Is DEI going away?

A view from the trenches

Many DEI consultants panicked when President Trump signed executive orders in January targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in federal agencies, schools and some within the private sector. Many organizations have prematurely dropped their DEI efforts, even though the executive order does not affect  them (i.e. they don’t have federal government clients or partners).  And many organizations, law firms, universities and publicly traded companies have caved and paid large sums in the process.  For example:

• Columbia University agreed to pay more than $220M in deal with Trump to restore federal funding
• Five of the world’s largest law firms made deals with Donald Trump to avoid punitive executive orders, as the president has now secured $940 million in free legal services.
• CBS paid $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit over the editing of a ‘60 Minutes’ episode and to clear the way for parent company Paramount’s merger with Skydance. The subsequent canceling of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ was one additional result.

Pivot or Capitulate

If we consider that the above organizations were in the capitulation camp, what about everyone else?  At Spectra Diversity we have DEI consultants and facilitators who have taken a variety of means to pivot. These include:

• Changing terminology but keeping DEI in place. This means removing words in their mission statements and training programs but keeping the work largely intact.
• Changing the focus of their business from DEI facilitation to coaching perhaps.
• Adding new features to their offerings by adding subjects such as neurodiversity, mental health and generational differences. In Spectra Diversity’s case, we are working on a 90-day program for Inclusive Leadership and are offering workshops related to the DEI changes. The Legal Insights: DEI for REAL workshops are underway and are conducted every 3 weeks.
• Sadly, some internal Chief Diversity Officers have lost their jobs and are on the hunt for new ones with organizations that still hold values connected to inclusion and belonging.

Diversity, equity and inclusion will not go away

Inclusion is a value that nearly all employees appreciate. Gen Z and millennials will look for organizations which hold the values of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Diversity is not going away either. The United States is becoming more diverse as time progresses and organizations which ignore this will eventually lose out on talented employees, as well as customers. For example, LGBTQ+ audiences have an annual global buying power of $3.9 trillion annually, making the group a powerful market for advertisers. Here is what  Whatson Nelson Consulting has to say on the matter:

“Diversity, equity and inclusion are not trends. These principles exist because of our enduring need to create spaces that reflect and respect the multifaceted humanity we all share. Even if we were to achieve a society where everyone truly felt a sense of belonging, DEI wouldn’t disappear; it would evolve. DEI would become woven into every fiber of our organizations, no longer an “initiative” but an integral part of our culture and daily operations.”

Moving forward

In the training that Spectra Diversity provides, we emphasize that DEI should not be a program under the Human Resources department, but should be embedded in the entire talent life cycle. There are several pros and cons to this idea.

DEI Pros

• Attract and retain talent (stop the revolving door in hiring).
• Attract more clients/customers
• Increased innovation
• Better employee engagement
• Inclusive leadership yields benefits
  • 17% Increase in team performance
  • 20% Increase in team collaboration
  • 70% Increase in employees’ sense of belonging and psychological safety
  • 76% Decrease in employee attrition risk

DEI Cons

• Lower morale when DEI is eliminated
• Eroded trust and lower employee engagement
• Recruiting obstacles – especially youth, LGBTQ individuals, racial and ethnic minorities, those with disabilities and women
• Reputational and cultural risk (25% report of damage)
• Increase in workplace discrimination lawsuits (18% higher)
• Stakeholder pressure

What you can do:

View Spectra Diversity and Third Ear Conflict Resolution’s ‘Legal Insights: DEI for REAL’ video series.

Measure your organization to see where your organization IS and IS NOT demonstrating inclusion