What is a Diversity Survey? A Comprehensive Guide

What is a Diversity Survey A Comprehensive Guide

Last Updated on August 10, 2022 by Ossian Muscad

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, most organizations know they need to do better. Most companies employ people of various characteristics and demographics. That’s why it’s extremely important to achieve a broader perspective of your culture and hiring processes. One way to do this is through diversity surveys. Diversity surveys help organizations understand the diversity climate within their company. They also help identify any potential biases in the workplace. But where do you start? Diversity surveys are a great way to improve diversity and inclusion in your organization. In this article, we’ll define diversity surveys, their benefits, and some sample questions you can ask in your next survey.

 

What is a Diversity Survey?

A diversity survey, or diversity and inclusion survey, is a questionnaire to gauge employees’ diversity climate within the organization. The survey asks questions about the respondent’s experiences with diversity in the workplace.

The questionnaire includes questions regarding the level of satisfaction or happiness of an individual employee about diversity and its potential effects within the organization. Promoting workplace diversity has many benefits for both the employer and employees. 

For one, it could improve overall productivity since it acknowledges the different characteristics and experiences of individuals in the company.

 

Common Types of Diversity in the Workplace

There are four types of diversity in the workplace, and every organization needs to understand these diversity types. In addition, awareness of these diversity types will be beneficial for creating proper diversity surveys tailored specifically for your business and employees. The four diversity types are:

 

Internal Diversity

Internal diversity refers to inherent traits that can rarely change or be controlled. It includes race, ethnicity, national origin, sexuality, gender, physical and mental ability, and sexual appearance. 

When individuals with different internal diversity characteristics work together, it’s important to understand and appreciate their differences.

 

External Diversity

External diversity is factors that relate to the person’s acquired characteristics. Unlike the inherent traits, external diversity can be influenced, controlled, and changed by the person.

External diversity includes education, profession, socio-economic status, language skills, citizenship, appearance, geographic location, and religion.

 

Organizational Workplace Diversity

Organizational workplace diversity refers to the diversity that exists between organizations. This type of diversity is usually related to an individual’s external diversity characteristics. Promoting diversity within the workplace comes with inherent benefits, including a boost in creativity and performance. 

Examples of organizational workplace diversity include job function, work location, management status, and tenure or seniority.

 

World View Diversity

World view diversity refers to what individuals have experienced and seen that affected or influenced their lives and how they live by it. People gain these experiences through interaction with immersion in different beliefs and cultures. 

This diversity category includes cultural events, history knowledge, politics, and other factors impacting an individual’s worldview.

 

How to Promote Diversity in the Workplace

Achieving diversity and inclusivity in the workplace may seem complex and unsolvable. However, with proper planning and open communication, this won’t be the case. Apart from recognizing their accomplishments and milestones, every employee wants to be treated fairly in the workplace. 

Promoting diversity will help achieve this while highlighting each worker’s unique traits and contributions. With that said, Here are some tips on how to promote diversity in the workplace:

  • Expand your talent roster by hiring new prospects without prejudice.
  • Acknowledge and eliminate biases.
  • Take action and give credit to the underrepresented group of employees.
  • Assemble a diverse and inclusive team.
  • Promote respect among employees regardless of race, sexuality, social class, and seniority.
  • Celebrate and promote diversity by remembering important dates and events such as Black History Month for the African American community, Pride Month for the LGBTQIA+ community, and Ramadan for Muslim employees.
  • If you’re providing food or beverage options at work, make sure to include options that consider every employee’s preferences and dietary restrictions.
  • Let your employees’ voices be heard by conducting diversity surveys.

 

Benefits of Conducting a Diversity Survey

Conducting diversity surveys is important in promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It allows businesses to gauge their employees’ thoughts, opinions, and feelings about diversity and inclusivity within the organization.

This feedback is essential to identify areas that need improvement and take the necessary steps to correct them. Additionally, diversity surveys can help businesses assess the effects of their diversity initiatives and programs. 

Finally, diversity surveys show employees that their voices are heard and that their opinions matter. This can help build trust and foster a more positive work environment.

 

Sample Questions for a Diversity Survey

Here are some sample questions that you can use in your diversity survey:

  • How comfortable do you feel discussing diversity and inclusion with your co-workers?
  • Have you ever witnessed or been the victim of discrimination in the workplace?
  • Do you feel like diversity and inclusion are important values that our organization promotes?
  • Do you feel like our workplace is an inclusive environment for all employees?
  • What can we do to further improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
  • Do you have any suggestions on how we can become a more diverse and inclusive organization?

 

Create Digital Diversity Surveys with DATAMYTE

While paper-based diversity surveys are fine, it does have some glaring drawbacks. First, it’s easy to lose or misplace paper surveys. Second, it can be time-consuming to manually input the data from paper surveys into a computer.

Digital diversity surveys solve both of these problems. With DATAMYTE and its DigitalClipboard, you can easily create and distribute digital diversity surveys to your employees. 

The DataMyte Digital Clipboard provides an easy drag-and-drop interface to add all of your survey’s elements and start collecting data in minutes.

The data from your digital diversity surveys will be automatically saved and stored in the DATAMYTE software. So you won’t have to worry about losing or misplacing your surveys. And, when it’s time to analyze the data, you can easily export it into a spreadsheet or other software program for further analysis.

If you’re looking for an easier and more efficient way to conduct diversity surveys, then look no further than DATAMYTE. Schedule a demo with us today to learn more about our software and how it can help you promote diversity in your organization.

 

Conclusion

We hope this article helped explain diversity surveys and why you should consider implementing them in your organization. Diversity surveys are a valuable tool that can help businesses promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

 

 

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