5 things you need to know about equity audits
By Koshiki Tanaka
Equity audits are a deep dive into your organization to identify areas of growth and provide a plan to get you where you want to be. Here are 5 things you need to know before getting started.
1. Equity audits combine a qualitative and quantitative approach to data analysis
To get a comprehensive understanding of your organization, we gather and analyze both qualitative and quantitative data. We are able to craft a nuanced analysis of people's experiences within your organization by combining what is represented in the numbers with what employees share about their day-to-day experiences. We know that folks with intersecting, marginalized identities are often not the majority within organizations. With our audits, we bring numbers to life, focusing on the stories told through the data we collect in our surveys. By cross analyzing sentiments with demographic data we can demonstrate how 7% of an organization responding that they feel unwelcome can be very important when they also all identify as women in an organization with only 15% women-identifying employees.
We also use a number of different ways to gather qualitative data. In the survey, we provide spaces where folks can share anecdotes about their experiences. We also offer focus groups where participants can share their experiences in a smaller setting. If a safer space is needed, one on one sessions can also be offered. These experiences are shared in a way that is anonymous and centres the safety of folks who share these stories.
2. Equity audits are a team effort
Collaboration is central to how we go deeper in our audit reports and we believe everybody plays an important role. From the start, we rely on our clients to provide us with detailed, honest and nuanced perspectives that come from working within an organization day in and day out. This information is captured through the feedback process between ourselves and our clients during the preliminary survey design phase of our equity audits.
Within our internal team, there is also strong collaboration needed between the strategist who leads the project, our research team that provides the analysis, and other strategists who might support with policy review or focus groups. Through our non-siloed approach to equity audits, we ensure our clients are fully tapped into the diverse expertise of our team members.
Survey participants play a key part in this collaborative process. It can sometimes feel uncomfortable or vulnerable to answer questions related to your experiences within an organization. We are always grateful for folks who take time out of their day to complete the survey and trust us with the information they share.
This collaborative approach in the audit process reflects how we view the wider work we do at Bakau. We know that there is no one person, one answer, one training, etc. that solves everything. It’s by working together as a community that we ensure ongoing and long lasting changes are made.
3. Equity audits provide insights about your team and the wider community
Audit reports can be a benefit to any organization, no matter the size or industry. For our clients to better understand where they are at, we offer three different types of audits: Internal, External and Full. Each of these serve a different purpose.
Internal audits focus on engaging with those within an organization. We encourage as many people and as many departments to take part.
External audits focus on engaging with those outside of an organization. This might be community members, patrons, service users, ex-employees, etc.
Full audits consist of both internal and external surveys to get a full understanding of what is happening within the organization as well as how folks interact with the organization. These can happen simultaneously or be staggered.
Our audits aim to paint a picture of the organization as it is. If you don’t know the experiences of those within the organization or those who interact with the organization, it’s going to be hard to make any meaningful change. Our audit reports provide a safer space for folks to be open and transparent about their experiences and the different types of audits we offer can break this work into more manageable steps by outlining where the opportunities to make lasting change lie within the organization. We use the language 'safer' as opposed to 'safe' in acknowledging that 'safe' can be subjective to one's individual experience. Due to varying lived experiences, we can't guarantee that a space will always be safe for everyone. We can however commit to creating safer spaces, as there are tangible steps and actions that can be taken to make a space safer.
4. Equity audits leave nothing unsaid
Our audits really are deep dives into your organization and the whole process from start to finish can take anywhere from 4 months to a year. We try to be as transparent as we can through the process on what to expect from our final report by ensuring we provide you with comprehensive analysis and by highlighting areas for both celebration and improvement.
Change is never easy, even when we know that it is needed or wanted. We embrace the discomfort and any resistance that might happen, knowing that all of this is part of the process. It is really important for organizations to create plenty of space to allow for rest, emotional processing and other forms of collective processing and debriefing throughout the work.
Our recommendations may highlight things that are already underway in the organization. This can be really motivating for organizations to know that they are going in the right direction. It also is an opportunity for further self-reflection by the organization and those leading changes. If some changes are recommended and implemented but were not reflected in the responses that were shared, we take pause to unpack why that is. Is there a gap in process or knowledge that can be identified? How can the organization continue to build upon what they are already doing? These are some questions we ask in the continued work, once an audit has been completed.
We approach this work with the belief that most organizations are capable of change and by starting this process, they are showing their commitment. We come from a place of non-judgement and recognize that we all have a role to play in our collective liberation.
5. Equity audits set a solid foundation for change
We see the audit process as laying down the foundation for further work. It allows us to get a better understanding of who is in your organization, what their experiences are and to identify some other voices that may be missing. From here we can strategize the next steps including training, further updates to policy and strategic planning. We also encourage clients to return for a follow-up audit every year or every other year so that we can compare the data collected. Currently, reliable and nuanced industry specific data is difficult to find. Our integrated approach does not rely on this traditional comparative approach.
We recognize that while industry specific data can be useful, it may not add to or create meaningful change. Instead, we focus on capturing how people feel and their interactions with others within the organization. This means that any comparisons to future changes are made based on past organizational information and not relying solely on industry benchmarks. Creating spaces that are safer, more inclusive and anti-oppressive is not a tick the box exercise but instead something that requires continuous action. We have intentionally and carefully tailored our audit process to require collaboration, organizational wide involvement and change by encouraging clients to engage their critical thinking skills. This is so that when our work is complete, they can continue to enact our recommendations on their own.