Desktop guide: Identifying the official strategy and communication on diversity


This tool will help you describe the official strategy of your organisation, which serves as a background for the interview process and the final Diversity Deep Dive report. Later on, you will compare the results of the desktop investigation to the insights of managers’ and employees’ knowledge of and experience with diversity management within the organisation, which you will get through interviews.

Before you start you should have collected as many relevant documents, articles etc. as possible. For this purpose, we suggest you use the Document Guide tool as described in the Diversity Deep Dive step-by-step guide. The document guide is also found on the Diversity Assessment Tool USB.

When you work through the collected material, there are a number of relevant questions that you should try to answer. The possibility of answering these questions depend on whether or not the organizations has made a number of different strategic decisions and implemented these on a strategic and practical level in the organization.

You will find the questions in the sections below. Remember that the series of questions are not exhaustive, but examples of some of the most relevant questions to have in mind, when going through the documents. You are free to add questions that you find relevant. In the box under each question we have added some sub questions. These should be deleted when you fill out the box with the answer to the numbered main question.

Official diversity strategy or policy

1.      Does the organisation have an official CSR or diversity policy or strategy?

If yes:

-          What does it say?

-          When was the strategy or policy decided?

-          Does it contain any concrete diversity promoting initiatives? Have these been implemented and with what result?

-          Has the responsibility to implement and revise the strategy or policy been placed somewhere in the organisation?

-          Is the strategy or policy internal or public?

If no:

-          Make sure to ask why not, when you perform the focus group with senior management representatives

2.      Does the organisation’s website express or mention diversity?

If yes:

-          How?

-          What does it say?

-          Are people of different gender, age, ethnicity etc. displayed in pictures or videos on the webpage?

-          Is diversity mentioned on the webpage and in what way? As something to aspire for and as something positive – in what way?

If no:

-          Make sure to ask why not, when you perform the focus group with senior management representatives

3.      Does the organisation have specific guidelines for recruitment, in which diversity is mentioned?

If yes:

-          What does the guidelines say on diversity in recruitment?

If no:

-          Make sure to ask why not, when you perform the focus group with senior management representatives

4.      Do the job advertisements mention diversity?

If yes:

-          In what way?

If no:

-          Make sure to ask why not, when you perform the focus group with senior management representatives


5.      Does the organisation have any formal goals when it comes to staff diversity within the organisation on management and employee levels?

If yes:

-          Is it a goal to have no more than 70% employees/managers with similar educational level, age, gender, etc.?

-          Is it a goal to make the number of employees with ethnic minority background correspond to the percentage within the population in the geographical area of the organisation?

If no:

-          Make sure to ask why not, when you perform the focus group with senior management representatives

6.      Are there any statistics on staff composition based on diversity on management and employee levels in the organisation?

If yes:

-          How does it compare to the 70% rule?

-          How does it compare to the demographic of the population in the geographical area surrounding the organisation?[1]

If no:

-          Make sure to ask why not, when you perform the focus group with senior management representatives

External and internal communication on diversity

7.      Does the organisation present and brand itself as a “diverse organisation” externally?

If yes:

-          Where and how?

If no:

-          Make sure to ask why not, when you perform the focus group with senior management representatives


8.      Does the organisation present and brand itself on diversity to the employees?

If yes:

-          How and through which internal channels?

If no:

-          Make sure to ask why not, when you perform the focus group with senior management representatives

9.      Compare the answers throughout the desktop investigation. Are the discourses

regarding diversity and the diversity strategy and image of the organisation consistent

in the different contexts?

If yes:

-          Which discourses are being promoted and how are they consistent?

If no:

-          Make sure to ask how this can be, when you perform the focus group with senior management representatives


[1] For an explanation of the 70% rule, please go to the theoretical background in the ”Diversity Assessment Report template”.