What are Workforce Diversity Surveys and why are they important?

Workforce diversity surveys help organisations understand the makeup of their workforce. They usually follow a standard format to make it easier to collect and compare data at scale and against other organisations. But while consistency is important, so is inclusion.

In this project, we’re prioritising inclusive language and lived experience. We’re recognising that there can be a gap between how people identify and how they’re asked to identify in forms. We want to create a survey that captures diversity in a way that feels accurate, meaningful, and representative.

How we started the project

In November 2024, we held an IDEA Working Group session to get staff feedback on proposed updates to our workforce diversity form. It was our first large-scale language consultation, so we made it clear what the project involved and how people could contribute.

We shared that this is a work-in-progress, shaped by ideas from across the organisation and beyond. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to identity, and that’s okay. We encouraged honest, respectful input, drawing from lived experience, not speaking for others.

The session focused on five areas: gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, disability, and caring responsibilities.

Sex, gender and representation in language

During our benchmarking research we found all the LGBTQIA+ organisations we researched used the terminology of man and woman over male and female when asking about gender in their equal opportunities forms. We are seeking to understand somebody’s gender, not their sex assigned at birth, and so the term woman/man over female/male is more appropriate for the question we’re asking in Youth Music’s form. 

The suggested change to woman/man, is more appropriate for the question being asked and is there to make trans, non-binary, and gender expansive people feel recognised, respected, and included.

Let’s look at some definitions to help us frame this decision.           

Sex – transactual.org.uk definition:

‘Assigned to a person at birth on the basis of a mixture of primary sex characteristics (genitalia, hormonal makeup and chromosomes) and reproductive functions. Sometimes the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are interchanged to mean ‘male’ or ‘female’.

Many trans people’s sex and gender align with each other but differ to the sex and gender they were assigned at birth. For example, a trans man might have been assigned female at birth and raised as if he was a girl but then later come out as a trans man and seek recognition as male on his medical records and identity documents.

Sex is often used interchangeably with Gender in UK law.’

Gender – transactual.org.uk definition:

‘Gender is a person’s actual, internal sense of whether they are a man, a woman, non-binary, agender or something else. Assumptions about a person’s gender are often made on the basis of a person’s primary sex characteristics.’

Female/Male: Typically refers to someone’s sex characteristics (adjective for any species)

Woman/Man: Typically refers to someone’s gender identity (noun for humans)

Assigned Female at Birth (AFAB)/Assigned Male at Birth (AMAB): This is sometimes used by trans people to describe the sex they were assigned at birth. It is important to see people as their gender rather than focussing on the sex they were assigned at birth.

Not all women are assigned female at birth, and not all men are assigned male at birth. Conflating "female" to "woman" or “male” to “man” when seeking to understand someone’s gender identity erases the experience of many trans and non-binary people. As female/male is terminology legally documented when you are assigned at birth based on your primary sex characteristics, this can also be stigmatising and triggering to trans and non-binary individuals.

While the terms female/male and woman/man are often used interchangeably in everyday conversation, it’s important to be mindful of how we can uphold more inclusive language when discussing groups who are patriarchally discriminated against based on their gender identity. We’ll continue to explore this topic in upcoming articles later this year.

Image of a group of young people from behind with their arms around each other's shoulders

Sexual orientation – why we are trialling multi-selection from single-selection

When completing forms such as an Equal Opportunities form, there’s always a moment when you need to choose which box best represents your Sexual Orientation, even though for a lot of us it is not quite as simple as ticking one box out of a list of options. Many times, I (Jess) have found myself stuck between choosing Lesbian or Queer, when really, I would like to choose both as this best represents me politically, socially and from a community perspective.

Yes, [‘queer’ is] an identity, but it also conveys a sense of community’
Sophie Saint Thomas and Rachel Varina

For others, they may be Queer and Bisexual or Queer and Pansexual but are currently restricted to choosing one in forms, sacrificing the other. This is why we have decided to trial having multi-select to give our team the best way to represent themselves and will give a fuller picture of identities within Youth Music. 

We have phrased this as: “Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation? Please indicate the category/categories that you feel best represents you, using terms with which you feel comfortable.”

Queer is an umbrella term that many will identify with alongside another identity, particularly young people. 

Why not have a self-describe option only? Having a self-describe option is great, particularly for people to give an answer that may not be listed, it gives people the chance to be authentically themselves. However, if you chose this option, the data will be gathered as self-describe instead of individual identity. If the options are there in the list already, it made sense to give the option to multi select them. 

‘The language around sexuality and gender is constantly changing, with new definitions evolving, and existing words being reclaimed by new generations.’ Rainbow and Co

The main issue with comparing multi-select responses to single-select data is that they represent slightly different types of information, which can lead to skewed results and misinterpretations. Orientations may seem more prevalent than they would appear in single-select data.

The way we compare our data to external sources (like the Census, which only allows one option) will need to shift. One approach is to look at how many people identify within the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. This means we can include everyone without forcing them to pick just one label.

By focusing on the bigger picture, we can still make meaningful comparisons, without losing sight of the complexity of identity.

Image of a young child sat on the floor, with adults, singing and with a coloured rope on their lap

Next steps in Youth Music’s Language Project

This project is an ongoing commitment to using inclusive language at Youth Music. We collect data to understand where there may be inequalities and barriers to opportunities. We believe best practice is driven by lived experience, and embedding consultation within the project is helping us to make informed decisions. That’s why we designed a change process with staff consultation at its core, which includes:

  • Benchmarking within our sector and beyond
  • Consultation with community advocates
  • Research into current best practice
  • A clear rollout plan

Here are three key takeaways to keep in mind when making organisation-wide changes with language:

  • Stay consistent with external datasets
    Keep your data comparable with national sources like the Census. It helps with reporting and ensures you’re meeting compliance and good employment standards.
  • Put lived experience first
    Language evolves, and it should come from the people it’s about. Prioritise the voices of those with lived experience when deciding how terms are defined and used.
  • Track your changes
    When you update language, log what changed, where, and when. This helps make sure updates are applied consistently across your organisation.

The project team will continue to share our progress, what we’ve learned and what we’ve implemented as a result. You can find a copy of our 2025 workforce diversity form at the end of this blog. 

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For further information on topics explored in this blog, see: