Discussion Guide for the Board of Directors

HOW TO USE THIS DISCUSSION GUIDE

While some boards broach the topics of DEI&B, it is often addressed reactively or from a 'single-issue' perspective (e.g. adding a woman to the board). This often narrow focus - combined with limited DEI&B education among board members, discomfort with the unknown and time constraints - are seemingly limiting the progress and depth to which DEI&B is discussed.

This guide is designed to aid the Board Chair, CEO and CHRO/Head of DEI&B in structuring DEI&B conversations. This guide is intended to help concerned members prioritize discussion topics based on highest priority, while taking into consideration time constraints surrounding BOD meetings.

The first step in a successful DEI&B BOD discussions, starts with a broader conversation regarding the vision for how equity adds value to the business. Since this is a new topic at this stage in conversations and familiarity with the topic varies Board Member to Board Member, we suggest bringing in an expert or someone familiar with best practices.

Then our guide shifts its focus from developing DEI&B understanding in regards to the company to helping the BOD develop owners (on the board and within the company) to consistently report on the progress of initiatives. We also suggest considering the formation of special task forces or delegated committees to address issues associated with DEI&B throughout the organization (e.g., a dedicated board diversity and inclusion committee [source]). 

DISCUSSION GUIDE: ASSESSING ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH & METRICS

REPRESENTATION

  • Representation as it pertains to ethnicity, gender, and age data.

    We are specifically examining underrepresentation in 5 areas:

    Leadership

    Technical Roles

    Remote/non-HQ Roles

    Employment type (full-time, part-time, permanent, contract)

    Overall

  • Do we have diversity across levels and teams in our organization and on our board?

    Do we have representation goals?

    How is this data collected? I

    s it part of HR data, and is it self-identified (are there campaigns to ensure high engagement and understanding)?

    Is data secure and confidential?

    When and to whom is the data reported - and does the board also participate?

    Looking at our baseline representation numbers, what goals do we want to set for each level of the organization?

    Does representation at the manager, c-suite, and board level align with representation of the broader company? Representation of the customer base?

HIRING

  • Examining data along the entitreity of the hiring process:

    Onsite Interview Rates

    Rates of Offers Made

    Job Offer, Acceptance Rates

  • Do we have diversity hiring goals?

    What is the plan for reaching hiring goals?

    Are we reaching our goals at our desired pace?

    Who on the executive team is responsible for the success of our goals?

    Do they have what they need to successfully lead this?

    Do we have goals for yields (not just representation in candidate pools) in hiring a diverse team?

    Are interviewers trained in inclusive interview/hiring practices?

    What strategies are we implementing to build a stronger pipeline with underrepresented talent?

PAY EQUITY

  • Examining if there are any pay gaps across demographics. BOD should examine underrepresented groups:

    gender

    ethnicity

    age

  • Are compensation/total rewards programs and policies internally equitable and externally competitive?

    How can pay/compensation contribute to improving hiring metrics that are underperforming?

    How often are pay analyses conducted and by whom?

    Are pay inequities addressed?

    Has the company recently considered revising its pay structure for non-management employees to address pay gaps or inequities?

    Why or why not?

    If so, how have the revisions been implemented?

    How are pay metrics integrated into the compensation of executives/management employees, especially in ways that reward DEI&B “best practices” and mitigate the risks of poor management of human resource/capital?

    What specific incentive metrics are in place to encourage effective DEI&B strategies and risk oversight?

INCLUSION

  • Examining data concerning feelings of belonging, employee engagement and well-being.

    Utilizing information uncovered by the data to address the implications of how employees feel as it relates to turnover and attrition rates across ethnicity, gender, age, etc.

    We will also look at the data regarding performance ratings. We will examine this along the cohorts of promoted employees.

  • Is there differential employee experience, advancement, and retention across diverse groups?

    Are different groups advancing/being promoted at similar rates across demographics (age, gender, ethnicity), geographies, departments, and level?

    Is the promotion process equitable?

    What are employee surveys revealing about experiences and/or perceptions of equitable promotion processes?

    Are people leaving - voluntarily or involuntarily - at different rates across demographics (age, gender, ethnicity), geographies, departments, job type (permanent, contract), and level?

CULTURE & POLICIES

  • Culture - Mission/vision/cultural values at, board level and as relates to board influence.

    Policies - misconduct, harassment, discrimination, and designing human capital management and DEI&B policies that cultivate inclusion.

  • Do you have a mission/vision/cultural norms that employees are held accountable to?

    Are employee handbook policies (misconduct, harassment, discrimination) up to date, socialized across the business, and reinforced?

    How does/will the company/board handle situations where senior leadership/management employees are found to have committed misconduct?

    How will the board manage at the investor/board level?

    How is the outcome of any misconduct investigations/findings communicated and addressed by the board, investors and other stakeholders—especially in situations involving executives/management employees?

MISC ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

  • Trends/insights

    Which employees indicate a high level of satisfaction in their roles, and which ones aren’t?

    Are employees from certain groups or backgrounds leaving at a higher rate than others?

    Are there a lot of demographic similarities between the employees who get promoted?

    Are employees of all groups and backgrounds taking advantage of learning and development opportunities?

    Gaps in results

    Are we attracting a diverse group of candidates into your pipeline but find that our teams are still homogenous?

    Are the members of our organization relatively diverse, but we notice that participation in ERGs is surprisingly low?

DISCUSSION GUIDE: DEI&B AS IT RELATES TO CUSTOMER BASE OF BIOTECH INDUSTRY

  • How can we ensure our solutions reach and serve diverse patient groups?

    Clinical Strategy: Trial enrollment, trial sites, PI involvement, CROs

    Work published by HBS team on Product Impact on Pharma Industry. Product Impact, of which both access and affordability are components, is part of a proposal for accounting standards for the industry.

    Are we looking at equity within CROs?

    Metrics:

    How well are you serving various groups of customers/users? e.g. What is distribution of CSAT across groups?

    Access to Product:

    Does pricing restrict access?

    How might we mitigate the way pricing restricts access?

    Inclusive user research:

    Are we doing user research (rather than just gathering input from friends and family) and are we including inputs from a variety of groups?

    Accessibility efforts -

    Are we building “with” instead of “for”?