ChallengeAn international engineering firm was
seeking promote workforce diversity and inclusion to widen out its skill base. The firm had tended to hire and
promote against a traditional image of an “engineer” - particularly in its upper management and central
functions. The result was a heavily male, senior workforce with a focus on caucasian and south Indian
ethnicity. Lack of diversity threatened to impact the quality of decision-making and the firm’s ability to
react to new challenges.
Application
The engineering firm used
Indigometrics to reduce bias in peer-to-peer feedback. Rather than asking for a reaction to a
generic statement such as “Brian is a good team player,” Indigometrics filtered statements through the lens of
inclusion and asked employees to respond to more specific feedback (e.g. “In meetings, Brian allows others
time to speak”, “Brian is willing to work on ideas that are not his own”.)
Indigometrics’
mobile applicable front end and iterative questioning model enabled feedback to be obtained in less
than 5 minutes per week per employee - allowing all employees to be involved, not just managers or head office
personnel.
Results
Individual
— Promotion became more closely linked to skills and less to appearance. Promotion of BAME
individuals increased by 32% and female by 46% over a year.
Managers — Helped
managers construct teams based on skills, instead of established biases. Team gender diversity increased by
40% over a year.
Leadership — Gained a reputation as an inclusive employer — helping
attract and retain top talent, with BAME applications increasing by 22% and female applications increasing by
14%
