As mentioned in the first two articles in this series, attracting and retaining talent is the top challenge for most organizations. As our workforces become more diverse, inclusion initiatives have become essential components of recruitment and retention strategies for organizations, and therefore, a challenge that HCM solutions must help to address.

According to SHRM, there are four main phases in a diversity and inclusion initiative: 1). Data collection and analysis to determine the need for change; 2). Strategy design to match business objectives; 3). Implementation of the initiative; and 4). Evaluation and continuing audit of the plan.

Comprehensive HCM solutions with advanced data analytic capabilities can help organizations ensure they are complying with diversity and inclusion regulations. These insights also help companies better understand the makeup of their workforce.

We often think of diversity as ethnicity, gender, and age, but there is so much more that can contribute to the diversity of your workforce. Diversity also includes factors such as disability, religion, sexual orientation, family status, and life experiences to name a few. Employers must clearly understand their workforce to ensure compliance and the inclusion of all employees.

Vista Analytics can serve as an essential tool in helping employers capture and analyze this valuable employee data. Having a multi-generational workforce presents numerous advantages and challenges as discussed by customer Barron Collier Companies in our blog post Using Vista Analytics to Better Understand Our Organization.

Diverse groups of individuals contribute a wealth and breadth of experience and a wide range of ideas. Each generational group—from millennials up to the baby boomers—contribute a wide variety of technical knowledge and preferences. Vista Analytics provides the insight needed to understand the breakdown of your workforce, enabling you to better address their differing needs.

One key strategy for retaining good employees is to engage with them and create a positive experience. You can’t do this if you don’t know much about them. Capturing data on the demographics of your workforce and analyzing those demographics can help you to better engage them. As mentioned in the second blog in this series Preventing Burnout by Engaging Employees, HCM solutions help employers provide information to their employees and assist in creating a more positive work environment.

Engagement tools, such as the Vista Wall (similar to a Facebook’s iconic wall feature), provides the ability for coworkers to share information about themselves. An employee’s wall may include their profile information, current projects, previous experience, work schedule, job responsibilities, and other information that leads to a more transparent workforce. Everyone will know more about each other, even if they work in different departments or physical locations. And, by opening the door to a more transparent work environment, fairness throughout the organization will rise and so, too, will the positive culture and the loyalty of your employees.

Leveraging Vista Analytics and Reporting capabilities will enable organizations to make more insightful decisions that will drive the success of your diversity and inclusion initiative. An HCM solution will prove valuable in the data collection and analysis phase but will also be able to be used throughout the process when matching the strategy with the business objectives, implementing the initiative, and when going back and evaluating the initiative’s success.

Click to view our next article on Leveraging Technology to Bond Your Team.