BEAM TOOLKIT FOR I&D
Implementing Legally Compliant Inclusion and Diversity Strategies
This toolkit provides HR professionals with a guide to implementing SHRM’s BEAM (Belonging Enhanced by Access through Merit) Framework for I&D, ensuring employers are pursuing legally compliant, workforce unifying, and business accretive I&D strategies while fostering fairness, equal opportunity, and genuine inclusion in the workplace.
Introduction
Embedding legally compliant, workforce unifying, business accretive inclusion and diversity (I&D) into your workplace requires an intentional effort at every step of the HR life cycle. SHRM’s Belonging Enhanced by Access Through Merit (BEAM) Framework offers performance-driven workforce strategies that enhance talent management, support equal opportunity and fairness in the workplace, and complement business performance and corporate integrity. It also strengthens accountability, helping organizations avoid exclusionary practices and remain responsive to evolving legal standards.
Building on a foundation of legal compliance and I&D best practices, the resources here offer practical tools, examples, and guidance aligned with key stages of the HR and employee experience — from recruitment and onboarding to performance management and workplace culture. Whether you’re developing training, revising procedures, or looking to improve culture, this guide offers practical tools to embed principles of fairness, respect, merit, and equality into core business strategies and daily operations — ensuring that these values are sustained throughout the organization, rather than siloed as a separate initiative.
Each section of this toolkit is dedicated to a different stage of the employee life cycle and includes an explanation of the role of legally compliant I&D in that stage, best practices for embedding inclusion in that stage, and a range of templates and tools you can use to implement those practices in your organization.
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Sourcing and Recruiting Talent
Talent acquisition offers a valuable opportunity to embed principles of legally compliant inclusion — such as fairness, respect, and equal treatment — into everyday workplace culture and operations. By implementing structured and objective processes, organizations can ensure that qualified candidates have equal access to opportunities and that hiring decisions are based on merit.
This stage includes several key steps that can be designed to support legally compliant I&D, expand the reach and inclusiveness of the candidate pool, and mitigate compliance risks. Using a framework such as BEAM can help identify potential challenges related to evolving policies or legal standards before they arise.
Common components of this stage include job descriptions, job postings, outreach strategies, and the application process. These practical resources can help you optimize each element to reflect your commitment to legally compliant, performance-driven I&D priorities.
Strategic Best Practices
Fostering a culture of fairness and merit-based evaluation supports the development of a strong, qualified, legally diverse talent pipeline. This begins with clearly articulating your organization’s commitment to fair practices and equal opportunity and ensuring compliance with relevant anti-discrimination laws as part of your sourcing and recruitment strategy.
Job descriptions: Emphasize the skills needed to perform and succeed in the role. Focus on key responsibilities and core competencies rather than defaulting to degrees or traditional credentials that may unnecessarily exclude otherwise-qualified candidates.
Job advertisements: The language used in job advertisements plays a critical role in who applies. Clear, neutral language avoids alienating candidates from different backgrounds based on gendered terms, jargon, or culture-specific idioms
Widen recruiting: Consider partnering with community organizations that connect you with a broad and inclusive talent pool (e.g., encompassing people with disabilities and veterans).
Accessibility: Ensure that the application process is accessible to all, including those with visual or hearing disabilities.
Tools and Templates
Featured Resource
Pro Tip
Thoughtful wording sends a signal that your organization values fairness, respect, and equality.
Hiring and Onboarding
An organization’s commitment to equal opportunity and inclusion is made tangible for new employees through a fair and transparent hiring and onboarding process. During this stage of the employee life cycle, employers have opportunities to reinforce their commitment to equal employment opportunity , ensure consistent and business-related decision-making, and create a welcoming environment that sets the tone for long-term engagement and retention. Key implementation priorities are:
- Inclusive process: By implementing consistent, job-related selection methods and fair onboarding practices, organizations can advance equal opportunity, strengthen compliance, and foster a positive experience for new employees from day one. Applying merit-based frameworks such as BEAM can support teams navigating emerging legal considerations tied to hiring and integration practices while fostering a culture where equality and merit are embedded in business operations.
- Consistency: Incorporating the legal I&D principles of fairness and equal opportunity into policies and standard operating procedures helps ensure that merit-based tools and practices are consistently applied as part of your standard operating procedures.
Interview design, assessment tools, offer letters, hiring decisions, and onboarding programs are all part of this stage. By establishing structured, merit-based approaches, organizations can reduce bias, ensure equal opportunity, and expand access to opportunities for all candidates.
Strategic Best Practices
Integrating fair and consistent practices throughout hiring and onboarding helps increase interest from potential candidates and ensure that new employees feel valued and prepared to succeed in the organization. Examples of fair and consistent practices include:
- Talking about your organization’s commitments: Clearly communicate your organization’s commitment to legally compliant inclusion and reaffirm it throughout the selection process by focusing on merit-based considerations in your organization’s hiring decisions.
- Interviewing: Design interview questions and evaluation tools to assess job-related expertise, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking rather than relying heavily on work history or educational background.
- Structured, consistent interview questions help reduce the impact of unconscious biases and allow candidates to demonstrate transferable skills and problem-solving abilities.
- Behavioral questions that explore adaptability, collaboration, and decision-making can reveal qualified candidates who might otherwise be overlooked.
- Deciding to make an offer: Center evaluations on each candidate’s knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the role effectively as they relate to the open job’s requirements.
- Onboarding: This is your organization’s first opportunity to show that its commitment to legally compliant I&D is not just a statement but embedded in practice. A thoughtfully designed onboarding experience helps every new employee feel seen, supported, and set up for success. This includes:
- Distributing accessible materials.
- Introducing new employees to team members in a consistent and respectful manner.
- Providing clear guidance on organizational norms and expectations.
Tools and Templates
Featured Resource
Pro Tip
While recruiters and hiring managers are often trained to spot candidate “red flags,” it’s important to remain vigilant in providing equal opportunity. Decisions should never be based on protected characteristics, such as race, sex, age, disability status, or other statuses protected by federal, state, or local law.
Have a question about I&D best practices?
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Culture and Belonging
Belonging in the workplace means ensuring that all employees, regardless of role or background, are recognized as contributors, have access to necessary information and resources, and are integrated into team workflows and decision-making processes. A culture of belonging fosters psychological safety and promotes open participation in workplace culture.
Common components of an inclusive culture that promotes belonging include:
- Employee resource groups (ERGs) open to all employees and supported by leadership.
- Leadership strategies that support consistent and respectful treatment.
- Merit- and performance-based recognition and rewards systems.
- Transparent internal communications.
- Employee engagement strategies.
Strategic Best Practices
Embedding I&D principles of fairness, respect, and equality into organizational culture is a sustained effort, not just periodic recognition or surface engagement. It is an ongoing, intentional commitment to creating an environment in which all employees can thrive, feel valued, and contribute meaningfully — and reinforcing the belief that doing so enhances the performance of both employees as well as the organization itself.
To support a culture of belonging, organizations may take an intentional approach in several key areas:
- ERGs and affinity networks: ERGs provide opportunities for employees to build communities, get support from colleagues, and share feedback. When ERGs are nonexclusionary and aligned with anti-discrimination law, as well as supported with appropriate funding, executive support, and clear objectives, they can act as strategic partners in shaping inclusive policies and surfacing business challenges.
- Leadership and management practices: Leaders play a central role in modeling fairness, transparency, and equal opportunity.
- Train managers to recognize and interrupt bias, foster respectful team dynamics, and use clear communication as foundational practices.
- Hold leaders accountable for creating psychologically safe environments in which a diversity of perspectives are encouraged and respected.
- Recognition and advancement: Recognition and rewards systems should be monitored to ensure equal opportunity.
- Examine who gets recognized and for what? Do high-performers from all backgrounds have equal opportunities for promotion, leadership responsibilities, or stretch assignments?
- Use transparent criteria in performance evaluations to ensure advancement pathways are accessible and based on merit and potential.
- Communication and representation: Internal communication should reflect a wide range of employee experiences and emphasize fairness, respect, and equality as shared values. This includes:
- Ensuring materials are accessible (e.g., using plain language, alt text, and closed captions).
