Tech Sector Assessment

Assess your organization’s gender, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts with comprehensive support.

techNL has partnered with WRDC to provide technology organizations operating in Newfoundland and Labrador the opportunity to participate in a sector DEI assessment to identify sector wide support requirements. Through this project, WRDC is providing comprehensive research services to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. WRDC is a provincial non-profit organization committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. 

WRDC is working with organizations to administer the two research tools described below.

1. The purpose of WRDC’s Workplace Culture & Inclusion Survey is to gather information about employee experiences working in the technology sector. Topic areas covered in the survey include, overall job satisfaction, morale, belonging, authenticity, health & safety, engagement, diversity, inclusion, equity, work-life balance, workplace harassment, workplace discrimination, and awareness of workplace policies. All employees in the organization should have an opportunity to complete this survey. From an employee perspective, WRDC’s Workplace Culture & Inclusion Survey offers an opportunity to provide confidential and anonymous feedback about the workplace.
2. The purpose of WRDC’s Diversity Tracker is to gather information about the diversity of both the organization’s and technology sector’s workforce. The tracker is to be completed by one individual in the organization. The completed tracker provides an in-depth profile of the organization’s workplace demographic data and enables organizations to track essential metrics like representation and retention.

WRDC and techNL recommend organizations complete both WRDC’s Workplace Culture & Inclusion Survey and Diversity Tracker. Results from both the survey and tracker combine to provide a more complete picture around diversity, equity, and inclusion.

WRDC is also providing focus group facilitation services. Focus groups are extended discussions between a moderator and a small number of participants. Focus groups can be an effective tool to further explore specific topics of interest and findings uncovered from WRDC’s Workplace Culture & Inclusion Survey. Employee focus groups can cover a wide range of topics and they enable employers to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of their equity and inclusion efforts.

Key Pieces of Information

• WRDC’s Workplace Culture & Inclusion Survey is available online and employees will be able to access the survey using a link that will be emailed to them from WRDC. Best practice research suggests that employee surveys should be conducted by a third party to maintain confidentiality and promote honest responses.
• For most organizations, it will be best for someone from Human Resources to complete WRDC’s Diversity Tracker because it includes specific questions about the number of employees who fall into certain categories.
• Both research tools have been designed in partnership with techNL, with input from representatives from multiple technology organizations, to ensure they reflect the interests of the technology sector. Questions cannot be customized at this time.
• The organization will receive a summary report detailing results for their organization. The report provides insights into employee experiences in the workplace and enables organizations to track essential metrics like representation and retention. This summary report will not be shared with techNL.
• WRDC will combine information from participating organizations throughout the province to create a report that will be shared with techNL. Combining information from multiple organizations will provide a picture of experiences working in the technology sector in Newfoundland and Labrador. It will also provide insights in terms of diversity metrics. 
• All information provided will be kept anonymous by WRDC. All responses will be compiled so that no organization can be identified. Information will not be presented in a manner that would disclose the identity of any organization. 
• The participating organization holds ownership of all data gathered from their organization via WRDC’s Workplace Culture & Inclusion Survey and Diversity Tracker.

If you have any questions or are ready to get started, please reach out to WRDC at research@wrdc.ca.