| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | DOMAIN | SCORE (1-5) | GUIDING QUESTIONS | EXAMPLES | REASONING |
2 | HIRING | ||||
3 | Job criteria | - Are we creating any unnecessary barriers to entry? - Are these qualifications truly needed to do the job well? - What can we teach people on the job vs. requiring up front? | - Assess observable skills and knowledge - Don’t require years of experience - Don’t require unnecessary education - Don't require animal movement experience | People with marginalized identities often have less access to things that look good on a resume (e.g., internships, degrees from elite universities). To avoid accidental discrimination and perpetuating societal inequities, don't require anything that's not actually needed for the role. Instead, assess candidates based on observable skills and knowledge. | |
4 | Sourcing | - How can people with different identities find out about this job? - Are we overrelying on hiring from our existing network? | - Post roles in areas with highest diversity - Partner with diversity-focused sourcing orgs - Promote through communities and institutions with diverse groups | If an organization's existing team lacks diversity, it will need to put in extra effort and time to reach people with different identities and backgrounds. This process is more time-consuming that hiring from one's personal network, but grows your team diversity, resilience, and impact. | |
5 | Job ads | - Is the role description (including compensation and benefits) clear? - Are we using exclusionary language? - Do our marketing materials (e.g., website images) feel welcoming? | - Encourage people to apply regardless even if they don’t seem perfectly qualified - Run gendered language check - Show diverse representation in materials (e.g., age, gender, race, body size, ability) | Job ads can hold many small inclusion or exclusion clues for candidates, signaling whether they belong. Underrepresented candidates are less likely to apply if they don't feel fully qualified or if they suspect they won't do well in the company's culture. For example words like "competitive" and "expert" often result in fewer applications from non-male candidates. | |
6 | Interview accessibility | - Is it possible for all candidates to succeed in the interview process? - Are we signaling that we care about and respect individual needs? | - Provide interview accessibility options - Ask for pronouns and name pronunciation - Pay for time-intensive interviews - Offer scheduling flexibility | Plenty of candidates who would be terrific in the role are screened out by interview processes that don't take their needs into account. For example individuals who are neurodivergent or have physical limitations may benefit from more time or from receiving questions in writing. Paying for interviews makes it easier for people who can't otherwise afford to take time off work to apply. | |
7 | Application review | - Have we removed information that might lead to a biased assessment? | - Use standardized application questions instead of resumes - Separate who interviews and who sees demographic data | Information like names, addresses, and even extra curricular activities can influence our gender, race, ethnicity, and class biases. As a result, we are more likely to unconsciously favor candidates with dominant identities or our shared identities. | |
8 | Assessment process | - Do all candidates have the same experience with us? - Are we assessing all candidates in the same way and with the same standards? | - Create a structured and consistent interview and scoring process - Train and assess interviewers | Unstructured, "gut based" interviewing tends to have no predictive validity. It also makes it easier for our biases to influence how we treat and evaluate candidates -- resulting in more favorable assessment of people with dominant or our shared identities. | |
9 | Hiring decisions | - Are we involving multiple perspectives and identities in the decision? | - Involve multiple evaluators - Use two decision-makers and a tie-breaker or give full team "veto" power | When we involve multiple decision-makers we tend to think more carefully (reducing the impact of our own biases), and we invite multiple perspectives (resulting in a better and more fair overall decision). | |
10 | Compensation | - Can people afford to work here? - Are our salary and benefits clear? - Are we enabling pay gaps? | - Pay a living wage - List salary and benefits in the job ad - Do not negotiate salaries | A wage that is too low will exclude candidates who can't rely on their families to support them or who have caregiver or health expenses, limiting the diversity of your candidate pool. Low wage stress can result in poor performance and high turnover. And salary negotiations typically perpetuate gender and race pay gaps. | |
11 | Hiring review | - How diverse is our candidate pipeline? - How diverse is our new hire composition (including at leadership levels)? - Is our hiring process working? | - Collect demographic data - Set diversity and representation goals - Hold retrospectives on hiring decisions | Pausing to gather and reflect on data helps inform whether our attempts to minimize bias and grow team diversity are working. Based on the numbers, we can increase, reduce, or maintain specific efforts. | |
12 | CAREER GROWTH | ||||
13 | Performance expectations | - Do all employees know what is expected of them? - Do we hold all to the same standards? - Is our definition of "professionalism" inclusive of all cultures? | - Clear role descriptions for every role - Shared hub for all role descriptions - Measurable success criteria for every role | Without clear and consistent expectations, bias tends to play a large role in how we assess performance. As a result, people with dominant or shared identities receive more favorable or more lenient evaluations. | |
14 | Resources | - Do all employees have access to the information they need to do good work? - Do all employees have the tools and support they need? - Do we provide sufficient technology training and support? | - Document and share important org info (e.g., history, strategy, goals, and priorities) - Document and share org-wide norms - Provided needed tools and training | People vary in the resources they need to do their work well. For example, employees with physical limitations might need small but important accommodations. Employees who didn't grow up using certain technologies might need additional training. | |