- Celebrating stories from employees of all identities.
- Engagement and feedback mechanisms: Employers may collect employee feedback through surveys, focus groups, and listening sessions to help surface potential barriers and inform possible interventions.
Tools and Templates
- How to Build an Engaged Workforce: Engagement Surveys and Beyond
- Building a Resilient Workforce: How HR Leaders Elevate Retention Through Caregiving, Flexibility, and Enhanced Well-Being
- Getting Leadership to Buy In to Strategic HR Initiatives
- How the World’s Best Companies Drive Engagement — Market Review of All EAPs
Featured Resource
Pro Tip
Collecting data on employee sentiment itself is not enough; organizations should review the results, identify actionable insights, implement changes based on those insights, and communicate results, as appropriate.
Career Development
Traditional career development may reward those with greater access to informal networks or insider knowledge. A more inclusive approach ensures that advancement opportunities are communicated and accessible to all employees and are based on performance and merit, rather than personal connections or background.
The career development stage of the employee life cycle includes learning and development programs, career planning, and coaching. Each of these areas can be structured to align with your organization’s business objectives and ensure all employees have access to opportunities for advancement.
When learning opportunities are made visible, accessible, and relevant to a broad range of employees, organizations help close opportunity gaps and expand the leadership pipeline.
I&D Strategic Best Practices
Aligning career development programs with standards for anti-discrimination, accessibility, and transparency helps promote equal opportunity.
Key inclusion priorities in this stage may include the following tasks:
- Making learning and development opportunities widely visible and easy to access.
- Ensuring training content reflects a wide range of perspectives and experiences.
- Tracking participation and outcomes to identify and address potential access gaps.
- Offering structured mentorship and sponsorship programs open to all employees.
- Equipping managers to support growth with feedback and coaching.
Tools and Templates
Featured Resource
Pro Tip
Organizations can assess whether development programs are accessible and open to all by asking key questions from the BEAM Framework: Is participation consistent across different employee groups? Do the content and delivery methods meet the needs of the workforce?
Performance Management
Performance management is a key driver of workplace culture because the systems used to assess, develop, and reward performance can impact employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention.
When thoughtfully designed, performance management systems ensure equal opportunity, reinforce organizational values, and motivate employees to do their best work. Effective performance management systems are built on clear criteria, consistent processes, and fair practices.
Integrating a merit-based and fair approach to performance management means evaluating not just what employees achieve, but how they contribute overall to the workplace. It means ensuring that everyone — regardless of background, identity, or communication style — has an equal opportunity to be recognized and developed based on their contributions (i.e., merit).
This phase includes goal setting, ongoing feedback, performance evaluations, and reward and recognition programs. Each component presents a chance to operationalize legal I&D principles of fairness, respect, and equality and ensure decisions reflect both individual merit and equal opportunity.
Strategic Best Practices
Performance management is more than just a system for tracking output — it’s a reflection of what an organization truly values. A fair and effective approach to performance management begins with clear, role-specific criteria that support consistent and objective evaluation.
To ensure a fair and effective process, organizations should define and communicate what success looks like in each role and ensure those expectations are consistently applied. Ways to do that include:
- Ensuring consistency and transparency in evaluations: Standardize performance criteria, rating scales, and review templates to ensure consistency and help reduce subjectivity that often introduces bias. Organizations should train managers on how to apply these tools consistently and how to deliver feedback in a way that is respectful, specific, and actionable. Anchoring feedback in observable behaviors, rather than personal preferences or assumptions, supports both fairness and growth.
- Conducting regular manager training: Unconscious biases can creep into evaluations, leading to inconsistent feedback or misjudgments about ambition or ability based on identity rather than merit. Managers should receive regular training on how to recognize and disrupt these patterns. This includes learning to: Focus on job-related criteria, not personal affinity. Distinguish between confidence and competence. Recognize how differences in tone, style, or communication may affect perceptions.
- Recognizing respectful and collaborative behaviors as performance: If organizations want to foster an inclusive culture grounded in fairness and mutual respect, organizations must recognize and reward the behaviors that support that working environment. This means recognizing values-aligned behaviors — such as collaboration, civility, mentorship, or team cohesion — as part of performance evaluations. When these behaviors are acknowledged, accountability is shared across the organization.
