In 2021, iFood defined its diversity goals: have 50% of women in leadership positions (and 35% in senior positions), 30% of black leaders and 40% of black employees by December 2023.
With them, an indicator also emerged to measure the degree of inclusion of these people in the company: the Psychological Safety Index, which was linked to these objectives to measure the sense of belonging of these and other underrepresented groups (such as people LGBTQIAP+ It is disabled).
The index reveals whether the company's employees consider the work environment to be psychologically safe for people of any gender identity, race or sexual orientation, with or without disabilities.
“As they say, diversity is inviting to the party; inclusion is calling to dance. This indicator shows whether people really feel included in the work environment and have the freedom to express themselves and develop”, explains Bel Glezer, from iFood’s diversity and inclusion team.
The Psychological Safety Index was developed by iFood in partnership with the consultancy Ideafix, and is based on the methodology of Dr. Amy Edmondson, from Harvard University. She defines psychological safety as “the belief that a person will not be punished or humiliated for speaking out loud about their ideas, issues, concerns, and mistakes, and that they are on a safe team where they can take interpersonal risks.”
The indicator was created based on Amy's matrix, which works on four dimensions of psychological safety: freedom to express oneself, interact, learn and belong. Since 2021, the Psychological Safety Index has been applied to all FoodLovers to find out how they feel at work and to understand their level of inclusion in relation to others.
“We want to compare all minority groups with those that are part of the dominant culture to identify any differences that we need to work on”, explains Bel. Therefore, the rate of women is compared to that of men, that of transgender people is compared to that of cisgender people, that of heterosexual people to that of homosexuals, that of black people to that of non-black people and that of people with disabilities with that of those without disabilities, in addition to intersectionalities.
In 2022, the average Psychological Safety Index on iFood was 8.7 — an improvement compared to 2021, when it was 8.5. In 2023, the company's goal is to reach a score of 9 and reduce the difference between the Psychological Safety Index of minority groups and the rest by at least 50%. “We observed an improvement in the index for all groups in 2022. We practically eliminated the discrepancies of minority groups in relation to the total iFood profile”, says Bel.