15 | Onboarding | - Are expectations clear for all new hires? - Do we make it easy for new hires to feel a sense of belonging? | - Schedule frequent role clarity checks - Assign onboarding buddies | The first 30 - 90 days of employment play a major role in how successful people will be throughout their tenure and how included vs. excluded they will feel. People who are in the minority are most at risk of high turnover during this period of time. | |
16 | Growth opportunities | - Does everyone know about opportunities to take on new roles or responsibilities? - Do we provide enough access to learning time and opportunities? | - Promote all open roles internally - Offer multiple learning formats (e.g., mentors, workshops, articles) | We tend to offer more opportunities to the people we are closest to, which tends to perpetuate social inequities. Investing in employee development and internal promotions builds organizational capacity and diversity. | |
17 | Assessment & promotions | - Do we have a consistent performance assessment process? - Are all promotion, role change, and salary changes standardized? - Are our decision criteria transparent? | - Create and publish criteria for promotions - Use two decision-makers and a tie-breaker or give full team "veto" power | Even highly diverse companies tend to have limited diversity at "higher" levels of the organization. We can counteract this pattern by minimizing the extent to which bias plays a role in assessment and promotion decisions. | |
18 | Leader skills | - Are our leaders skilled in minimizing bias on their teams? - Do our leaders know how to hold inclusive meetings? | - Provide inclusion training to managers - Share a 1-on-1 meeting template - Create org-wide meeting norms | In most organizations, leaders (e.g., executives, managers) have a big impact on employees' careers and overall workplace experience. When leaders are deliberately inclusive, everyone benefits. | |
19 | Leader access | - Do all employees have easy access to people with authority or influence? - How might we make leaders more accessible? | - Hold virtual office hours - Lead Ask Me Anything sessions - Share board member contact info | Access to leadership impacts role performance, career growth, and overall employee engagement. But in most companies, only people closest to leaders can interact with them, perpetuating societal inequalities in the workplace. | |
20 | Representation | - Do we showcase and celebrate people with diverse identities internally? - Do we have diverse representatives of our company externally? | - Rotate speakers at internal meetings - Spotlight accomplishments or lessons learned from people with different identities - Invite multiple people to represent the org externally (e.g., events, publications) | When we see people we can identify with in positions of power or influence, we are more likely to take positive risks, voice our opinions, and find new ways to make workplace contributions. To avoid "tokenizing" individuals who are in the minority, be sure to give genuine power and do not ask people to speak on behalf of an entire demographic group. | |
21 | EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE | ||||
22 | Work time | - Do we provide enough flexibility around when work can happen? - Do people have enough dedicated time away from work? | - Align on work outcomes vs. hours - Do not email outside of work time - Encourage and model using paid time off - Honor cultural holidays | Flexible and reasonable work hours make your job accessible to people across different time zones, those who have caregiver responsibilities, and people with different cultural and religious needs. What's more, limiting work time can reduce burnout and turnover while improving work quality. | |
23 | Benefits | - Are our benefits well-suited to the needs of our staff? - Do our benefits exclude anyone (e.g., same-sex couples, fathers, adopters)? | - Tailor benefits to employees' unique needs - Provide mental health benefits - Provide bereavement leave | Benefits are too often designed to be relevant to a small subset of the population. More equitable and inclusive benefits make your job attractive to more people while also signaling care and respect. | |
24 | Code of conduct | - Do we communicate clear expectations of welcome and unacceptable behavior? - Is there an easy process in place to report complaints? | - Provide a clear anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy - Train leaders how to handle workplace safety concerns | A clear, simple, and consistently enforced code of conduct and resolution process increases safety for all employees and especially those with marginalized identities. In some places it is also required by law. | |
25 | Meetings | - Are our meetings accessible to all staff, across all time zones? - Are we hearing all voices equally? - Are we considering the needs of people who work in their non-native language? | - Rotate facilitators and note-takers - Co-create agendas - Provide meeting training - Ask for meeting feedback | Meetings are often a place where ideas emerge and decisions are made. But our socialization and language barriers lead some of us to participate more than others, resulting in disengagement and poor collaboration. Inclusive meetings also serve as a model for others of how to have other deliberately inclusive interactions. | |
26 | Social connection | - Are our social events accessible and enjoyable to all staff? - Are we helping foster relationships? | - Rotate who produces events and when - Set up groups around special interests or underrepresented identities - Automate intros (e.g., Donut for Slack) | The strength of our relationships often determines our workplace engagement, influence, and overall impact. Yet, it can be harder for people who are in the minitory to build bonds, especially when the ways in which people socialize clashes with their preferences, personal lives, or cultural norms. | |
27 | Employee engagement | - Are there demographic differences in our employee engagement scores? - Are we checking in on people's perception of inclusion? - Do we make it easy for people to offer feedback and ideas? | - Analyze engagement survey results by demographic - Add inclusion questions to survey - Provide multiple channels to offer feedback (e.g., email, form, office hours) | Employee engagement predicts performance, tenure, and even the organization's reputation. Tracking engagement creates a great opportunity to learn what's working and what needs improvement, especially among people with marginalized or nondominant identities. | |
28 | Have questions? Want additional support? Contact hello@scarletspark.org | ||||