Fifty-six global organisations have joined a “ground breaking” alliance that supports a new universal standard to measure diversity, inclusion and equity (DE&I) progress, confirmed non-profit Catalyst. Companies signing up to the Gender and Diversity KPI Alliance (GDKA) agree to adopt a universal standard to measure DE&I progress through a set of key performance indicators (KPIs).
According to Catalyst, measurement is vital for making true progress. But until now there was no universal standard for measuring DE&I in organisations. That’s why it launched GDKA, together with Working Mother Media, Ascend, ELC, Equilar, Frost Included, Gender Fair, HACR, LEAP and the WBC.
“Measurement is a critical component of creating an environment of DE&I in workplaces that allow all employees to thrive. You cannot improve what you cannot measure,” said Catalyst President and CEO Lorraine Hariton, who co-chairs GDKA. “By committing to measuring diversity using these KPIs, corporate leaders are taking the steps necessary to drive change. These companies serve as role models for others, demonstrating that leadership and accountability start at the top.”
MEASURES TO EVALUATE PROGRESS
By signing up to GDKA, companies commit to implement three key performance indicators to evaluate diversity in their organisation. They include:
- Percentage of representation on an organisation’s board.
- Percentage of representation by employee category.
- Pay equality: the ratio of compensation by employee category (e.g. equal pay for equal work).
The KPIs will enable leaders and managers to track the progress of women and underrepresented groups through their organisation. “This effort helps organisations gauge their progress over time, which is a critical step toward achieving true corporate diversity,” shared Working Mother Media President Subha Barry, who co-chairs GDKA. “The GDKA KPIs provide a common way to monitor and track representation and pay equality so that employers can better develop their talent pipelines, and create more inclusive cultures to achieve better business performance and more equitable workplaces.”
GDKA ALLIANCE MEMBERS
Bank of America is one of the companies that has signed up to the initiative. “Consistent, transparent disclosure of human capital management metrics is important for all of our stakeholders, including our shareholders and our employees,” said Bank of America’s Chief Human Resources Officer Sheri Bronstein “We’re glad to support GDKA in its work to align with the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics of the World Economic Forum, which will help companies across different sectors demonstrate progress for all stakeholders in advancing diverse representation at each workforce level.”
Sodexo’s Global Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Margot Slattery, also shared the value of signing up to the Alliance. “We engage with the GDKA and commit to adopt the defined KPIs as they will strengthen our current rigorous efforts on measurement of our progress towards gender equality and women empowerment. The GDKA is thus a welcome initiative and will add great value to all its members by establishing a common framework to measure and raise standards across the alliance.”
The other 54 companies that have signed up to the GDKA include: ABB, Accenture, ADP, Ancestry, Aptar, Baker McKenzie, Barilla, Bell Canada, Boston Consulting Group, Boston Scientific, Capital One, Chevron, Citi, City of Edmonton, Dell Technologies, Deloitte, Dentons, Dow, DuPont, Ecolab, EY, Flex, Genpact, Google, Granite Construction, Guardian Life Insurance, H&R Block, Hillrom, Hilti North America, Horizon BCBSNJ, Humana, IKEA Retail (Ingka Group), JPMorgan Chase & Co., Kimberly-Clark, KPMG LLP, McGill University, Medtronic, Merck, Morgan Stanley, Nationwide, Newell Brands, Northwestern Mutual, Pfizer, Pitney Bowes, Procter & Gamble, Progress Software, PwC, TechnipFMC, The Coca-Cola Company, Uber, UPS, Visa, Whirlpool and Wipro Limited.
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