#24 Your Employer May Be Over DEI—But You Don’t Have to Be
Navigating DEI rollback? How individuals can uphold inclusion in shifting workplace cultures.
Recent headlines have spotlighted several U.S.-based organisations scaling back their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. While this has been unsettling for many of us, it’s not entirely surprising.
The past week feels like the culmination of years of backlash against initiatives that champion equality and fairness. Over that time, we’ve seen terms like “diversity” and “woke” be co-opted, politicised, and weaponised—twisted into slurs that incite outrage and drive division. Ironically, taking on meanings that are diametrically opposed to their original intent.
While the comment sections are full of MAGA supporters cheering for these changes, those who have meaningfully engaged in this work understand what’s truly at play.
Those who hold power often have a vested interest in convincing us that inclusion is unnecessary. For them, fairness, belonging, and equality—the core tenets of DEI work—pose a threat. Why? Because they challenge the idea that we live and operate within a meritocracy.
© Photo Credit: The Black List
The myth of meritocracy:
Critics of DEI often argue that employment decisions should be based on “merit” rather than facets of identity such as race or sexual orientation. On this point, there should be complete alignment: DEI has never been about handing opportunities to the unqualified. But let’s not be naïve—our current system is far from merit-based, and not everyone has an equal shot at opportunities.
How else can we explain Stanford University’s now infamous study showing that minority ethnic candidates who “whiten” their résumés are twice as likely to be invited for interviews compared to those who do not? This “whitening” involves removing any details that suggest a candidate is not white—such as affiliations with cultural organisations or volunteer work in certain communities. The more Eurocentric the CV, the greater the chances of being invited to interview.
Additionally, a study by the Centre for Social Investigation at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, found that applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds must send 60% more applications to receive a positive response than their white, British-origin counterparts.
I could cite study after study, but if you’re reading this newsletter, I’m likely preaching to the converted. So, I’ll move on.
A Commercial Imperative
The findings of these studies not only reveal a system that is morally and ethically indefensible but also one that is setting us up for future commercial strife.
DEI is often lumped alongside other Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives—seen as important, but ultimately as “nice to have” - something we should be seen to be doing. This perspective needs to shift to acknowledge that DEI is not just a social imperative but also a commercial one.
McKinsey’s landmark diversity studies are frequently cited for a reason: they provide robust evidence of why diversity is good for business. Two standout findings are:
The widening performance gap between companies that embrace DEI principles and those that lag behind.
Companies with gender, ethnic, and cultural diversity outperform their less diverse counterparts by 36%.
Put simply, diversity is not a hindrance to progress—it’s a cornerstone of economic success.
So, Where Do We Go From Here?
Although this rollback is disheartening, I’ve taken a few days to reflect. My conclusion? Everything has changed, yet nothing has changed at all.
As individuals, we must remain hopeful but realistic. The strategies and goals, I’ll share with you clearly aren’t a substitute for fully funded programs that tackle structural inequalities and are championed by senior leadership.
However, it’s also true that organisations are ultimately made up of individuals—and each of us has a role to play. DEI, as both an ethos and a practice, doesn’t have to disappear as long as we remain committed to keeping it alive.
1. Prioritise Inclusion, and Diversity will follow
When I’m initially engaged by organisations, they often want to dive straight into their recruitment strategy, with a singular focus on diversifying their workforce by hiring individuals from underrepresented backgrounds. While I understand why this might seem like the natural starting point, I always caution against making it the first priority—especially if retaining employees from underrepresented backgrounds has been an ongoing issue.
This point was brought to life for me during a recent episode of the Campaign podcast titled Why Has DEI Slipped Down the Agenda? The participants discussed whether the advertising industry had lost its commitment to DEI and explored the reasons behind this shift. One participant shared a brilliant analogy, comparing diversity initiatives to organ transplants: new "organs" (people from underrepresented backgrounds) are brought into the industry, but if the "body" (the organisational culture) hasn’t been properly prepared, it rejects the transplant.
I found this analogy incredibly powerful because it highlights a critical truth: no matter how diverse your workforce becomes, you must first ensure that your organisation is a safe and inclusive space for everyone within it to thrive.
Here are three areas to prioritise when building inclusive organisational cultures:
a. Equitable Policies and Practices: Review and update policies and practices to ensure they promote fairness and equity. This includes everything from performance evaluations and promotions to parental leave and flexible working arrangements. Ensure systems are designed to support all employees, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds, rather than inadvertently reinforcing systemic inequities.
b. Create feedback loops: Employees need to feel safe to express their ideas, concerns, and identities without fear of retaliation or judgment. Now more than ever. Building psychological safety involves encouraging open dialogue, addressing microaggressions and discriminatory behaviour, and ensuring that feedback mechanisms are accessible and effective.
d. Role modelling: Inclusive culture starts at the top and this is a tricky topic if the business is telling its leaders that inclusion no longer matters. My advice for would-be-allies is to ensure that they are visibly and authentically commit to fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and respected. This means not just talking about inclusion but demonstrating it through their actions—listening to diverse perspectives, addressing bias, and holding themselves and others accountable for creating an inclusive workplace.
