The Diversity Action Alliance (DAA) is rooted in ACTion (Adopt best practices—Champion the cause—Track Progress). The third component, “Track Progress,” aims to benchmark and track diversity metrics to improve the culture of inclusion within organizations. Those who sign the DAA commitment agree to “share key representation metrics with the DAA for benchmarking and for anonymized reporting of the aggregate progress within the communication profession.”
The Institute for Public Relations hosts the Diversity Action Alliance Reporting Tool and will develop an annual industry report based on the collected data from a secured platform. All results will be kept confidential and organizations will not be identified by name or description.
To view a copy of the DAA Reporting Tool, please click here.
What kind of data will be collected?
The DAA is collecting specific demographic numbers, similar to those found in companies’ annual D&I reports. This form specifically uses the race/ethnicity categories of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission segmented by the job categories of the individual (top communicator, executive/senior-level, manager, non-manager, administrative support). The list of race/ethnicity and job categories can be found here. The DAA may expand data collection in the future.
The numbers provided should be based on the overall agency, department, or communication function. For example, if you are a department at a university or a communication department within a company, these numbers are based on the department, and not the whole organization. Agencies and other like organizations should be based on the whole organization. Currently, we are only collecting U.S. data.
Questions in the DAA Reporting Tool include:
- What is the ethnicity/racial composition of the communication function or agency, and what is their job category (top communicator, executive/senior-level, manager, non-manager, administrative support)?
- What is the ethnicity/racial composition of the communication function or agency professionals who are promoted or advanced annually? The racial/ethnicity categories are based on the Employer Information Report EEO-1 survey of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
- What is the company size, type, industry, geography, headquarters location, and annual revenue?
When will the data be collected?
When companies sign the DAA commitment, we request they provide within 60 days the number of employees with a breakdown by ethnicity/race as of January 1 of that year, and how many employees with the same breakdown they promoted during the previous year. Every January, we will ask for the same data. Please note that if a company is not collecting the data requested by the DAA that the company will begin collection when the commitment is signed.
Why is this data important?
Benchmarking and tracking diversity rates help improve the culture of inclusion within companies and organizations. Sharing key representation metrics with the DAA allows for benchmarking and tracking toward our industry goals.
Furthermore, by sharing data, companies are helping DAA create objectives to support our goal of reflecting the diversity in the United States by 2025.
We realize that some companies are more advanced than others on this journey, and their department may not be where they want it to be, but these benchmarks are essential for accountability and progress.
How secure is the data reporting tool?
To ensure security and confidentiality, data will only be presented as aggregated scores, rather than individual summaries. Data will be used to set benchmarks and track progress toward goals in the public relations industry. Individual companies will not be identified publicly by name or by a description in any way, nor will DAA share your data with any other party.
The collected data will be kept on a secured platform for data privacy and security that is ISO 27001 certified, GDPR, and HIPAA Compliant. Details about the security of the platform can be found here.
Where do I enter my data?
To submit your company’s data, please click on this secure link.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the data collection, please contact Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., APR, President and CEO at the Institute for Public Relations, at tina@instituteforpr.org.
Thank you for supporting the commitment.