- Monitoring outcomes: A strategic approach to performance management includes monitoring trends across demographic groups to ensure equal opportunity. Who is consistently rated as a top performer? Who receives critical feedback, raises, promotions, or high-visibility projects? As a best practice, consult internal or external legal counsel to develop an effective monitoring process. Conducting regular audits of these outcomes can uncover patterns that require further review. When disparities appear, organizations should ask:
- Does the process provide equal opportunity?
- Are criteria applied consistently?
- Do all employees receive the same coaching and development opportunities?
- Promoting growth through feedback: Fair performance management focuses not only on evaluation, but also on development. Feedback should be delivered with a growth mindset, grounded in support and accountability. Employees should have clear support from their managers and understand where they stand, what’s expected next, and how they can get there.
- Offering rewards and recognition with inclusion in mind: Recognition programs should be designed to ensure visibility across all levels, departments, and employee identities. Tracking who is recognized reveals whose contributions are valued and celebrated. Fair recognition practices move beyond spotlighting the loudest voices or the most extroverted performers to celebrate impact in all its forms.
When performance is managed consistently and with intention, it builds trust across the organization and strengthens engagement at every level. This toolkit includes templates, evaluation rubrics, audit tools, and manager guidance to help you put these principles into practice.
Tools and Templates
Featured Resource
Pro Tip
Frameworks such as BEAM can help evaluate performance management practices for compliance with equal opportunity laws. At the same time, organizations that regularly monitor these systems for compliance can proactively identify potential risks while reinforcing inclusive approaches to evaluating and rewarding performance.
Job Movements
Ensuring equal access to job movements helps organizations retain talent, develop leadership pipelines, and foster a sense of belonging and opportunity for all employees. When handled thoughtfully, these processes can reduce turnover, increase engagement, and strengthen trust in leadership.
Strategic Best Practices
To ensure job transitions support your organization’s merit-based I&D strategies and business objectives, it’s essential to focus on equal opportunity, transparency, and consistency throughout every step.
- Transparent and consistent criteria: Clearly define and widely communicate criteria for promotions, transfers, and role changes. Establish objective benchmarks based on skills, competencies, and demonstrated performance, minimizing ambiguity and subjectivity.
- Broad communication of opportunities: Proactively share job opportunities across all employee groups and networks, rather than limiting them to informal channels or select audiences. Leverage multiple communication channels and partner with ERGs or affinity networks to broaden access and encourage a variety of applicants.
- Structured, objective assessments: Promotion and transfer decisions should be grounded in evidence-based evaluations, supported by standardized tools and structured interview guides to promote consistency and fairness. Train decision-makers on eliminating unconscious biases and utilizing fair assessment techniques to promote evaluations that focus on merit and potential, rather than assumptions or stereotypes.
- Manager and HR partner enablement: Equip managers and HR professionals with the skills and tools needed to make legally compliant decisions. This includes training on recognizing and mitigating bias, applying consistent criteria, and conducting effective career development discussions. Providing ongoing support helps maintain accountability and reinforces organizational values.
- Monitoring of outcomes to make data-driven adjustments: Regularly analyzing job movement outcomes by demographics helps identify patterns that may require further review. Tracking promotion rates, lateral transfer participation, and the impact of reorganizations ensures transparency and supports continuous improvement. As a best practice, consult legal counsel to develop an effective monitoring process.
- Thoughtful change management in reorganizations and acquisitions: Workforce changes due to mergers, acquisitions, or restructurings should be managed with careful attention to organizational culture, clear communication, and fair treatment of employees. To maintain trust and minimize disruption:
- Provide clear information.
- Address concerns around identity and belonging.
- Ensure equal opportunity during transitions.
Tools and Templates
Featured Resource
Pro Tips
Collecting and analyzing data on job movement outcomes is a best practice that should be monitored to align with evolving legal standards and your organizational goals.
