What’s next for DEI? This question is top of mind for HR leaders and diversity, equality, and inclusion advocates ever since Donald Trump signed his (in)famous executive order banning radical and wasteful government DEI programs. A spate of well-regarded American companies have announced rollbacks and cuts to their DEI investments. Will UK employers follow suit?
A slim majority of UK employers (53%) recently surveyed say they would not be ditching DEI, with firms like Deloitte UK notably diverging from its US counterpart in reaffirming its DEI commitments. However, ripples across the ocean take time to reach the opposite shore. Nearly 70% of those surveyed expect changes in the UK as a result of the US about-face on DEI. Last week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) withdrew its plans to publish new rules of diversity and inclusion for the financial services industry.
Yet, DEI is not dead. The Equality Act 2010 provides a strong legislative bulwark against efforts to easily undo DEI initiatives and progress. UK companies are required by the law to protect people with specific characteristics from discrimination, bullying, and harassment. Since 2017, regulations have also needed large employers with over 250 employees to report their gender pay gaps mandatorily. Employees increasingly want to work in a safe, inclusive, and values-driven workplace, and the business case for diversity in recruitment and retention remains strong, as the UK population is set to become more ethnically diverse and older. Now is not the time to take the foot off the accelerator on building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
To help companies navigate this chaotic and fast-evolving landscape, the agenda needs to be reframed around core principles. We should pivot away from ‘traditional diversity’, which focuses on representation metrics or promotes identity-based strategies, toward fostering ‘inclusion for all’, which acknowledges the varying and intersectional needs of all staff. I identify three levers for change that HR and business leaders can use to intervene constructively:
- Encourage a spirit of dialogue among staff networks –
Traditional diversity efforts are increasingly seen as leading to polarisation and what can be termed ‘divisive diversity’. Employee resource groups or staff networks established with an intention of giving voice and access to employees with shared protected characteristics risk becoming a hotbed for competing political agendas and skirmishes over scarce executive time and organisational resources.
Encouraging a spirit of dialogue that aids mutual respect and understanding of differing viewpoints ensures that all voices are heard, without falling prey to cancel culture. Dialogue recognises the complexity of human needs and experiences. It acknowledges that people do not belong to only one specific identity or homogenous group. Instead, employees have multiple intersecting identities and simultaneously participate in several groups. It is, therefore, incumbent on staff networks to work collaboratively to promote psychological safety at work while aligning with the broader organisational agenda.
- Promote senior leadership engagement and line managers as linchpins –
Forthcoming IES research demonstrates that senior leadership engagement is a crucial organisational enabler for DEI progress. Not only is it imperative for the board and executive team to role model the values of trust, respect, fairness, and belonging, but line managers at every level are a critical linchpin in creating an inclusive team environment that considers the needs of diverse people.
However, the Chartered Management Institute worryingly reports that 82% of managers are ‘accidental managers’, with no formal management or leadership qualifications. This creates a toxic work culture that alienates staff who need extra support or workplace adjustments, such as those with caring responsibilities or opting for hybrid working. Moreover, a say-do gap exists in managers agreeing that EDI is important and being able to create inclusive workplaces. Training managers on the importance of taking feedback and listening is the first step. The next is developing comprehensive and tailored inclusive leadership programs that help managers connect organisational goals to institutional culture and interpersonal behaviour.
- Take an intersectional approach to EDI –
Intersectionality is a framework that acknowledges the different socio-political identities of people to show how interlocking systems of power affect the most marginalised in society. To illustrate, men may have more power than women, but a white woman is likely to have more power than a black man due to her ethnicity, and a white woman with young children is likely to be discriminated against more at work than an Asian, married man with children. These intersecting identity characteristics can put people at an advantage or disadvantage in different settings.
A survey conducted by IES for the Care Quality Commission on workforce inequalities in health and adult social care, showed that nearly two-thirds of the respondents faced combined discrimination, that is, unequal treatment due to two or more protected characteristics. Social mobility and caring responsibilities are increasingly becoming important axes for diversity and inclusion, even though the Equality Act does not legally cover them. Adopting an intersectional approach in policy and programming allows organisations to address the differentiated needs of marginalised staff without alienating or excluding dominant groups.
To conclude, practitioners and academic experts recognise that there is no silver bullet for nurturing inclusive workspaces. However, one thing we must do is move away from divisive diversity and politicisation of the agenda. Mature leaders know that they must do this without throwing the baby out with the bathwater!
Dr Meenakshi Krishnan, Principal Research Fellow
Institute for Employment Studies