2. Standardise your recruitment process to minimise bias
Bias is a natural part of being human. We tend to favour people who look like us, think like us, or share similar experiences, often without even realising it.
Here are three areas to prioritise:
a. Ditch referral schemes: According to recruitment specialise Tangent, you’re 9x more likely to be employed through an employee referral, and 82% of employers rank referrals as their best hiring channel. That’s great for those who are connected and have friends and family who work in your industry of interest, but if you come from an underrepresented community or a lower socioeconomic background, you may not have that network, thereby excluding you from employment opportunities.
b. Developing a hiring criteria (not the same as a job description): This is what all candidates should be evaluated against when they are being interviewed. It helps ensure you’re evaluating against a criteria versus relying on gut feel - which is when unconscious bias is likely to seeps in.
c. Calibrate CVs: Rather than interview people as their CVs come in. Batch them up and review them as a team against the hiring criteria. Ideally you should not interview candidates alone for first and second interviews.
It also goes without saying that you should cast your net wide when advertising roles to ensure that you have visibility with those communities that may not, for whatever reason, see your roles advertised in traditional media channels. Continue to work with recruiters who go the extra mile to ensure you see the best possible set of candidates who ALSO reflect the multicultural and diverse societies we reside within.
3. There’s a difference between treating everyone the same (equality) and treating them fairly (equity):
In DEI work, treating everyone the same might mean implementing blanket policies or programs that ignore the unique barriers faced by marginalised groups. For example:
Providing the same mentorship program to all employees may overlook the fact that women or employees of colour often lack access to informal networks and mentorship opportunities that others take for granted.
Applying a standard hiring criteria without addressing unconscious bias might perpetuate the exclusion of qualified candidates from underrepresented backgrounds.
This is perhaps the most difficult of the strategies to apply in an organisation that has actively rolled back DEI initiatives but the mindset to maintain is one that acknowledged that systemic barriers exist but you work to level the playing field, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to thrive. For example; adapting workplace policies to support different needs, such as offering flexible schedules for caregivers or accessibility tools for employees with disabilities.
4. Prioritise inclusive, welcome and open language
Clearly, I’m biased here but the number one way of making someone feel excluded is the use of poor language and communication.
We should maintain the inclusive, forward thinking standards that we’ve rightly become accustomed to.
Nothing should change here.
5. Mentoring makes a difference
Seek out opportunities to mentor a more junior member of the team. We all need support and it becomes even harder to navigate the workplace when you are ‘other’. Look for opportunities to build equity for others.
6. Create safe spaces
Continue to champion Employee Resource Groups. It may get even rougher in the next few months and people need these spaces to be able to speak freely.
Remember, this too shall pass
Although I’m disappointed by these rollbacks, I remain committed to this work alongside countless others. Before I wrap things up with my January Recommendations, I wanted to share an example of a similar cultural challenge we’ve faced—one that seems almost absurd in hindsight.
Growing up in the 1980s, the British comedy scene was dominated by comics who emerged from the working men’s clubs. Their humour was basic and had a heavy reliance on sexist and racist tropes. In my childhood home, if one of those comics appeared on TV, it was swiftly switched off.
In the late 80s, my older brother, an early cultural adopter with a TV in his bedroom, started talking about a new wave of comedians known as ‘Alternative Comedians’—think Ben Elton. At the time, this made little sense to me, but these comedians were moving from small spots at the Comedy Store to mainstream TV gigs. They introduced a type of humour to the British public that didn’t rely on punching down on other communities. Unsurprisingly, there was a backlash with mainstream media viciously complaining that comedians could no longer tell their racist, sexist, and homophobic jokes. Over time, the complaints dies down, the comedians went from being described to ‘alternative comedians’ to ‘comedians’, and not making minoritised communities the butt of jokes became the norm.
While this example isn’t a perfect analogy for the challenges DEI faces, it reminds me that change, though met with resistance, often leads to progress.
Onwards ✊🏾.
January Recommendations:
📻 LISTEN to the fashion podcast, Articles of Interest, discuss the topic of ‘Modesty’. They take a tour through Mormonism, Judaism and Islam and the ways in which the commands of these faiths overlap and intersect. One for anyone who loves the sociology of fashion.
📺 WATCH: this TikTok by Caz Simone that explores the experiences of some of the contestants of colour on the UK version of The Traitors.
I thought this comment on the video was incredibly spot on 🎯.
📚 READ: This very thought-provoking thread by Marie Beech about her “full-on Pretty Woman moment”. Was the store being racist towards Beech, a Black woman, or just mean?
As ever, thank you as ever for reading this little newsletter which is now a whole two years old 🎂.
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Until next month, take care of yourselves 💛 and each other,
