DEI Metrics Dashboard Template
A dashboard of everything gets read once. The measures that survive contact with an executive team are the few that show a rate rather than a count, hold a level constant, and can be checked against a system somebody else owns. This covers which measures to report and the rules that keep them honest.
See the coursesEverything on this page is yours to copy and adapt. The courses cover the decisions behind it: what to commit to, how to measure it, and what to put in writing.
What yours needs to cover
- ✓ Representation by level, because the aggregate hides the pattern that matters
- ✓ Hiring rate by stage, so you can see where a pool narrows
- ✓ Promotion rate rather than promotion count
- ✓ Attrition compared against the organization-wide rate for the same period
- ✓ Pay gap measures, with a note on which are lawful to publish where you operate
- ✓ A minimum group size below which nothing is reported
- ✓ A source and an owner for every figure, so two reports can never disagree
How to use it
- Agree the source of truth for each measure with the team that owns that system.
- Set the minimum reporting threshold before you look at any results.
- Report rates and trends. A single count with no denominator invites the wrong conclusion.
- Show the same measures every quarter, including the quarters that go backwards.
- Take pay analysis to legal counsel before it is circulated, wherever you operate.
Rates, levels and denominators
A count on its own misleads. Twelve promotions of women this year means nothing until it is set against how many women were eligible and how many promotions there were in total. Report rates wherever you can, such as promotion rate, hiring rate at each stage and attrition rate, each set against the rate for the whole organization.
Break representation down by level. An organization can look balanced overall while every senior role is held by one group, and the aggregate hides exactly the pattern leadership needs to see. Three or four levels are usually enough to show where representation drops away.
Where each number comes from
Every figure on the dashboard needs a named source system and a named owner, recorded in a definitions table beside it. When the HR report and your dashboard disagree, the definitions table settles which is right, and the owner is the person who fixes it at the source rather than in your spreadsheet.
Keep definitions stable. If the definition of a level or a leaver changes, note it on the dashboard and restate the previous periods where you can. A trend line that silently changes its definition halfway through is worse than no trend line at all.
Small numbers and privacy
Set a minimum group size below which no figure is shown, and apply it to combinations as well as single cuts. In a small team, a percentage based on two people can identify them. Agree the threshold with your privacy lead, and write it on the dashboard so readers understand why some cells are blank.
Pay measures need particular care. Rules on pay data reporting and publication vary widely by jurisdiction, so any pay figure should be reviewed by counsel before it circulates. Unit 3 of the course covers choosing measures that survive a bad quarter, and Unit 5 covers pay review.
Presenting the dashboard to people who did not build it
Lead with three to five measures on one screen, with the trend over time and one line of interpretation for each. Put the detail behind it. An executive reading the dashboard for four minutes should come away knowing what moved, what did not, and what is being done about it.
Show the same measures every period, including the periods that go backwards. Dropping a measure when it turns unfavorable is noticed quickly and costs more credibility than the number itself.
A filled-in example
| Representation by level | Share of each group at associate, manager, director and executive level, updated quarterly |
|---|---|
| Hiring by stage | Pass rate from application to screen, screen to interview, and interview to offer |
| Promotion rate | Promotions in the cycle divided by employees eligible, by group and by level |
| Attrition | Voluntary leavers by group, set against the firm-wide voluntary attrition rate |
| Minimum group size | No figure shown for any cell with fewer than ten people |
| Source and owner | HR information system, owned by the HR analytics lead |
| Pay measure | Reviewed by counsel before any figure is circulated beyond the executive team |
Mistakes to avoid
- Reporting counts without denominators. A number of hires or promotions without the pool it came from invites the wrong conclusion. Report rates, and show the base.
- Changing definitions without saying so. A silent change in how levels or leavers are counted breaks every trend. Record definitions and flag any change on the dashboard.
- Reporting groups small enough to identify people. A cell of two people is a disclosure, not a statistic. Set a threshold before looking at results and apply it everywhere.
- Dropping a measure when it goes the wrong way. Readers notice what disappears. Keep every measure, and explain the ones that moved in the wrong direction.
DEI Metrics Dashboard Template FAQs
What DEI metrics should we track?
Representation by level, hiring rate by stage, promotion rate, attrition against the overall rate, and pay equity where you may analyze it. Five measures reported consistently beat twenty reported once.
How do you report on small teams without identifying people?
Set a minimum group size and refuse to report below it, aggregate levels or functions, and never publish a cross-tab that reduces to one or two people. Agree the threshold with your privacy team in advance.
Is there a workbook for this?
The measures and the rules are on this page and in Unit 3. The ready-built workbook that turns raw HR data into these measures is the paid DEI Metrics Workbook offered at checkout.
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