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Workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are under fire. Facing constant pressure from conservatives who see such efforts as reverse discrimination, several companies, including John Deere, Tractor Supply Co., Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Tesla Inc., and Zoom Video Communication Inc. have scaled back or eliminated their diversity programs in recent months.
Despite this trend against such DEI efforts, many companies are fulfilling their commitment to those initiatives, a recent survey shows. The survey, by the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals and YourCause from Blackbaud, found that 96 percent of corporate social impact professionals in 125 major companies say DEI programs have either stayed the same (83 percent) or increased (13 percent), USA TODAY reports. The same survey, however, found that companies are talking less about their efforts outside the company and have increased oversight of DEI programs.
A recent Fast Company article reiterates some of these findings, reporting that DEI efforts are now facing budget cuts and increased scrutiny, partly due to a lack of measurable results. One of the main issues is that companies put their DEI strategies into silos — in other words, they are treated as separate from the main business strategy — leading to ineffective outcomes.
Key challenges to DEI efforts, the Fast Company article says, include:
- Misinterpreting DEI outcomes, especially when majority groups feel excluded.
- Little or no support from leadership, which results in low employee
- Insufficient measurement of DEI impact, which undermines the business case for DEI.
Chase Brunson
Fast Company offers some strategies for overcoming these challenges, including integrating DEI into the organization’s core strategy, involving every HR process, investing in employee resource groups (ERGs), and seeking guidance from experienced DEI professionals.
Chase Brunson, an event manager for the Project Management Institute who often serves as a subject matter expert on DEI best practices within the meetings and events industry, won’t even entertain the idea of working at a company without a fully integrated DEI strategy. In a Convene podcast episode recorded at Convening Leaders 2024 in San Diego, Brunson told the story of how early in his career, he was “a little bit more afraid of being who I am and being out” as a member of the LGBTQ community. “I would kind of hide myself from my superiors,” he said, “and I wouldn’t tell them anything about my history, my past, or anything like that.”
Derek Anderson
Now that he’s had 10 years in event management experience, he said, when seeking a new position, he asks the company right away what their inclusion efforts are and how they support their employees. “I want to be my full, authentic self at work,” he said, “because I feel like that’s how we work better.”
He incorporates that focus on inclusion in his role as an event manager by helping his clients design their events with DEI in mind from the start. In the podcast episode, Brunson and fellow guest Derek Anderson, founder of e3 Creative, shared their insights about “DEI by design” — a holistic approach to DEI — when creating events with Convene podcast host and Digital Media Editor Magdalina Atanassova.
Brunson said he believes the meetings industry is making some great progress including diversity aspects in events but that it is often an afterthought, once much of the planning is complete. “They plan the conference and then they’re looking for diverse speakers,” he said. Both guests agreed that such an approach is “a really good starting block.” But, Anderson said, he tries to push his association clients to think about inclusion early in the planning stage because many “tend to be pretty cliquish.”
Anderson, focusing on first-time attendees, said associations often don’t make them a top priority. He asks his clients to consider what their first-time attendees are expecting and what the association wants them to experience. He said he is “really direct with them” because in some cases he has to encourage them to lose the “we’ve always done it that way mindset.”
Brunson spelled out a clear approach to DEI-by-design strategy for planning events: “Start thinking about diversity and inclusion right from the get-go — when you’re thinking about your city selection, thinking about your venue selection, your vendors,” and education, he said. “I definitely encourage event planners to use diversity as a strategy and not as an afterthought.”
Listen to the complete podcast episode below and find a full list of our episodes on the Convene podcast page.