Heldrich Policy Brief: Approaches to Workplace DEI Policies

November 22, 2024

What’s Next? Using Workplace Divided Data to Help Incorporate Workers’ Perceptions in Workplace Discrimination and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policies

Since 2022, the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development has explored workers’ perceptions of and experiences with racial and ethnic discrimination at work and opinions of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and practices. The study, funded by WorkRise at the Urban Institute, included a survey using a comprehensive, national probability-based sample of 3,277 full- and part-time U.S. workers and 20 in-depth, one-on-one interviews with workers to explore the nuances of the issues raised in the survey.

A new policy brief by Jessica Starace, Survey Research Manager at the Heldrich Center, summarizes two approaches in which the project findings may be used by policymakers, researchers, employers, and workers for their own research needs:

Approach #1: Using the semi-structured interview protocols and selected findings to provide context to survey questions and inform future research efforts related to measuring and talking about discrimination, diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Approach #2: Using the study’s quantitative survey data, archived for public use, to encourage further substantive and methodological research.

Additional Heldrich Center survey data dating back to 1998 are also available for public use.

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