Using Stratigens to guide your Diversity Strategy

What’s the problem?

Companies are still failing on diversity equality and inclusion. The benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace are well documented “Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity (often referred to as corporate diversity) are 36% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians” and “companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 25% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians” (McKinsey, 2020). This is not about arbitrary targets or quotas – this is about business success.

A lack of data insight means companies are setting targets yet failing to access diverse skills pools.

What can organisations do to address these challenges?

Leaders in their markets are using technology to give them global visibility on the supply and demand for skills. Technology that breaks down the pools of talent by skill, ethnicity, age and gender – targeted data based on the skills they need, supplemented with the wider population diversity, essential to ensure inclusion and diversity at workplaces such as yours.

This helps them to see where the untapped pools of talent are and to benchmark this against their internal populations. Knowing where the pockets of diverse talent are, both in terms of location and skill, means leaders can use diversity data to make strategic resourcing decisions and use the data to know where the diversity dial can be turned quickly, and where a longer-term strategy is needed.

No leadership team would set a financial target without the data to inform the decision, so why do so for diversity. Using external data on the diversity of the skills needed to run a successful business helps to understand where and how to change the make-up of your organisation. It is only in combining workforce with workplace data that an organisation can access the insight they need to be a more competitive organisation on today’s diverse world.

At Stratigens, we believe that to get the whole picture, companies must have:

Data on these five areas

Through at least these 12 data points:

1. Diversity breakdown of the supply of the skills needed:
   • The number of people with the skills needed in a location, broken down by age, gender and ethnicity so an internal: external benchmark can be created across functions (using diversity and inclusion metrics)
   • The online sources of profiles for the skills needed so talent acquisition teams can focus sourcing and engagement efforts to actively turn the dial in functions where the external population shows this can be achieved
2. Total population diversity data:
   • The breakdown of the total external population by ethnicity, religion and gender to give an understanding of the broader picture
3. Diversity regulatory environment:
   • The level of protection for those with disabilities to ensure an inclusive environment can be provided
   • The strength of laws around gender equality
4. Which companies are competing for the same talent:
   • Which companies have the most people with the skills needed so talent acquisition teams have a target list for attraction and hiring
   • The industries that employ the most people with the skills needed, so hiring managers can see aligned verticals for acquisition purposes
   • In an ideal scenario, which companies have the highest number of female executives and the top three companies for female talent
5. In a borderless talent market, scarce skills will congregate in places that are attractive to talent so understanding data points such:
   • Cost of living and house prices
   • The quality of life and healthcare
   • The quality of air and pollution levels
   • The amount of time that may be spent commuting

And lastly, technology that interprets the data and gives recommendations based on the whole picture.

If companies do not look through all these lenses to make decisions, they are not seeing the big picture and risk making ill informed decisions. (creating a diversity and inclusion strategy is fundamental to this)

Why Stratigens?

Stratigens gives business leaders external data to connect the dots between strategy, location, business continuity and skills. We've done the hard work of analysing thousands of credible data sources so you can answer questions on skills supply, real estate, diversity and market entry. (We compile all the data you need to build your own diversity equity and inclusion strategic planning) We provide the evidence to enable quicker critical business decisions, revolutionised in their logic and simplicity.

To see how Stratigens informs diversity strategy watch our short video here.