This week, the ACEC Research Institute launched its Diversity Roadmap, a comprehensive, data-driven benchmarking tool designed to serve our Member Firms as they execute against their DEI&B goals.
The Roadmap assesses the maturity of a firm’s DEI program, then takes it a step further, offering actionable suggestions on how they can make further progress on their diversity journey. By using this tool, firms will have at their fingertips what they are doing well, what they can improve upon, and what they can do to bridge those gaps. The assessments are on a one-year cycle, with firms receiving year-over-year feedback, scores, and areas of focus. The tool also allows firms to benchmark against other firms on demographics like size and geographic location. The data collected will be used by ACEC National to better tailor programming that meets members where they are and helps them get where they want to be.
While contributing demographic data to the Roadmap is entirely voluntary, it is worth noting that more and more early career workers are factoring a firm’s DEI&B initiatives into their career decision-making. Survey after survey indicates that the emerging workforce weighs a firm’s social impact as heavily – and in some surveys more heavily – than salary and benefits. Securing the future engineering workforce will depend on more than the bottom-line. Said Research Institute Chair Mike Carragher in remarks to the Annual Convention in June: “Diversity and inclusion are no longer ‘nice to haves.’ They are an ethical and a business imperative. We can’t build the kind of future we envision without diversity of talents, experiences, and perspectives.”