Impact story: how Freshfields increased UK data completion rates 10% in two months

The challenge

Accurate demographic data is important for understanding who our people are and tracking progress toward our people inclusion strategy.

Without it, it’s difficult to identify focus areas or represent the true diversity of the firm.

Low completion rates also mean the data we do have is not truly reflective of our workforce.

It is normal that completion rates change over time.

Some people who have previously completed their data will leave or retire. New joiners might not always provide this information if they do not know how crucial to the business it is.

We also added questions around social mobility and caring responsibilities a few years after our original data collection questions, so these completion rates were considerably lower.

The second set of questions were also more difficult to find in our internal HR system.

The platform was not designed for firms to add questions – so we knew we had work to do around guiding colleagues to find them!

Our main challenge was to explain why we were collecting this data and how it can benefit both the individual and the business if they share.

The action taken

We launched an internal ‘Count Me In’ communications campaign in the UK that shifted the tone from ‘regulatory’ to ‘encouraging’.

The focus was on building trust, communicating our plans at every stage and being transparent (most importantly on how we were going to use the data).

The campaign featured in all our internal communications channels, including:

• digital screens
• individual department team meetings
• intranet
• updates in communal areas
• town hall meetings

We highlighted the action we had taken with the data collected in previous years. Examples included:

• being able to identify trends in recruitment, retention and promotion particularly of those in under-represented groups
• training opportunities
• informing our social mobility entry level aspirational goals

To reassure people, we highlighted that only a very limited number of people in the firm could see the data and reassured colleagues it was stored securely.

Our UK D&I manager attended department team meetings to introduce herself and the Count Me In campaign.

She explained why we were collecting the data and showed colleagues how to share their data, guiding them through the process.

In this process, she also showed how willing she was to be open about her identity as an LGBT+ woman and first generation in her family to go to university – hoping this would encourage others to follow suit.

Many people, especially those who record their time, said it was helpful that time in team meetings had been put aside to complete this together.

Another strategic action was that we avoided calling it ‘diversity data’, as that framing could mean those who did not consider themselves ‘diverse’ would assume they did not need to complete it.

Instead, we talked about ‘sharing your self-identification data/demographic information’.

The messaging was nuanced for different groups of people.

Some teams responded to having all the steps laid out and explaining how it is hard to improve our diversity until we understand it.

For others, it was being committed to reflecting the demographic we serve or highlighting the regulatory aspect that worked.

For some, a simple sentence such as ‘hundreds of your colleagues have already shared their data’ proved successful.

There was some surprise when we mentioned just how many UK client pitches had asked for aggregated/anonymous representation information over the preceding year.

We also worked with colleagues across the business, such as:

• engaging executive assistants who know the practice group colleagues well and can support them to input their data
• engaging employee networks to promote to their membership distribution lists and answer nuanced questions from minority groups such as why the race/ethnicity fields for dual heritage individuals was limiting
• encouraging early careers to flag the Count Me In campaign to trainees and trainee supervisors

With all of this, there was a focus on:

• opening up the conversation
• being honest about the restrictions and limitation of our data collection functions
• taking onboard feedback to why people did/didn’t want to share their data

This informed the next weeks’ worth of campaigning communications.

We made the challenge more engaging by celebrating progress, introducing a leadership board showing completion rates for practice groups and functions and regional offices.

We also went into team meetings prepared with data. We would say things like ‘three out of 10 people in this department have not yet completed their data’.

We never named individuals, but found it acted as a prompt for people to check whether they had pressed ‘send’ or to consider if they should revisit their data as personal details had changed since they last did.

We also offered a charitable donation for every 1% increase in responses for one specific question that had low completion rates, aligned to our responsible business commitments.

We appreciated that 100% completion can be an unrealistic target, as some people just do not want to share this data.

We fully respect that decision and every question also has a ‘prefer not to say’ option.

The result

We published our UK diversity statistics internally and externally.

We created a communications plan to feed back to colleagues on campaign engagement and the rise in completion rates.

Our messaging was that ‘this is what we look like as a firm in the UK – and we are only able to do this because you engaged with the campaign – thank you!’

Completion rates for some questions increased by around 10% over just eight weeks.

There was increased awareness of why we were collecting information and the importance of it, with people speaking about it and proactively asking for the personal demonstration at team meetings.

Next steps

Although the campaign has finished, it is still being referenced and the UK data collection continues.

We have a firm-wide recognised campaign that we can re-visit annually to continue boosting rates.

We are constantly considering opportunities to drive up numbers still further. Examples include with new trainee cohorts and through onboarding systems.

Our tips

1. Adapt your approach to different audiences
   Be thoughtful in your communications. A slight shift in language from ‘we are asking you to share’, rather than ‘we require you to complete this’ can change everything.
   
   
2. Report back regularly on completion rates
   Be transparent on the action taken as a result – using competitiveness to drive up numbers.
   
   
3. Feature videos of a variety of people and influencers from across the firm talking about why they have shared their data
   
   
4. Have a central resource (such as a SharePoint page), guiding people through step-by-step and answering common questions
   
   
5. Give examples of why providing data may be beneficial to individuals as well as the business and create space for open conversations