More and more companies are adopting software technology to help them tackle diversity and inclusion challenges. In our recent study with Mercer, we explored the emerging market for D&I technology. We looked at the challenges that were driving the adoption of technology, and we examined the landscape itself. We also evaluated the inherent risks and benefits of adoption and what companies were expecting to achieve by using D&I tech.

One other question we were curious to understand is how companies are measuring the success of their D&I software to help them achieve their goals.

Here is an excerpt from that report which looks more closely at this question, and our recommendations for companies just setting out:

When we transition to looking at the primary success measures of D&I technologies, we see slightly different success measures compared to the problems vendors are trying to solve.

Figure 1: Primary Success Measures of D&I Technologies | Source: RedThread D&I Technology Survey, 2018

While there is clear alignment between most of the problems vendors are trying to solve and the top success measures for their products, there is one anomaly: the top success measure for D&I products is employee engagement, but most D&I technology solutions are not designed to directly influence engagement.

Though decreasing unconscious bias or increasing the diversity of talent pipelines can certainly influence engagement, they are not the sole drivers of it. Establishing employee engagement as the primary measure for D&I technologies could be setting D&I tech vendors up for failure.

Further, most D&I technology vendors don’t measure engagement, so it is hard for them to prove success. We therefore suggest that vendors and customers alike reconsider the primary success metric for D&I technologies and quantify the impact it has on the specific talent area it is influencing.