How will corporate America maintain the momentum of diversity, equity, and inclusion in 2023? More than two years ago, employers began making public commitments to increase diversity in their workforces. With a new year ahead, those same companies are looking for ways to embed equity and inclusion into company culture to preserve the diversity in their ranks.

“Organizations and organizational leaders are gaining perspective. They’ve made commitments, particularly over the last two years, to be intentional about increasing diverse representation in their organizations,” said Kevin McFall, who is a solution manager for belonging and diversity at Workday, which makes enterprise management software. “They’re now faced with understanding how to keep and optimize, and ultimately ensure that there’s business impact happening as a result of this increase in diverse representation.”

I interviewed McFall for a webinar hosted by From Day One last month on diversity and inclusion trends in 2022 and beyond, in which he presented Workday’s global blueprint for belonging and diversity, which draws on data from the Workday Peakon Employee Voice, a continuous listening platform. In our conversation, we explored the current state of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and where it’s headed.

McFall said that he hears from chief HR officers and chief diversity officers that they’ve increased representation in their organizations, but express uncertainty about what comes next. “We don’t know how our workforce is actually feeling when they come to work, or when they’re working remotely or as hybrid workers, and we need to close the gap between employee expectations and workplace realities,” McFall said of leaders’ concerns.

This is backed up by Workday’s research. In a survey of more than 3,100 business leaders across 23 countries, the company found that though 76% of leaders report having a budget for DEI initiatives and 35% indicate that those budgets will increase, only 20% measure the impact and value of their DEI initiatives, and 39% say that they don’t have a strategic approach to DEI at all.

McFall said the problem is limiting DEI efforts to the HR department. “There’s more to be done to create an atmosphere and culture where organizations find it to be not only the right thing to do, but a strong business imperative,” he said.

In his presentation, McFall encouraged employers to move beyond merely celebrating diversity to holding it up against measurable goals. “[It’s] time to treat D&I like other business imperatives within an organization with insight, strategies, processes, and technology, like we see applied in other key areas of organizations,” McFall said. 

Gathering the Data  

In order to understand how people feel about working in your organization and to hold your DEI work to a measurable standard, you have to have data, of course. But as Workday’s research found, employees are apprehensive about how their personal data might be used, and that can stand in the way of collection. 

“The opportunity is communication at the core and being as transparent as possible about the intended use of the data, particularly organizations who are seeking to build trust with their workforce, and have a genuine intent to foster a culture of belonging and inclusion,” McFall said.

Companies will be challenged by their geography as well. Cultural expectations and compliance requirements will limit data collection in some areas. McFall noted that employers should look for all allowable moments of self-identification. 

He encouraged the use of sentiment data, and said that Workday surveys every single week “with a set of about six questions to provide perspective about either the week or a broader period, to ensure that we’re able to convey our perspective and enable our managers and people leaders to understand what’s happening, and then to begin to take action and proactively address issues before they impact the business.”

The company asks questions like, “Do you feel comfortable bringing issues to your manager?” And, “Do you feel like your work is recognized and rewarded?”

Using the Data to Show Progress

The goal of generating such a large record is to build what McFall calls an “evidence-based approach to DEI,” or one that relies on data points that can be tracked and studied over time.

Employers need to gather this information across the workforce. It’s easier and more common now than it was 15 years ago to collect data on incoming employees about why they’re interested in your organization and how they feel about their experience, but longer-tenured employees may get left out of those new processes. “When you have people that have already been in an organization for five, ten years prior to you establishing some of your data collection or self-ID initiatives, then you have to go back and communicate the value proposition and the rationale for asking for this data.”

So, what will be the most significant challenge to DEI in 2023? According to McFall, it’s the need for people to feel “comfortable identifying who they are within the workforce and how they show up.”

“When our organizations change, society changes for the better as well,” he said. “It remains an opportunity for organizations to stay committed to change and leverage the perspectives of the diverse talent in the workplace, and it’s going to yield the outcomes that will make everyone happier.”

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Workday, who sponsored this webinar.

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance reporter who covers the future of work, HR, recruiting, DEI, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Fast Company, Quartz at Work, Digiday’s Worklife, and Food Technology, among others.