Overview
You can add a custom demographic survey to your default Gem application, which allows you to comply with employment laws and meet federal reporting requirements. You can also leverage this data to support your DEI goals by tracking applicant demographics and highlighting gaps in your hiring funnel. Adding a demographic survey shows candidates that you take fair hiring seriously and value building an inclusive workplace.
Note: Gem stores demographic data securely and only provides aggregate reports. This helps your team comply with EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) and privacy regulations.
How it works
You can set up your workflow to automatically add a demographic survey to a job application based on the job post location and the survey location rules. The survey is added to the end of the job application.
You can also send a standalone survey manually to candidates at any point during the application process, including to candidates who entered the hiring pipeline without applying (such as a referral or sourced candidate).
Gem automatically provides default gender and race/ethnicity question templates based on your team's existing options. You can also create question templates for your team to reuse across surveys. Note that we limit questions to single-select.
Alert: Gem’s EEOC form has been replaced by custom demographic surveys based on location. You can still access the EEOC form as a pre-set demographic survey in this section.
These demographic surveys are hosted through Gem Pages and can be customized to have your team’s job board branding. For more information on how to customize pages, see Gem Pages.
Enabling a survey also adds an internal status field where you can see if the form has been sent or submitted for any application.
Note: A candidate can fill out a demographic survey once per application. If they apply for multiple jobs, they can fill it out once per application.
Requirements
You need the following permissions and access to complete the tasks described in this article.
- Admin access to your Gem account to create, view, edit, and archive demographic surveys.
- Access to the candidate’s application to send a standalone demographic survey and check demographic survey status. This typically includes Admins, recruiters, and members of the hiring team on the job.
- Gem ATS must be enabled on your account. To request access, contact your Customer Success Manager.
For more information about permissions, see Gem access types and permissions.
Create a new demographic survey
To create a new demographic survey, complete the following steps.
- Select your account at the bottom of the main sidebar, then select the Admin settings option in the dropdown.
- Select Gem ATS in the top navigation, then select the Applications tab.
- Select the Demographic surveys section header to open this section.
- Select the + New survey button. Alternatively, you can select a survey template to pre-populate select fields.
- On the demographic survey details page, select each field to add or update default fields for this survey. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk * next to the field name.
Field name | Description |
*Name | The internal name for this survey, visible only to your team. |
*Location rules | The location(s) that this survey should be automatically added to. To set a survey as the default that’s added if no other demographic survey matches a job post's location, check the Default box. |
Voluntary Self-Identification | Enter a survey description that is displayed at the beginning of the survey. |
Gender | Add, edit, or hide the gender options listed. Gem automatically provides default gender questions based on your team's existing options. |
Race/Ethnicity | Add, edit, or hide the race/ethnicity options listed. Gem automatically provides default gender questions based on your team's existing options. |
- To add a new question or text block, select the + New question / text block button. To quickly add an existing default question, select the + Select from templates button.
After you’ve added or updated all fields, select the Publish button at the top. If any location conflicts exist, a pop-up displays stating which survey is already assigned to these locations. You may continue publishing the survey to replace these survey options, or cancel to keep the current survey options.
After the survey is published, the list of surveys updates to display your new survey. This survey is automatically added to all job posts with matching locations.
Create a new question template
Question templates are reusable questions and text blocks that you can add to demographic surveys.
To create a new question template, complete the following steps.
- Select your account at the bottom of the main sidebar, then select the Admin settings option in the dropdown.
- Select Gem ATS in the top navigation, then select the Applications tab.
- In the Question templates section, select the + New question button.
- In the pop-up, select the question type.
- Single-select: Add a question where candidates can select one answer.
- Text block: Add read-only text that displays on the demographic survey.
- If you selected Single-select, select the option type.
- Radio button: Display options as a list of radio buttons.
- Dropdown: Display options in a dropdown.
- Enter the question title. Optionally, enter a description.
- If you selected Single-select, add the question options.
After you’ve added or updated all fields, select the Publish button at the top. The page updates with your new survey question listed.
Note: When you create a question template, you can add it to a demographic survey from the survey details page. Select the + Select from templates button.
View list of demographic surveys
To view your list of demographic surveys, complete the following steps.
- Select your account at the bottom of the main sidebar, then select the Admin settings option in the dropdown.
- Select Gem ATS in the top navigation, then select the Applications tab.
- Select the Demographic surveys section header to open this section.
- The list of demographic surveys displays. Search for, filter, or scroll through this list to find a specific survey by name.
Edit a live survey
To edit a live survey, complete the following steps.
- Select your account at the bottom of the main sidebar, then select the Admin settings option in the dropdown.
- Select Gem ATS in the top navigation, then select the Applications tab.
- Select the Demographic surveys section header to open this section.
- Search for, filter, or scroll through this list to find the survey you wish to edit.
- Select the survey to open the survey details page.
When you edit a live survey, the changes apply instantly. Survey results remain stored and continue to be reported even if you edit or archive the survey after collecting responses.
If a candidate submits a survey, and then the survey changes or is archived and a different survey is shown later, the next time the candidate submits a new survey for the same application the stored data is updated with the new answers.
Archive a survey
To archive a survey, complete the following steps.
- Select your account at the bottom of the main sidebar, then select the Admin settings option in the dropdown.
- Select Gem ATS in the top navigation, then select the Applications tab.
- Select the Demographic surveys section header to open this section.
- Search for, filter, or scroll through this list to find the survey you wish to archive.
- Select the Options menu (three dots) in the survey row, then select the Archive option.
Alternatively, you can archive the demographic survey from within the survey details page. Select the Actions dropdown at the top, then select the Archive option.
