A "People First" Approach to People
One of the ironies of work in diversity, equity and inclusion is that, with alarming regularity, we will create feelings of exclusion in those we are most interested in looking out for.
Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than when we ask folks to self-identify from a demographic perspective. The reason for us asking these questions is that the collection of demographic information is necessary — nay, critical! — for DEI work. How will we know how we are doing, where we need improvement, what our goals should be if we don’t measure the demographics of our employees? So we need to ask. But it’s hard to do.
What we realized at Holistic is that the way folks traditionally ask these questions is clunky. Multiple choice boxes that require you to “pick the best option” or check other and fill in the blanks are not just inefficient, they are dehumanizing. And, of course, the purpose of DEI work is borne out of care for those in our midst who are traditionally underrepresented, under-resourced, facing inequity. These are the exact folks who feel most isolated by traditional demographic questions in their known form.
So, Holistic has launched a new approach to the collection of demographic information. A “People-first approach to people.” Here’s how it works.
When we ask you demographic questions, we ask them totally open-ended. No constraints on answers. Directly from your mouth — how do you identify?
Holistic does two things with this data. First, we preserve it, so we have the depth, breadth, and personal focus of the individual answers. There is a lot we can do with this raw information to support companies really understanding their employees, their backgrounds, their perspectives.
The second thing we’ll do is “translate” the individual responses using technology so that the company will get the organized, macro-level, functional information it needs to make decisions and support its employees. Best of both worlds.
This is a people-first approach to people. Our focus is 100 percent on the welfare and opportunity for the individual employee. That we, from time to time, need to organize folks into categories, purely for the purpose of analysis — that’s our problem, not theirs.
Our employees need to worry about only two things: be who they are and do great work. We’ll take care of the rest.
