Enriching Diversity

Human Resources partners from around the Institute have worked together to go beyond compliance with Affirmative Action laws and regulations in order to enrich the diversity in MIT's Departments, Labs, Centers, or Institutes (DLCIs). One result of this work is a central location for data related to diversity and equal opportunity, called Enriching Diversity. The tool, available on Atlas, was designed to integrate Affirmative Action data into workforce decisions in order to help attract and retain a diverse and talented employee population. The tool serves three main purposes:

1. to assist Affirmative Action Plan Administrators (AAP Administrators) in interpreting their Affirmative Action reports and in planning and tracking the actions they take to ensure equal employment opportunity;
2. to provide diversity data as a basis for employment decisions; and
3. to support the generation of Serious Search Reports when seeking approval to extend an offer to a candidate.

Who Should Use the Enriching Diversity Tool

If you have HR responsibilities for recruiting or diversity and equal employment opportunity, discuss with your Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) Administrator whether you should have access to Enriching Diversity. If so, decide together which organizational unit(s) you need access to and the type of access:

• AAP Administrators have access to detailed demographic data about employees and applicants across the AAP Unit (usually a School, College, or Area), and are able to enter, as well as download, Affirmative Action Plan data. This role is reserved for the person responsible for Affirmative Action planning for the AAP Unit and that person's backup(s).
• Departmental Users have access to demographic details only for the employees and applicants in one or more specified HR Organizational Unit(s). For their AAP Unit as a whole, they see aggregate data. This role is appropriate for departmental human resources professionals, including recruiters.

Note: Whichever role you have, refrain from viewing demographic details of applicants for any positions for which you will participate in the hiring decision. 

Prerequisites for Gaining Access to the Enriching Diversity Tool

Due to the sensitive demographic information displayed in the Enriching Diversity tool, the tool is available only to Human Resources professionals who understand the following:

1. the meaning of underutilization, placement goals, and adverse impact. See the following resources:
   • Affirmative Action Glossary
   • Part 1 of the Learning Center course Enriching Diversity App Overview, and
   • The latest annual training slides for your role:
     • Training slides for AAP Administrators
     • Training slides for DLCI HR Professionals
2. the necessity of ensuring that those responsible for hiring decisions do not see the self-identified sex, ethnicity race, veteran status, or disability status of candidates during the hiring process. 
3. the principle that efforts to increase the number of women and minorities in the workforce must not advantage them over others.
   • Legitimate methods include, for example, proactively recruiting qualified women and minorities to apply for positions or to take professional-development courses to qualify them for promotion, training managers, expanding the number of qualified applicants who receive interviews, changing the selection process to remove bias, etc.
   • It is illegal to increase the diversity of the workforce by setting quotas, setting aside certain positions for women or minorities, selecting underqualified applicants, or otherwise making employment decisions on the basis of sex or race.

Requesting Access

When you have approval from your AAP Administrator and have satisfied the prerequisites, request access from [email protected] and cc your AAP Administrator. Be sure to specify the organizational unit(s) whose data you will see.

Getting Started and Getting Help

Once you have access, complete these steps.

Have Questions or Need Help?

Email [email protected]