When a survey is archived, it’s instantly removed from all job applications for that location, and the following applies:
- All surveys that were previously submitted will still be in Gem.
- If a standalone demographic survey email was sent before the form was archived, the candidate will still be able to complete and submit the survey.
- If a candidate is filling out a demographic survey on a job post and you archive the survey, the survey is not shown if the candidate reloads the page.
- If another demographic survey matches the job post location rules, that survey may replace the archived survey. If no location rules match, no survey is shown.
- If a candidate is filling out a standalone demographic survey and you archive the survey, the candidate can still complete and submit the survey.
- If you edit a survey while a candidate is filling it out, the edits are reflected if the candidate reloads the page.
Send a standalone demographic survey
This task requires access to the candidate’s application.
Candidates who entered the hiring pipeline without applying, such as referrals or sourced candidates, will not have received a demographic survey. You have the option to send a standalone demographic survey to these candidates to have them complete it.
Note: It’s currently not possible to bulk send standalone demographic surveys.
After the demographic survey is added to an application, a Send survey button is added to your internal application page for each applicant.
This option opens a draft of a standalone demographic survey. You can customize the email that’s sent with the survey by updating the following fields:
- Send to: The name and email address on file for this candidate.
- Send from: The email address that this email will be sent from. This can be the recruiter’s email, an alias, or a send-from email.
- Cc: You can optionally Cc other aliases on this email.
- Email template: We provide an email template to allow you to quickly send this outreach. You can optionally rewrite or format the text to add additional information or a personal touch.
Once you’ve updated these settings, select Send. This immediately sends the standalone demographic survey email to this candidate’s email address and updates the internal form status.
This email includes a link with a unique candidate-application token that links their answers to their application. The link is formatted like this: https://gem.com/eeoc/{team xid}/{application xid}/{token}
Check demographic survey status
This task requires access to the candidate’s application.
Each application has an internal demographic survey form status. After the demographic survey has been sent, whether as a standalone email or as part of the default flow, the internal status updates to Demographic survey sent. After a candidate completes the form, the status updates to Demographic survey submitted.
Note: For legal purposes, individual survey responses can’t be accessed in Gem. Since this survey is optional for candidates, Gem only indicates if it’s been sent or submitted.
Export survey data
We can provide a one-time export of survey data to help you meet EEO compliance reporting requirements. To request this, please contact support@gem.com.
Survey data format
If you plan to sync or export your survey data from Gem ATS, the tables below show the data schema and tables included.
For a full list of all data available for export from Gem ATS, see Gem ATS data export schema.
Survey application table
The applications table represents a snapshot of survey application data. Each row represents the latest status of a single application.
Column Name | Description |
eeoc_data_requested_ts_ms | This records when you requested survey data, when a user submits an application, or when you email a user the form. This updates each time you send a new email. |
eeoc_data_submitted_ts_ms | This records when survey data is submitted by a user. If a user submits this multiple times, the value updates from BigInteger to Timestamp. |
eeoc_data_request_token | The token you use in the form link you send to the candidate. This ensures each candidate has a unique URL that links their answers to their application. |
Survey answer table
Each row of the survey answer table represents a single application’s answers to the survey questions.
Column Name | Description |
include_eeoc | Results are either true or false, indicating whether the application included the survey. |
id | The answer ID of the survey. |
team_id | The team ID of the survey. |
ext_id | The external ID of the survey. |
application_id | The application ID of the survey. |
race | The application response to the survey questions Are you Hispanic/Latino? and Please identify your race. |
gender | The application response to the survey question about gender. |
veteran_status | The application response to the survey question about veteran status. |
disability_status | The application response to the survey question about disability status. |
submitted_at_ts | The date and time the survey response was submitted, like 2024-01-31 06:00:00.000. Timestamps are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). |
Survey form options
The race, gender, veteran_status, and disability_status columns in the default survey may include any of the following values. These fields will always contain a single value. If a user does not select an option, the column is left blank.
Race and Ethnicity
AFRICAN_AMERICAN_BLACK = ‘african-american-black’
AMERICAN_INDIAN_ALASKA_NATIVE = ‘american-indian-alaska-native’
ASIAN = ‘asian’
HAWAIIAN_PACIFIC_ISLANDER = ‘hawaiian-pacific-islander’
HISPANIC_LATINO = ‘hispanic-latino’
MIDDLE_EASTERN_NORTH_AFRICAN = ‘middle-eastern-north-african’
WHITE = ‘white’
TWO_OR_MORE_RACES = ‘two-or-more-races’
DECLINE_TO_SELF_IDENTIFY = ‘decline-to-self-identify’
Gender
FEMALE = ‘female’
MALE = ‘male’
NON_BINARY = ‘non-binary’
DECLINE_TO_SELF_IDENTIFY = ‘decline-to-self-identify’
Veteran Status
YES = ‘yes’
NO = ‘no’
DECLINE_TO_SELF_IDENTIFY = ‘decline-to-self-identify’
Disability Status
YES = ‘yes’
NO = ‘no’
DECLINE_TO_SELF_IDENTIFY = ‘decline-to-self-identify’
Have any issues or questions on this topic? Please feel free to contact your dedicated Gem Customer Success Manager directly or our Support team at support@gem.com.
- Overview
- How it works
- Requirements
- Create a new demographic survey
- Create a new question template
- View list of demographic surveys
- Edit a live survey
- Archive a survey
- Send a standalone demographic survey
- Check demographic survey status
- Export survey data
- Survey data format
- Survey application table
- Survey answer table
- Survey form options
- Race and Ethnicity
- Gender
- Veteran Status
- Disability Status