In order to influence change we must first understand where we stand. In order to measure progress we must know where we began. The Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) provides NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) with demographic data to guide their decisions as they develop strategies to increase workforce diversity and enhance inclusion efforts in the workplace. When an IC is aware of the composition of their workforce, trends in hires and separations, and labor force benchmarks they are better equipped to target outreach for vacancies.

EDI recently released the NIH Equal Opportunity Data Access Policy. This policy establishes guidelines for reporting data on the race, ethnicity, sex, and disability status of federal employees and specifies who has access to this data. The policy supports the ICs’ necessity to know the demographics of their workforce as they strive to recruit talent from all segments of the population; with the requirement to protect the privacy of federal employees and fellows.

For additional information about demographic workforce data visit EDI’s website at http://edi.nih.gov/data.