Metrics: Measuring What Matters

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How do you know if your culture and inclusion efforts are actually working? The answer requires a different kind of measurement than most organizations are used to. Results in culture change are absolutely measurable, and tracking them is essential for accountability, learning, and sustained progress. 

Start simple: establish a clear goal for your culture change work, create a baseline measurement before you begin, and track progress against that baseline over time. The employees most impacted by this work must be central to how you measure success, which means disaggregating your data to understand how outcomes differ across different employee groups. 

Focus on quality, not just quantity. The number of training hours completed matters less than whether employees are actually changing, growing, and experiencing the workplace differently as a result. Build in both quantitative and qualitative measures, surveys, narratives, retention data, promotion patterns, and direct employee feedback all tell important parts of the story. 

Our network of Workplace Culture and Belonging Consultants consistently identified these as the highest-impact indicators of organizational progress: 

• Leadership investment: visible, active, and consistent engagement in the work

• Financial investment: real budget allocated to training, consulting, and culture programming

• A formal Culture and Inclusion Plan: embedded in the organizational strategic plan, with measurable goals and clear accountability

Key Metrics and Indicators to Track 

Business Plans 

• Does your organization have a formal Culture and Inclusion Plan with measurable accountability goals? 

• How have your mission, values, and policies been shaped by your inclusion goals? 

• Are you tracking progress on your Culture and Inclusion Plan at least annually and adjusting based on what you learn? 

Leadership Engagement 

• Does leadership actively track progress on the organization's Culture and Inclusion Plan? 

• Are leaders openly and publicly modeling a commitment to belonging and inclusion? 

• Does your annual report include progress on culture and inclusion goals? 

• Does leadership participate in culture and belonging training alongside staff? 

Community Partnerships 

• How many community organizations serving historically excluded communities has your business partnered with? What was your approach and strategy? 

• Are you assessing the quality of those partnerships? 

• Is your business connecting with peer organizations on shared learning, collaboration, and accountability around inclusion? 

Financial Investment 

• Does your organization have a dedicated budget for culture and inclusion work? 

• What resources are being invested in tools and programming that help your employees thrive? Do you have disaggregated data to understand how resources are being utilized by employees, ensuring that all employees are able to access them?  

• How much staff time is being allocated to culture change efforts? 

• How much is being invested in community organizations that serve historically excluded communities? 

• Has your organization engaged a Workplace Culture and Belonging Consultant? 

Staff Participation & Skills 

• Are culture and inclusion training opportunities being offered to all employees? 

• Is there a designated individual or team responsible for culture and inclusion efforts? 

• What percentage of employees and leadership have participated in culture and belonging training? 

• How are staff growth and skill development in this area being tracked and recognized? 

• Is there a shared organizational language around inclusion and belonging? 

Workforce Composition & Empowerment 

• Have you conducted an analysis of pay equity across employee groups? 

• Are there active initiatives to support the internal growth and advancement of employees? 

• Do employees have opportunities to provide 360-degree feedback on management? 

• Does your organization track workforce demographics across different employee groups? 

• Are employees from underserved communities represented in decision-making roles? 

• What are the tenure and turnover patterns for employees? Have you disaggregated these patterns for employees from historically excluded communities? 

Recruiting, Onboarding & Retention 

• Does your organization have a formal, consistent onboarding process for all new employees? 

• Is culture and belonging content embedded in onboarding? 

• Do you have transparent, intentional processes for recruiting talent? 

• Are there active mentorship and professional development programs for employees? 

• Are there internal policies specifically focused on the retention of employees? 

• Do you conduct exit interviews with all departing staff and interns? 

• Do you analyze hiring, retention, and promotion trends, disaggregated across employee groups? 

Organizational Culture 

• Have you conducted an employee satisfaction/engagement survey that includes questions about belonging, inclusion, and workplace experience, and analyzed across different employee groups? 

• Do you have clear mechanisms to act on what you hear in employee surveys and to communicate those actions back to staff? 

Resources for Employees 

• Does your organization offer affinity groups or employee resource groups? 

• Are there clear, accessible processes for addressing exclusionary behavior or inequitable treatment? 

• Are resources for employees embedded in your strategic plan? Have you ensured these are able to serve your employees from historically excluded communities? 

• Are there programs specifically designed to support advancement, salary growth, and skill development for employees? 

Intentional Purchasing 

• Does your organization have formal targets for purchasing from local, disadvantaged businesses? 

• Are you building ongoing relationships with those businesses? 

• Are you tracking and growing your spend with local, disadvantaged business owners year over year?