Psychosocial Empowerment: The Power of Pulse Surveys in Capturing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Progress

Margaret Bellinder
Building Organizational Culture Intergenerational Diversity

Measuring DEI Objectives

Ostensibly, organizations today value diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across the board. They track minority representation within their departments and hold training about inclusive culture to meet quotas. Yet in the absence of DEI investment through policies and structure the social change remains unrealized. Internally employees are hesitant to contribute their ideas, micro-aggressions strip teams of trust, and the payroll reflects unequal pay across demographic groups. Woke-washing cultural values in this way is met with employee perception of injustice, which interferes with their performance, psychological wellness, and organizational commitment (Kafka, 2023).

It is increasingly necessary for companies to meet DEI objectives to empower their employees and teams. Gen Zers are oriented around the value of diversity and sensitive to the state of their psychological wellbeing at work (Petrie, 2020; ZenBusiness, 2023). Evaluating the psychosocial health of an organization with empirical DEI metrics is necessary to reach DEI objectives (Hinton & Lambert, 2022) . Pulse surveys are often used to gather continuous feedback on the health of DEI culture. Utilizing the feedback from these surveys can prompt DEI strategy refresh, keeping organizations closely aligned with their DEI objectives (Romansky et al., 2021). Below are some valid pulse surveys that offer a litmus-test of organizational DEI health. They are designed to be used over time to continuously monitor the DEI Health of an organization.

Table of Contents

  • Leaderfactor Webinar
  • Garter Inclusion Index
  • Belonging Barometer
  • GovLoop Article

Leaderfactor Webinar

To varying degrees, employees hold confidence that their ideas and expressions will be accepted in the workplace. Psychological safety is a psychosocial construct that equates to the strength of this confidence (LeaderFactor, 2020). The LeaderFactor Four Stages of Psychological Safety Survey measures four dimensions of psychological safety: inclusion, learner, contributor, and challenger. These dimensions are derived from an operational model that considers psychological safety a staged progression (Leaderfactor, 2020). LeaderFactor offers extensive materials and information around this topic and how to implement it as a pulse survey. Their webinar on measuring psychological safety in the link below breaks the model down further and discusses the research behind it.

See Leaderfactor Tools

Garter Inclusion Index

Measuring seven main drivers of inclusion, the Gartner Inclusion Index offers insights into the state of inclusion and diversity together in a single assessment (Romansky et al., 2021). Factors such as fair treatment, collaboration, trust, and integrating differences are included to comprehensively assess employee perceptions around these areas (Freischmann, n.d.). The report by Fleischmann (n.d.) includes the Gartner index, along with alternative composite assessments that are often used to evaluate DEI according to the International Institute of Management Development.

See Garter Inclusion Index

Belonging Barometer

In workplace characterized as inclusive, one would expect people to be their authentic self and feel emotionally connected to others in a reciprocity of respect. These outcomes are considered facets of belonging- where an individual perceives themselves in harmony with their environment (The American Immigration Counsil [AIC], 2023). The Belonging Barometer (B2) is a tool developed by the AIC (2023) to enable organizations to improve belonging in their circles. The tool is included in the following report, which also highlights findings from a nationwide study of belonging

See Belonging Barometer

GovLoop Article

In a four-part series, Tozay (2023) discusses how to implement the barometer in conjunction with DEI strategy in a workplace setting in the article link below. This includes references to pulse survey best practices and supportive measures that facilitate a fuller understanding of how employees relate to their work environment

See Govloop Article

Discover Valuable DEI Insights

nto why each measure matters in an organizational context and provides tutorials on methodology to improve the state of DEI in the workplace. In summary, here are some considerations that will inform your tool selection.

  • Scope of the DEI Objective to Evaluate: Naturally, ensuring the measure is relevant to the specific objectives outlined by the DEI program is necessary to measure progress towards the respective initiative
  • Limitations and Strengths: Some assessments leave out content that may be important to the organization, such as leader inclusivity, or are less accessible than others
  • Length and Pulse Internal: If the interval between assessments is relatively short, then selecting a shorter questionnaire may be preferable
  • Depth or Breadth: How much specificity is desired and how many elements are relevant to the DEI objective at hand.

Reviewing these articles and reports can guide decision makers in determining which tools align with the DEI construct they intend to measure in support of their program initiatives. Find a focus- the pulse of DEI in the company- and monitor employee perspectives over time to asses the health of DEI culture in the organization.

Reference List

  • Fleischmann, A. (n.d.). State of the art: Defining and measuring inclusion and inclusive leadership (Inclusive Future). International Institute of Management Development. https://www.pmi.com/resources/docs/default-source/inclusive-future/inclusive_future_part_1.pdf?sfvrsn=299fa6b7_2
  • Hinton, A., & Lambert, W. M. (2022). Moving diversity, equity, and inclusion from opinion to evidence. Cell Reports Medicine, 3(4), 100619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100619
  • Kafka, A. M. (2023). Seeing through woke-washing: Effects of projected diversity values and leader racial diversity on equity in workplace outcomes. Consulting Psychology Journal, 75(1), 94–118. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000237
  • Leaderfactor. (2020, August 10). How to Measure Psychological Safety – LeaderFactor. Leaderfactor. https://www.leaderfactor.com/webinars/how-to-measure-psychological-safety
  • Petrie, S. (2020, August 25). Gen Z In The workplace: Connections, diversity, and ethics. Tallo. https://tallo.com/blog/gen-z-in-the-workplace-connections-diversity-ethics/
  • Romansky, L., Garrod, M., Brown, K., & Deo, K. (2021, May 27). How to measure inclusion in the workplace. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-to-measure-inclusion-in-the-workplace
  • The American Immigration Counsil. (2023). The belonging barometer: The state of belonging in America. American Immigration Council. council.org/sites/default/files/research/the_belonging_barometer_-_the_state_of_belonging_in_america.pdf
  • Tozay, K. (2023, June 7). Belonging Part 3: Three Ways to Measure a Sense of Belonging in the Workplace. GovLoop. https://www.govloop.com/community/blog/belonging-part-3-three-ways-to-measure-a-sense-of-belonging-in-the-workplace/
  • ZenBusiness. (2023). New ZenBusiness research finds class of 2023 sees neurodiversity as an asset in leadership & is primed to be the most entrepreneurial. Business Wire (English).