DEI for change recommends that all work on integrating DEI is based on concrete and relevant knowledge. This ensures that the real problems and challenges are addressed exactly as they are.

When DEI for change prepares the knowledge base for policy and action plan, the result will consist of five parts:

1. A review of gender-disaggregated data and current policies and areas of action.

2. A review of relevant national and international research that can qualify the process.

3. A quantitative study that will reveal the extent of the problems.

4. A qualitative study that will uncover connections of a more subtle nature, based on employees' and managers' own concrete experiences.

5. Conclusions and recommendations for the further work in designing and implementing policy and action plan.

The results from the above investigations will result in a report and all informants will be guaranteed full anonymity. DEI for change is of course subject to confidentiality.

A qualified knowledge base will both be able to form the basis for an effective policy and action plan, and will at the same time give the organization a thorough baseline to work from. This will make it easier to set goals, sub-goals and indicators, so that it is possible to monitor progress continuously and precisely.

The themes that will be examined are the following:

1. Leadership and values

Here, work should be done on whether the management values support diversity, whether they are translated into concrete management skills and whether these are implemented throughout the organisation. There will also be a focus on the value of management education and training, as well as monitoring the values in practice.

2. Formal and informal culture

Here, we should take a closer look at how an informal culture can stand in the way of new development, diversity and real competence-based recruitment. Methods can be worked on to create a common new culture that is inclusive and connected to the management values. Finally, a loose and incoherent structure can be a contributing factor to the emergence of an unhealthy informal culture.

3. Recruitment practices

Work should be done with concrete tools for a general professionalization of

the recruitment processes by integrating diversity and transparency, in order to

ensure that competences and qualifications come before personal preferences and networks.

4. Working time, performance and efficiency

Here you can take a closer look at how to develop more inclusive methods to measure efficiency and results instead of visibility and long working hours.

5. Salary, respect and recognition

Here you can see how to systematize new methods to ensure recognition and respect for managers and employees, and how to develop new pay systems that promote equity.

6. Career development, networks and mentors

Efforts should be made to develop transparency around career opportunities that ensure diversity and how to work with healthy professional networks that are not exclusionary. Possibilities for diversity-promoting sponsorship and mentoring schemes can also be included.

7. Communication

Communication is crucial in relation to working professionally with diversity, and work should be done with both language, information and external/internal communication. Furthermore, it is important to look more closely at the use of microaggressions and dominance techniques in internal communication and in decision-making rooms.

8. Work-life balance

Here, the focus should be on how to ensure a good balance between leisure and work life for everyone, regardless of gender, and how and which measures can be implemented to the benefit of everyone. There should also be a focus on both the formal and the informal culture.

9. Leave

Efforts should be made to implement gender-neutral leave options, and to integrate parental leave as ordinary leave. The focus should be on how to secure methods and processes in the organization to replace employees/managers on leave and how to secure the transitions. Finally, the latest legal regulations on parental leave must be integrated.

10. Sexual Harassment

Work should be done on methods to register and counteract sexual harassment, as well as the development of methods to handle cases. In addition, there may be a focus on culture change, language and the organisation's social events etc. There is also new legislation in the area that must be implemented.

DEI for change can help you prepare an effective policy and action plan that is based on the organization's current situation and ensure that the organization achieves its objectives.