Analyzing the outcomes and impact of selection criteria can also ensure that an employer is utilizing job-related selection criteria and that it has considered any negative impacts that may be unintentionally created by a particular selection standard. That analysis could include whether a particular barometer is necessary for the position or whether other, equally as effective, selection criteria may be available that do not produce an unintentional negative impact on a particular group.
When criteria for job movements are transparent, employees also better understand how to navigate their career paths and identify opportunities for growth.
Attrition
Employee departures are a natural part of the employee life cycle and offer an opportunity to reinforce fairness, respect, and consistency in offboarding practices. How an organization manages both voluntary and involuntary exits can significantly impact its culture, reputation, and ability to attract and retain talent.
Patterns of high or uneven attrition rates among demographic groups may signal underlying issues related to equal opportunity, retention practices, or employee satisfaction. By analyzing attrition data and exit feedback, organizations can uncover potential barriers or cultural challenges that may disproportionately affect individuals based on protected characteristics.
Strategic Best Practices
Employee attrition is a key indicator of organizational health and inclusive workplace culture. When considered strategically, attrition management can offer valuable insights into the employee experience and reveal opportunities to strengthen engagement, retention, and fair treatment.
- Demographic data monitoring and analysis: Systematically tracking and analyzing attrition data across multiple demographic dimensions is a foundational best practice to ensure equal opportunity. This data-driven approach helps identify whether certain groups are leaving at disproportionate rates and, if so, what the appropriate next steps are for analyzing the existing selection procedures. As a best practice, consult legal counsel to develop an effective monitoring process.
- Inclusive and confidential exit interviews: Exit interviews are an effective tool for gathering candid feedback about why employees choose to leave. Characteristics of a useful exit interview include:
- Conversations conducted with confidentiality and sensitivity.
- Multiple formats to increase participation and honesty (e.g., anonymous surveys, one-on-one interviews, or third-party facilitations).
- Questions designed to uncover factors related to fairness, equal opportunity, leadership, workload, and workplace culture.
- Respectful and compliant offboarding: A fair offboarding process:
- Honors the employee’s contributions and respects their dignity.
- Complies with all relevant legal and policy requirements.
- Provides clear information about final pay, benefits, references, and transition support to reduce stress and negative sentiment.
- Communicates departures in an objective way that does not unintentionally stigmatize or isolate employees based on their exit circumstances.
- Root cause analyses and targeted retention strategies: Understanding whether departures are tied to structural factors like stalled career growth or inadequate support helps inform targeted, sustainable retention efforts. Initiatives such as mentorship programs, leadership accountability, flexible work options, or improved workplace practices can help address these root causes.
- Continuous improvement and leadership accountability: Attrition insights should be regularly reviewed by leadership and integrated into broader workforce and retention strategies. Monitoring turnover reduction goals and discussing them with managers fosters a culture of continuous improvement. Consider sharing attrition trends and actions taken to reinforce trust across the workforce.
Tools and Templates
Featured Resource
Pro Tip
Analyzing your attrition can help proactively identify potential risks related to how employees leave or are transitioning out. Recognizing these challenges early allows organizations to take corrective action before turnover becomes a widespread problem. As a best practice, consult internal or external legal counsel to develop an effective monitoring process.
Expert Advice
SHRM offers multiple webinars to help companies understand the impact of the executive orders on I&D programs and ensure compliance with federal regulations. These are valuable training tools for HR pros and other leaders within organizations.
Webinar
DEI Executive Orders 101
Delve into the implications of the executive orders and learn how SHRM’s BEAM Framework can guide your organization through these changes.
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Navigating I&D Compliance
Get practical steps to review and modify your hiring, promotion, and training procedures to prevent unintentional preferential treatment.
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Impacts on Gender
One of the orders recognizes only two sexes — therefore, it’s crucial to understand the implications for workplace inclusion and gender pay equity.
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Preparing Your Workplace for Immigration Enforcement
Learn how to proactively manage and support your workforces amid evolving immigration policies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions.
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Contractor Effects
The January 2025 DEI executive orders will have a far-reaching impact on the federal government and the private sector that serves it for years to come.
Webinar
Changes to Disparate Impact
Learn about how changes to the government's enforcement approach to the legal doctrine of disparate impact affects employers.