“Rolling back,” “cancelling,” “reframing,” “dropping,” “axing,” “removing,” are words regularly appearing in news stories about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and policies in Fortune 500 organizations across the U.S.
The many business benefits derived from creating diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces are being sidelined or disregarded altogether. Many organizations have started dismantling programs that represent years of commitment, investment, and progress.
Business benefits are real and proven
Anne Cesak of Great Place To Work® Canada says that employees who feel safe being their authentic selves at work are more likely to thrive as team members and contributors.
Their research shows that workplaces that recognize this outperform their peers on critical business metrics, including:
Revenue growth
Readiness to innovate
Recruitment
Turnover
Customer service
[Read: Create a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace to Boost Belonging and Performance]
Canadian businesses are standing strong on their commitment to DEI
In February, Mediacorp Canada Inc., organizers of Canada’s Top 100 Employer project recognized Canada’s Best Diversity Employers.
Mediacorp launched the awards program 18 years ago, recognizing that “workplace diversity and inclusion programs represent the best way to ensure that employees perform at their best level, making the organization stronger and more resilient.”
The program recognizes exceptional workplace diversity and inclusion programs that represent employees from five groups:
A. Women
B. Members of visible minorities
C. Persons with disabilities
D. Indigenous peoples
E. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender/Transexual peoples
Managing Editor Kristina Leung says, “Employees who feel a strong sense of belonging and connection are enormous assets to any organization. Developing an inclusive organization is one of the best ways to satisfy that need for belonging and connection.”
[See list of 2025 winners here]
The latest Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC) poll highlights just how important a sense of connection is to Canadians. “People with a strong sense of belonging tend to report better mental health indicators: they are less likely to report moderate to severe anxiety (11%) or depression (21%) symptoms, compared to those with weak ties (18% and 34%).”
Make sure the programs and policies you’re investing in are achieving the results you want
Scrutiny isn’t always a bad thing. Organizations that are committed to DEI but aren’t achieving the outcomes they hoped for should take this opportunity to re-evaluate and re-direct.
In the HBR article What Comes After DEI, author Lily Zheng critiques “mainstream DEI strategies” for relying on jargon-heavy communication, siloed programming, and one-off workshops that lack measurement and accountability. She highlights the business case for continuing to invest, but challenges leaders to seize this moment to reimagine efforts to achieve better outcomes.
“Ensure that as your language, initiatives, and strategies evolve, you are grounding them in outcomes rather than intentions, debiasing systems rather than “fixing” individuals, creating broad coalitions rather than polarized cliques, and communicating the win-win value of this work rather than giving in to zero-sum narratives.”
As the idiom “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” warns, you want to be careful you’re not discarding something valuable when you’re trying to get rid of something you don’t want.
Even if your efforts haven’t yet delivered the desired results, that doesn’t mean the time, money, and resources invested in DEI haven’t been valuable.
Dr. Bill Howatt, a mental health expert and regular contributor to the Trusted Leader Blog, writes often about the importance of applying the Plan-Do-Check model to identify what is working and what’s not and ensure you are achieving desired outcomes.
In his recent blog post on optimizing workplace mental health investments, he outlines six questions that you should ask before you launch a mental health program or initiative, which can also be applied to investments in DEI.
Why is it beneficial to focus on X to achieve Y outcome?
What is the best internal or external option available to facilitate this desired outcome?
How will the program achieve the desired outcome?
How will success be measured?
How will the program be implemented?
When will employees have access to it?
These are trying times. As the latest MHRC poll reveals, Canadians have a lot of serious concerns affecting their outlook and mental health. Canadian employers who stay the course in creating healthy, safe, diverse, and inclusive workplaces are building organizational resilience and making it possible for employees to thrive and contribute in a meaningful way despite all the uncertainty they face on a daily basis.
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