Earlier this year I attended a DEI conference and heard a call to arms from Dan Robertson at Fairer Consulting. He warned of a ‘culture of violence’ around identities in the US and how a rise of identity politics is affecting the corporate environment.
This ‘political agenda’ to roll back DEI in the US, he claimed, will affect the UK and Europe. ‘I’ve never been more concerned about global democracy and DEI than I am now,’ he said.
He urged the audience to think about when do you dial down the voice of DEI advocacy and be the quiet influencer and when do you need to be the loud voice within an organisation?
‘Organisational structure at the moment is designed to get us out but you need to find a strategic connection,’ he advised.
This month across the Pond, it was reported that Walmart has scaled back on its DEI programmes, adding to the list of other US corporates who have stood down their DEI initiatives since I heard his talk, such as: Ford, Boeing, Molson Coors and Harley-Davidson, reportedly bowing to activist pressure.
While this is some cause for concern, it was reassuring to read recently a new survey of 5,700 business employers and professionals in the UK that DEI is still high on the agenda and 50% have a dedicated team and 31% a head of DEI or a Chief Diversity Officer.
The Hays and Fairer Consulting report highlighted the top five areas where professionals believe DEI positively impacts in an organisation as being:
- company culture (69%)
- recruitment including attraction and selection (39%)
- staff morale (36%)
- company reputation (29%)
- retention (29%)
All of these factors are critical as part of a business’s EVP and employer brand, and with 72% of Gen Z now researching companies and their employees across social media channels before deciding whether or not to apply for roles, your DEI initiatives can be a key differentiator against competitors.
So, as Tim Berners-Lee said: ‘We need diversity of thought in this world to face the new challenges’ so too do we need to further instil and support diversity within our working environments. Thinking differently comes from diversity of people which fuels innovation and breeds success for everyone; and if 1 + 1 only ever equals 2 then you’ll be left behind.
Discover how blue goose supported the Police Uplift Programme DEI initiative for the UK government.
