External Equality and Diversity Audit and Gap Analysis
Overview:
McKenzie are frequently commissioned by our partner organisations to perform an external gap analysis or audits of current approaches to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
This can include requests from organisations who have already developed an overarching strategy and action plan and require external quality assurance, to enquiries from organisations who are not sure quite where to start.
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How Can McKenzie Help ?
Whatever position your organisation is currently in, McKenzie can help you by providing a robust, detailed external assessment with recommended actions benchmarked against industry models of best practice.
Note that in many cases, our previously completed audit reports and strategic action plans have been awarded the very highest rating where these have been submitted to sector specific regulatory bodies.
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How is a Gap Analysis performed ?
Approaches will always vary and are dependent on the individual circumstances of each organisation. At the most general level, we would typically:
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Meet with key project stakeholders (virtual meetings are fine!) to discuss expectations and desired outcomes of a gap analysis / audit.
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Consult with a cross section of employees, and sometimes service users, to ascertain perceptions of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the organisation. This can be achieved using a blend of options which include telephone interviews and focus / discussion groups.
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Appraise current approaches by examining policies, information collection, action plans, strategies, employment profiles, service user profiles, approaches to Equality risk analysis, current organisational metrics and provision of accessible information – including your digital footprint.
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Discuss existing leadership commitments in this area, examine the results of any existing or previous outreach or development initiatives and discuss your vision for the future.
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Work in partnership with you to produce a detailed, prioritised and time bound action plan.
Please note the above approach is provided as an illustrative example only.
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Key Outputs:
1: A comprehensive external audit, assessment and gap analysis report (circa 50 pages). This would comprise an external appraisal of all current and previous EDI related activities which would be assessed against the 12 defined areas of competence shown below on this web page.
2: A summary rating against each of the 12 areas of competence. Ratings awarded would be either (i) Major Area of Development (ii) Minor Area of Development, (iii) Satisfactory or (iv) Excellent.
3: A comprehensive written assessment and appraisal of each of the individual 12 areas of competence. A separate chapter of the report will be devoted to each competence detailing evidence of current areas of strengths, areas for potential development and tangible, practical examples of exemplar practice (comparative analysis) from organisations drawn from across all sectors. We take this opportunity to stress that the report would ultimately be balanced. The report will therefore recognise both previous achievements and future opportunities.
4: An (optional) comprehensive insight into current employee and board experience within this area. This will be achieved by the development and completion of a specialist Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Employee Survey comprising circa 15 questions and free flow responses. The survey would be hosted by McKenzie LLP with all responses returned directly to us and in complete confidence. Digital and paper options would be available.
5: Summary of the outcomes from a series of on line and on site EDI buzz group and consultation events. The aim of these events being to both further understand (post survey) employee experience, the perceived culture of your organisation (in respect of EDI) and practical suggestions for areas of improvements.
6: A detailed, comprehensive action plan setting out agreed (between McKenzie and yourselves) measurable actions that will be implemented in the short, medium and longer term. We recommend that the action plan will also detail robust internal governance procedures and measurement of progress milestones.
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How long will it take ?
Obviously this will depend on a number of factors including the size of your organisation and the availability / volume of information we are required to appraise. We can generally complete an initial assessment and produce a draft report within about two to three weeks.
Note, we only supply Equality and Diversity experts to work with you who are employed by McKenzie. Additionally, all our work is guaranteed in respect of accuracy, legal compliance and quality assurance. _____________________________________________________________________________
How do you benchmark success ?
We use a number of highly developed audit and gap analysis tools which we would happy to explain to you. Here is one of these, which is our strategic model of best practice. This is used to appraise approaches to EDI benchmarked against 12 key areas of performance.
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What does a final Audit Report Comprise ?
A typical final report will comprise circa 50 pages and include detailed and measurable action planning and outcomes linked directly to your own strategic Equality, Diversity and Inclusion goals.
Please see illustrative example below.
Optional Employee Experience Survey:
As part of our overall approaches to undertaking an EDI Audit and Gap Analysis, we offer all partner organisations the optional element of undertaking a specialist EDI employee experience survey. This would comprise circa 15 questions – all related to EDI and would be sent to all employees. The benefits of undertaking such a survey are two fold:
1: It gives all employees the opportunity to be part of the consultation stage of the audit.
2: It provides you with a very important insight into current employee perceptions and experiences of how well EDI is promoted within your organisation.
Please see an example extracted from a real survey below:
Who Have you Previously Undertaken EDI Audits for ?
McKenzie has previously completed external EDI audits for a very wide range sectors which include: The British Science Association, The National Audit Office, The Marine Management Association, Oxfordshire CCG, Wrigleys Solicitors, Open Country, Benenden Hospital, Northwards Housing, YMCA England, Girlguiding UK, Taylor Woodrow and Kent Fire and Rescue Service.
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