How does PwC implement data to manage their D&I strategy?

An international survey of business, diversity & inclusion and HR leaders from various enterprises was performed by PwC to get an insight into their D&I initiatives and the resultant influence on the experience of the employees. With more than nine hundred and eighty-two feedbacks across twenty-five industries and five territories, the statistics of the survey shows that although the companies are dedicated to the program, they are having problems in developing a diverse and inclusive labour force. To promote the awareness related to these challenges, they are publishing a three-part blog on bringing the D&I vision into effect.

The opening blog in this chain concentrated on incorporating D&I into business strategy. The second blog centered on integrating D&I into talent lifecycle. The final blog will focus on using data & analytics to the maximum for developing, bringing off and managing the D&I strategy.

Making Use of Data & Analytics in your D&I Strategy and Implementation

There is hardly any doubt in the fact that D&I is a crucial element in an enterprise’ overall talent policy. As a matter of fact, seventy-eight percent of CEOs have witnessed an enhanced ability for innovation because of D&I investments.

For creating, supervising and managing the D&I strategy, as well as, achieving the anticipated profits, leveraging D&I statistics & analytics with a timely and continuous approach is an absolute must for the companies. The D&I Maturity Model of PwC has its base in ‘Understanding the Facts of Today’ which is an initiative to focus on an ongoing process for self-assessment by utilising powerful data & analytics. While this is an important facet of a mature D&I scheme, only sixteen percent of enterprises surveyed entitled themselves as “mature” in this department.

The cornerstone for building an assessable D&I strategy calls for:

• Taking advantage of data-driven decision-making (prescriptive and descriptive).
• Keeping an eye on external trends to estimate against inside, as well as, outside your niche.
• Getting to the bottom of your company’s analytics potential from a process, data, tools and people’s point of view.

Taking Advantage of Data-driven Decision-making

Availing data-driven decision-making viewpoint sanctions enterprises to forge unbiased decisions that heighten return on talent investments from the viewpoint of D&I. As a result, it leads to more active employees and an improved brand, which corresponds to enhanced financial performance. The international survey conducted by PwC displays that only forty percent of organisations gather details on variation in performance rankings by race, gender and/or other aspects of diversity, for instance, age. Thirty percent accumulate details on promotion or compensation variations across diversity features. As it happens, just twenty percent collect consumer response on their diversity measures, which can be a remarkable source of data to learn about a company’s external D&I image and how that influences spending decisions.

D&I data & analytics surpass the easy tracking of diverse headcount modifications and helps businesses to find trends of particular populations. These metrics should define the present D&I state of your enterprise and its department. Also, it comprehends preemptive and proactive steps like calculating gender pay equality. This viewpoint authorises management to proactively face diversity affairs that may have a detrimental effect on the business.

Legislation all over the world is also motivating organisations to make the most of data & analytics to critically monitor their compensation activities. Some of the examples consist of the Switzerland’s Gender Equality Act, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority entailing compulsory gender pay gap reporting and the California Equal Pay Act. Organisations are analysing their profits and remunerations to evaluate important pay variation factors and to discover whether pay variation is regulated by a reflection of inequality or performance.

Learning about your firm’s D&I analytics maturity

The development of D&I analytics begins with illustrative data and moves forward to tactical reporting and predictive analytics.

When a firm’s analytic abilities depend on the D&I maturity spectrum, it can greatly affect what kind of data the enterprise receives and their capability to pre-empt trends influencing the talent market. Illustrative data on workforce populations can help companies to acquire an enhanced understanding of the present condition of their D&I programs. 

At a more developed stage, firms can leverage analytics for gaining insights into performance and behaviour drivers, and make use of predictive analysis to take easy actions around the influence of potential business and economic matters. For example, a professional services organisation established an employee planning tool that calculated demand and talent supply for the coming five years. The tool was employed for learning the ways to make their hiring and talent management strategy better, in order to boost the pipeline of variegated leaders. The functionality and adaptability of the tool helped this organisation to forge real-time decisions that made their overall talent strategy and long-term business health better.

Calculating external data and trends to improve your D&I strategy

Independent benchmarking helps companies to observe their competitors and proactively administer their D&I strategy. For instance, with the purpose of keeping pace with rival companies, one financial services institution calculated and carries on to benchmark the diversity profile of their leadership groups against that of their opponents. This application has allowed the enterprise to evaluate and enhance the efficiency of the talent management initiatives they have executed.

Their research reveals that seventy-four percent of male and eight-six percent of female millennials said that an employer’s strategy on D&I is crucial to them while determining whether to work for a company or not. In response, many firms are reacting by socially announcing their dedication to D&I and employing programs, such as D&I training, flexible work arrangements and affinity groups. In short, creating tangible decisions driven by quantitative & qualitative data and measurements are an important foundation for establishing and conveying a successful D&I strategy.

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