Dive Brief
- Fifty-two percent of employers surveyed by XpertHR said the CHRO is either partially or fully responsible for diversity, equity, and inclusion at their companies. The survey, conducted in May and published in July, included responses from 383 U.S. employers, managing a total workforce of almost 1.4 million employees. Survey participants could pick more than one option if the responsibility was shared.
- A chief DEI officer shoulders the DEI responsibilities at 11% of employers. The CEO, president or owner is at least partially responsible for DEI initiatives at 36% of employers, followed by employee resource groups (15%), a COO (7%) or a CFO (5%). "Social justice work groups" or the board of directors were responsible for DEI at a small percentage of employers surveyed. At 17% of employers, nobody was officially responsible for DEI, the survey found.
- The survey also indicated that anti-harassment is the most popular topic for trainings, with 70% of respondents saying their company conducts them. Likewise, 56% of employers said they conduct anti-discrimination training and 48% said they conduct unconscious bias training.
Dive Insight
Despite the summer of 2020's racial reckoning and the realizations that followed, XpertHR's data suggests that corporate employers have room for growth on diversity issues.
From March 2020 to June 2020, job postings for "chief diversity officer," "diversity and inclusion recruiter" and "D&I program manager" fell about 60%, according to Glassdoor. General HR job postings only dropped 49%, with job openings overall falling by 28%. As the protests against George Floyd's murder ramped up, D&I job rebounded 20% in June 2020 alone. In June 2021, many D&I pros urged employers to maintain that energy.
And yet, at only 11% of employers is a chief diversity officer responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. "The survey results show that chief DEI officer positions are uncommon," Andrew Hellwege, XpertHR's survey's editor, said of the data in a press release. "Instead, organizations prefer to entrust diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to their CHRO."
HR Dive's 2021 Identity of HR Survey touches on one side of this phenomenon: 55% of HR professionals surveyed said they're viewed somewhat favorably by employees, with 28% saying they're viewed very favorably. In turn, 33% said they're somewhat valued by leadership, while 32% said they're very valued by leadership and 28% said they're highly valued.
That 36% of XpertHR respondents said CEOs are responsible for their company's diversity strategy is notable: few organizations provide DEI training specifically geared toward executives (11%) or managers (20%), according to XpertHR's survey data.
XpertHR also found that training on microaggressions, psychological safety and allyship are also uncommon, with 21%, 11% and 10% of employers surveyed providing such training, respectively.
