Let's talk about the elephant in the room: part 2
A few years ago I wrote a blog sharing my own personal reflections and experiences of how DE&I has rapidly changed and evolved not just in the past 5 years but in my 20 plus year career as a DE&I Practitioner and having worked with many employers.
With a new president it felt like an opportunity to build on my first blog.
The election of Donald Trump signalled the end of federal government funded DE&I programmes and the removal of affirmative action of women and other minority groups. It also saw an executive order to end what it called “private sector DEI discrimination”
As US employers looked onto what was happening as executive order after executive order were passed, we have seen some major companies like Meta and Deloitte announce to their US based employees they were scaling back their DE&I programmes.
Whilst we have seen some US employers announce a rollback, it’s important to look beyond the headlines and understand what is really happening and how we got here.
According to a survey of US employers by resume.com the majority of businesses (65%) have indicated they are keeping their DE&I budgets whilst over a fifth (22%) are increasing it.
In the UK, there is still strong support for DE&I in the workplace with over half (53%) of employers in a survey who indicated they continue to support DE&I policies with just over a fifth looking to strengthen their initiatives (Source: Occupational Health Assessment) And in another survey 57% of employers see Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as critical for hiring new talent.
We are also seeing strong support from major US employers who have publicly declared in recent weeks that their work continues and the importance of building a more diverse and inclusive workplace for the business.
What has happened in the US offers an opportunity for employers to reflect on progress to date, hold the mirror up and be honest about where their actions might have been more performative, focusing on quick wins and PR than transformative. To do this it’s important to look back first.
Just under 5 years ago we saw a huge response from employers following the tragic murder of George Floyd and Black Lives Matters Movement protests around the world. We saw employers post black squares, hosting conversations on anti racism and coming up with a strategy or statement.
And over recent years, we have also seen more conversations on other topics, sometimes driven by external events like high profile cases of institutional racism within sport to sexual harassment in media, tv and business.
At the same time, we have seen a lot more issues that have been brought to the forefront of employers’ agendas from neurodiversity to menopause in the workplace and the role of allyship. These are all really critical and provide an opportunity for employers to consider how their people policies and the culture can better support employees with different needs and experiences to thrive and create a speak up culture.
There has been some great employers who have made significant strides.
Yet from the outside, a lot of it has felt performative or window dressing. Whilst it is great to see conversations happening on important issues that affect people at work, what is often missing is the so what? What happens as result of the conversation?
Surface level conversations, dashboards and plug and play learning is not getting to the root of organisations problems. It is just sticking a plaster over them. Conversations do matter so long as they lead to action and are rooted in the challenges organisation face as well as supporting the solutions they are trying to implement. It must be led by what the data is telling us.
Yes, you might feel good because you’ve ran an event, conference or initiative but what long lasting impact does this have? How does it level the playing field? They don’t. Simply put they make people feel good but once the event closes, training ends or conversation stops, silence.
At the same, we have also seen the DE&I industry rapidly transform and increase in size and scope from the growth of DE&I roles within private sector companies to more so called “experts” entering the industry setting up as coaches, consultants or speakers with little or no past experience.
As a DE&I Practitioner for over 20 years I have seen a lot of change from how the language has evolved to greater awareness of societal inequalities and strengthening of employment rights in the workplace.
At the same, I have seen in recent years an increase in anti-DE&I sentiment from different media outlets and political parties more so than before. But what it does it take the focus away from what really matters. It’s about levelling the playing field, using a data driven approach and aligning an employers’ DE&I efforts with its business plans.
And one of the biggest elephants in the room is men feeling like they are not part of the conversation.
So what now?
It’s important for UK companies including those with presence in the US to not get side tracked. Yes the language has evolved yet DE&I has been around in different shapes and forms for a very long time.
We have a strong legal framework in the UK that gives protection to workers from unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation. We also have new duties like the preventing sexual harassment duty. This requires taking a more proactive approach. And of course we have the gender pay gap duty for employers with over 250 employees as well as other laws that enhance the rights of workers and contribute towards building fairer more inclusive cultures. For the law to be effective, organisations need to do a deep dive into their people policies and practices and reflect on the culture, how decisions are made and how they are involving everyone in the conversation.
For DE&I to deliver lasting change, it has to be aligned to the business than seen as an add on or used when it’s convenient. Focusing on the data, measuring and reporting on outcomes on things like retention, employee feedback and productivity will enhance company’s DE&I efforts and build trust and confidence amongst candidates, workforce and stakeholders.
