Workers' satisfaction with diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) at current or former companies is the newest workplace rating on employer review site Glassdoor.
Based on a 5-point scale, the rating will appear alongside ratings on compensation and benefits, career opportunities, culture and values, the effectiveness of senior management, and work/life balance. Ratings will be based on at least 75 reviews.
"Job seekers and employees today really care about equity, and for too long they've lacked access to the information needed to make informed decisions about the companies that are, or are not, truly inclusive," said Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong.
Glassdoor Chief People Officer Carina Cortez added, "Many companies have been making commitments around diversity and inclusion in recent months, but now job seekers and employees want to see action and real change from employers."
Tai Wingfield, senior vice president of DE&I in public relations firm Weber Shandwick's corporate practice in New York City, agreed that "DE&I is top of mind for potential candidates and future leaders. Job seekers will be able to use the ratings and employee commentary to assess if potential employers are truly walking the walk when it comes to DE&I and adjust their searches accordingly."
Nearly two-thirds of respondents to a survey Glassdoor conducted in August of 2,745 employees and job seekers said companies should be doing more to increase the diversity of their workforce. Three-fourths reported that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers. Two-thirds trust employees the most when it comes to understanding what diversity and inclusion really looks like at a company, significantly higher than senior leaders, the company's website and recruiters.
Wingfield shared research from her firm that showed nearly half of employees polled in mid-June believe there is a gap between what employers say and what they do when it comes to DE&I.
Skeptical About Anonymity
Employees across 12 companies have already started to rate their satisfaction with their company's DE&I. As of this writing, Salesforce has the highest rating among the group, according to its employees, with a 4.6 rating, while Walmart scored the lowest, with a rating of 3.7.
Joel Cheesman, recruiting industry veteran and the founder of Ratedly, which monitors anonymous employee feedback sites, commented that employees of larger companies are more likely to use the rating option. "By skewing to bigger companies, where more data can be collected and more diversity exists for the mere fact of bigger numbers, Glassdoor may inadvertently be hurting startups and smaller organizations," he said. "As a consumer, it's easy to see that a company has a 4-star rating, encompassing 125 reviews, and know how valuable and relevant that score is. However, I'm not so sure visualizing the new DE&I scoring will have a similar value or intuitiveness."
Anonymity comes with its own set of issues, he added. "I can read a review today and say to myself, 'That sounds fishy, planted or plain sour grapes.' Will diversity and inclusion scoring pass the same sniff test and be a real benefit to users?"
Glassdoor said it is also now allowing employees and candidates to share anonymous demographic information on race and ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and parental status, among other dimensions. Eventually, that information will be displayed along with ratings, salary reports and other information, broken out by specific groups at each employer.
The site is also adding a dedicated section to its employer profiles to spotlight DE&I programs and initiatives. Employers can present current workforce demographic information and goals for improving company diversity.