are analytic consumers, not producers. If you are not familiar with working with non-scientists, finding a partner with this experience can help.
The first goal in supporting employee DEI programs is developing strong working relationships with all stakeholders, especially leadership. Only after developing these relationships can work begin on analytics to produce effective results.
As scientific experts, others will look to us for metrics, graphics, and interpretation of statistical results to drive effective implementation. One useful metric is the Diversity Index, recently developed by the US Census Bureau. Created as part of the 2020 census, this metric quantifies the percent likelihood that two persons selected at random will be from different racial and ethnic groups. This can be calculated for the internal workforce, job candidates, and leadership and then compared to local, job section, and national demographics.
One company putting hard numbers behind their DEI efforts is Amazon. Information is collected anonymously, and the compiled data is used to measure progress, identify areas of concern, and guide future efforts. An annual report includes breakdowns for several employee categories, including senior leaders. Previous years are archived so people can see the changes over time. By collecting and reporting diversity data and sharing it publicly, Amazon demonstrates what is possible with DEI metrics in the workplace.
DEI advocates and leaders can share this example with their management as a guide in developing their own metrics. Our expertise as data leaders makes us an invaluable resource for any company working to develop a strong, well-informed, and effective DEI program while ensuring data is collected and reported in a secure manner and in keeping with ethical standards for data management.
Keeping these principles in mind can go a long way toward making your support for DEI initiatives a productive and rewarding experience.
David Corliss
With a PhD in statistical astrophysics, David Corliss works as a data scientist in industry. He serves on the ASA Board as a Council of Chapters representative and is the founder of Peace-Work, a data for good nongovernmental organization.
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