The Future of Diversity in the Workplace: Automation

When I first started working in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) field nearly 20 years ago, the work was slow going and tedious. I conducted many interviews and audits with many employees and created far too many spreadsheets that probably still exist on a zip drive of a bottom file drawer of a forgetful CEO who probably didn’t look at them in the first place.

Over the years, I saw far too many of these audits go nowhere because companies don’t know what to do with the information once they have access to the data. CEOs wanted to appear to support diversity, but the plans I created were rarely implemented into the overall strategies. Companies have to be serious about their commitment and understand that it takes about five years to execute a solid DEI strategy. And they also have to be willing to undertake the process with humility, recognize their own biases, and make significant changes within themselves, their HR policies, and their day-to-day operations.

About five years ago, I started to feel an extreme heaviness from experiencing and witnessing the struggles of marginalized populations, especially with young adults who were facing the same struggles as I had and was continuing to do so. My response was to solve it. And in order to solve it, I had to identify how such discrimination existed in the world.

Thus was born the idea for Inclusology, a software platform for assessment, benchmarking, demographic data analysis, and solutions for DEI.

I started looking at the numbers and let them tell me a story—a story that identified trends that show the impact of inequity on workplace performance broken down by gender identity and race. I used this data to change the approach of our team and admissions process into our program. Within months, we saw an increase of who was getting in the door, specifically more students of Black and Indigenous People of Color, women, individuals with disabilities, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ populations, and the results helped reignite my love of science, specifically numbers that tell a story into the issues of inequities that are created by systems, both human and computerized.

Inclusology was born.

Inclusology has some incredible features that help companies save a significant amount of money in employee turnover. Especially for marginalized populations.

Over the last five years, attrition caused by a lack of attention paid to DEI has cost companies $271 billion, disproportionately affecting Black and Indigenous People of Color, women, LGBTQIA+ populations, individuals with disabilities, and more. Inclusology, which combines everything my team and I have learned about DEI and powerful software tools, can significantly reduce risk while increasing employee retention to help organizations become stronger. With this problem in mind, we have been working tirelessly to build a solution that will help companies overcome issues related to DEI. Below are some of the features of the platform.

Figure 1: Assessment

Figure 2: Employee Engagement

Figure 3: Industry Ranking

In our program and our work with teams, we were able to build processes that supported these populations all the way to the graduation of our technical program. I knew I had something there. I remember the first time I created a system that evaluated trends by demographics and created assessments that allowed for more equitable practices. To see the outcomes change helped me to realize I was onto something. Since then, I’ve been building methodologies that have improved this process in my other businesses for our clients.

I realized that awareness leads to action, and informed awareness increases equitable outcomes.

The main goal of Inclusology is to build a community of practice that is consistent, kind, and fair to companies and all employees across industry and education. Humans need reliable support systems, and Inclusology is intrinsically reliable. Inclusology is undergoing a soft launch on January 11, 2021 for our beta customers and will be available for public purchase on January 30, 2021. If you are interested and would like to learn more please sign up for our waitlist located on our website.

Interested in putting action behind your values? Check out our newest workshop series:

The More Inclusive New Normal: A DEI Series for People Leaders

We’ve designed a one of a kind program, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, to help companies deliver on the imperative of increasing inclusion and decreasing racism in their organizations. All sessions will be designed and facilitated by Cheryl.

To learn more or join the waitlist, enter your information here 

Guest Post by: Dr. Cheryl Ingram. Cheryl is a diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist and founder and CEO of Inclusology and Diverse City LLC.