The Challenge
This organization were at the start of their D&I journey and had yet to formally create a clear strategy to support diversity and inclusion in their workplace. They were aware of the evidence which showed that the top talent within their sector were increasingly favoring organizations with a strong voice regarding inclusion so they wanted to make driving inclusive practices a business priority.
Prior to beginning the groundwork they realised that they did not have a good understanding of what other organizations within their sector were doing in regards to action for inclusion and how effective the outcomes were. This information could both inform the business case, but also provide a starting point and benchmark for progress when it comes to ‘catching up’ with other leading healthcare organizations.
Although their immediate focus was on direct competition within the sector, they were also aware that the healthcare industry as a whole was not best in class when it came to diversity and inclusion, so they were also interested in a wider best practice to put findings within a greater context and stretch their ambitions when it comes to progress.
The Solutions
We conducted the research based around eight key areas of D&I strategy including everything from communications and internal D&I infrastructure, to responses to the Black Lives Matter movement’s upsurge in June 2020. 13 organizations were examined in detail which included the client, 10 agreed competitors within the sector, and 2 organizations outside of the sector who we knew were very advanced in their D&I strategy and would act as an aspirational benchmark for action.
Each organization was scored out of 5 in each area to point to individual best practice, and then listed against total score to draw attention to those with a comprehensive D&I strategy.
Our comprehensive report detailed actions, approaches and work to date across all eight dimensions providing a benchmark for D&I across the sector. An overarching summary of key trends across the sector for each area was also produced.
Finally we put forward five key priorities to the client for action in areas where they were behind competitors. Working collaboratively with the client these were converted into a practical roadmap for implementation to ensure that the research project became a catalyst for targeted action.
