Are organisations dumping DEI prematurely?

Rising diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) resentment has increased across the globe over the past year, with big-time corporations quietly disregarding their once self-glorified DEI policies.

With Walmart, Ford, Harley-Davidson, and other global organisations rolling back their DEI initiatives, many are proclaiming that the once prioritised workplace framework is operating on borrowed time – soon to be removed altogether.

HR Leader recently spoke to Jasleen Kaur, senior principal of HR advisory at Gartner, about the ongoing discussions around DEI.

“Back in 2020, a lot happened globally, and that had a flow-on effect across the globe because all the DEI leaders and HR leaders were kind of in the mindset of, ‘oh, the iron is hot, so strike while we can’. But now, what’s happening is the complete opposite,” said Kaur.

“My hope, which is also prediction, is that we’re not going to see the negative flow-on effect from the US economy to our part of the world. We have our own drivers that are contributing to that. For example, many organisations, especially on the government front, are focusing on respectful dialogue.

“A lot of organisations are focusing on the pay equity perspective. They also have a focus on the psychosocial risk component. So, all these things have a positive impact for us, meaning DEI is likely to continue being, to some extent, a bit of a priority.”

Kaur admitted that for some organisations, DEI has plummeted in the priority list. However, she argued that now is the moment where HR leaders and organisational leaders who embedded DEI into their business outcomes will see the rewards – while those who did so inorganically will quickly backtrack on DEI.

“DEI is sitting at number 12 on the priority list for HR leaders. So that is a little bit concerning,” she said.

“When we started off in 2020, we noticed there was a major event, a trigger point. And because of that, there was an upward trajectory in terms of the focus and importance of DEI. It became a high priority. It was almost like it was at an inflated peak of expectations. But then a lot of pushback started to happen, and that’s what we’re seeing right now. And it’s just gone down the slump.”

“The DEI leaders and some HR leaders are panicking to some extent. They’re anxious that, ‘oh my God’, what’s going to happen with the market? But what’s really going to happen is we’re going to start to level up.

“All those organisations that jumped on the bandwagon for the sake of focusing on DEI, they’re going to fall out of it. And when we start to level up. The ones that are going to level up are the ones that actually meant to focus on it by nature. It was the core values for their organisation. It was something of a business imperative; that’s what’s going to be a big differentiator.”

Kaur continued by saying that those leaders who understood the benefits of DEI initiatives when they originally implemented it will be able to sustain and succeed with such measures still in place.

“Organisations or DEI leaders who positioned DEI to begin with as a business imperative, showed value, showed success measures, outcomes from their efforts, they’re the ones who are going to sustain success or performance. The ones that got leadership involved and got them accountable for D and I, they’re the ones that are going to continually see efforts,” said Kaur.

“The ones that didn’t do all of those things, that didn’t build sustainability in their efforts, they’re the ones who are now panicking. They know, deep down, that their leaders were not bought in; they were doing it for the sake of doing it, and now that they don’t have to do it, they’re not going to do it.”

Kace O'Neill

Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.