The 2023 Global DEI Data Summit Highlights

The Global Inclusion Online Forum (GIOF) held its second major event of the year: the DEI Data Summit on July 11, 2023. The summit attracted an attendance of 1,000 virtual participants representing over 60 countries. The summit's nine speakers included diversity chiefs and DEI data leads from Philip Morris International (Switzerland), Aleria (New York), Included (London), Ipsos (Canada), PwC (North America), Diversity Atlas (Australia), and The Winters Group (North Carolina).

The agenda included one interview with Zeynep Ince, global head of inclusion and diversity at Philip Morris International. The interview was conducted by Grace Tong, vice president and equity, diversity and inclusion practice lead at Ipsos North America. The summit also featured six case study presentations from DEI consultants whose expertise is advancing inclusion measurements in the corporate setting around the globe.

First to present was Raafi-Karim Alidina, a consultant, data and product lead at Included, a London-based consulting firm that focuses on both conscious leadership development and unconscious system nudges to make organizations more diverse and inclusive. Raafi-Karim discussed the importance of measuring inclusion in organizations and shared a case study of a financial firm in the UK that made progress in diverse recruitment but faced challenges with attrition and progression. His aptly titled presentation “Quantitatively Measuring Inclusion to Develop Targeted Solutions” advises that organizations measure their inclusion to understand their current state, define success, prioritize actions, and assess effectiveness.

The second event was Zeynep Ince’s interview. Ince highlighted the importance of creating an inclusive workplace to harness the benefits of diversity. When it comes to measuring inclusion, one should consider collaborating with external partners and research institutions, approach diversity metrics mindfully and fairly, and adapt questions based on cultural sensitivities and legal restrictions, while still providing support and engagement opportunities for underrepresented groups.

Third to present was our very own Big Ideas officer and CFC’s COO, Kostiantyn Gridin. He laid out the methodology of setting realistic diversity goals and ways to create more transparency while achieving them. Many companies focus on increasing representation without analyzing their specific talent pools, growth projections, or workforce composition. Kostiantyn suggests three key steps for setting realistic representation goals: measure talent pools, evaluate hiring and retention rates among different demographic groups, and make projections based on that data. Additionally, companies should consider fully blind hiring as a method to remove conscious and unconscious biases, instead focusing on candidates’ skills and abilities.

After Kostiantyn’s presentation, the virtual DEI Data Summit broke into networking groups where attendees interacted with each other and with event sponsors.

After the networking break, we heard from Paolo Gaudiano, co-founder and chief scientist at Aleria, a New York-based DEI software development company. He used a computer simulation to illustrate the impact of exclusion on organizational diversity and satisfaction, emphasizing that inclusive organizations are more diverse and perform better. Paolo concluded by highlighting the need to embrace intersectionality when measuring and addressing inclusion and belongingness, using those data and insights to develop strategies for building inclusive cultures within organizations.

Fifth to present was our event sponsor, Diversity Atlas, whose director of diversity, equity, and inclusion Roman Ruzbacky and CTO/project director Rezza Moieni gave a joint presentation: “Addressing Diversity Fatigue in Data Analysis and Reporting Impacting Decision Making.” The speakers discussed the resistance and challenges faced in collecting and analyzing diversity data, as well as the impact of poor analysis and masking. The presentation concluded with a discussion on the role of technology in supporting diversity analysis and the importance of sharing diversity data with the corporate community.

The sixth presentation was by Thamara Subramanian, equity audit and strategy manager at The Winters Group, a global diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice consulting firm based in North Carolina, USA. Her presentation on using qualitative data to unpack the root causes of injustice discussed the limitations of traditional data collection methods and highlighted the need to give voice to marginalized groups whose experiences may not fit into predefined categories.

To conclude, Grace Tong and Olivia Nuamah delivered a joint presentation on measuring pay equity to take action on structural and implicit bias within an organisation. Grace is the DEI VP at Ipsos while Olivia is the national inclusion, diversity and belonging lead at PwC Canada. They emphasized that pay equity is increasingly relevant to organizations and governments, and even well-intentioned organizations can have hidden biases contributing to inequity. Using mock data, they discussed the different measures of pay equity, including the unadjusted pay gap and the adjusted pay gap.

That was it for our second major event of the year! We look forward to seeing you at our next one!

The DEI Data Summit was proudly sponsored by Diversity Atlas, a unique diversity data analysis platform that provides insight into cultural and demographic diversity within an organization. They have the most inclusive database of humanity’s various facets, with over 45,000 ethno-linguistic religions, worldviews, and demographic attributes with which people can truly express their identities. Diversity Atlas provides instant deep analysis for DEI admins, who can see hundreds of reports and deep-diving diversity facts.

https://diversityatlas.io/

We are also excited to announce that you can still access the DEI Data Summit session recordings, transcript, and a special toolkit, which includes a summary and key advice from our speakers here: https://inclusionforum.global/~diversity~data~summit/

Best,

Global Inclusion Online Forum
Organizing Team

Contact: inclusionforum.global@cfcbigideas.com CC: vmu@cfcbigideas.com