Diversity Collegium Offers 2014 Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks Tool at No Cost
Seattle, WA (PRWEB) March 12, 2014 -- How does an organization know if its diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts are high quality and really worthwhile? What are the standards to judge by? A practical tool provides answers to these basic questions.
"The Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks (GDIB) is one of the first comprehensive tools to explain what creating inclusive organizations is all about," says Lynda White, president of The Diversity Collegium. The Collegium is now the first and primary sponsor of the Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks, which can be used by any size and type of organization in the world. “And there is no cost to the user," adds White.
"The Benchmarks tool can be seen as a roadmap for organizations in all sectors, regardless of D&I approaches and regardless of whether they work internationally or not," says Julie O'Mara, one of the co-authors. She believes the tool will encourage organizations to strive to achieve world-class diversity and inclusion outcomes. And what's the benefit? "Outstanding practices and systems that meet organizational goals," asserts Alan Richter, co-author.
The tool's thirteen categories are considered essential to most any Diversity and Inclusion effort — at least that's the view of the 80 expert panelists that contributed to the Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks. Divided into four groups: (Foundation, Bridging, Internal, and External), some of the categories are: Leadership and Accountability; Products and Services Development; Assessment, Measurement, and Research; Recruitment, Development and Advancement; and Social Responsibility. Each category is divided into five levels—from 0% reflecting no work being done to 100% reflecting best practices.
Organizations are discovering the versatility the Global D&I Benchmarks tool has to offer.
“Diversity & Inclusion are the strategic catalysts that will help MassMutual grow and thrive into the future,” says Lorie Valle-Yañez, vice president and chief diversity officer at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. “They are infused in our business strategy and manifested across MassMutual's marketplace, distribution, workforce and workplace. In addition, diversity and inclusion are integrated in our customer service, product development and marketing, community responsibility and job design,” she explains. “As we work to transform MassMutual to a leading inclusive, customer-focused culture, the GDIB benchmarks are essential in allowing us to track both our progress and our opportunities.” To find out more about MassMutual’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, view its diversity and inclusion annual report.
“This tool will help guide institutions of higher education in assessing their diversity and inclusion efforts,” says Sidalia G. Reel, Ed.D., director of Staff Diversity Initiatives, Office of the Vice Chancellor, Equity & Inclusion, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.” At UC Berkeley, we are at the midpoint of implementing our Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Strategic Plan and this tool will provide key metrics and benchmarks as we measure our progress,” she states. A copy of UC Berkeley’s Equity and Diversity Strategic Plan is available online.
The GDIB has also gained traction in South Africa where Nene Molefi, managing director of Mandate Molefi, Johannesburg, has used the tool with a variety of clients in oil, mining, manufacturing, construction, financial services, and academic institutions. She frames it this way, “For far too long organizations have regarded D&I as a 'program' that contains a list of activities to be undertaken and checked off as ‘done.’ The GDIB offers a unique opportunity to leverage diversity and promote inclusion at multiple levels. The practical steps and incremental nature of the tool provides a clear sense of where you are and where you want to be.”
Effective ways to use the Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks in an organization include setting agreed upon standards; assessing the internal current state of D&I practices against benchmarks; engaging employees; determining both short and long term goals; measuring progress; and assisting in hiring D&I staff and consultants. Use can be customized for these different purposes based on the importance to the mission of the organization.
Julie O’Mara and Alan Richter, Ph.D., along with 80 expert panelists from around the world, developed the GDIB. It is sponsored by The Diversity Collegium and made available, following the required request for permission, at no cost to the user. The Collegium website features GDIB user tools, applications, articles, and other helpful information.
The Diversity Collegium is a twenty-year-old nonprofit think tank of practitioners, scholars and leaders whose mission is to advance the field of Diversity and Inclusion through dialogues, symposia, research and publications. The first Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks was published in 2006, with updates in 2011 and 2014.
Julie O’Mara, Author, GDIB, and Emeritus Member, The Diversity Collegium, http://www.diversitycollegium.org, +1 702-335-9959, [email protected]
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