BIPOC employees demanding more DEI efforts from leadership

DEI efforts are still failing BIPOC and Hispanic employees, report finds

October 17, 2023 3:26 PM

As the effort to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion strategies continues, it's important to get a pulse on where we are — and how far we still need to go.

Arizent, EBN's parent company recently released its third annual diversity, equity and inclusion report, The Positive Business Impact of Genuine Inclusion. The data was collected online between July and August 2023 from 669 U.S. employees across all industry sectors. Sixty percent of responses came from white-collar industries like banking, accounting, wealth management, insurance and other professional services.

Twenty-eight percent of employees are in favor of DEI and its priority in the workplace, according to the report, and 75% of respondents believe their company has a genuine commitment to inclusion. Despite significant progress, however, the report also highlighted the fact that there are still complex sentiments around DEI.

Twenty-seven percent of BIPOC or Hispanic men and 31% of BIPOC or Hispanic women said it was extremely important for employers to address DEI discrepancies compared to only 13% of white men and 20% of white women. And when asked their personal reaction to DEI initiatives, 16% of white men and 9% of white women stated they felt it was overdone while 7% of BIPOC or Hispanic women said it felt performative and 5% of men felt it was being executed poorly.

From the exclusive research, here are key takeaways that shed some light on the current state of diversity and inclusion efforts and what the future might hold.

Certain industries continue to lag behind — and it will cost them

The accounting, banking and insurance industries score relatively lower when it comes to DEI efforts and the perceived value. What's interesting, however, is that respondents were more likely to score their individual companies highly on DEI health than they were their industries.

A lack of diversity has also been correlated to employees' willingness to speak up for themselves and receive support at work. In companies where DEI is seen as truly practiced and where the executive leadership is more diverse, employees are more likely to agree that they are engaged for their perspective and that their input matters. They were also more likely to say they felt comfortable disagreeing in meetings and that curiosity was encouraged in their role.

There is still progress to be made for all minority groups, overall

Still, across all sectors and industries, BIPOC or Hispanic men and women still report higher levels of isolation than their white counterparts, the report found. And what's more, BIPOC and Hispanic men and women also seem to recognize that those experiences are shared across multiple demographics, too.

When asked to rate the level of inclusion a company demonstrates for multiple different minority groups including women, the LGBTQ community and disabled folks, BIPOC and Hispanic men and women were significantly less likely to rate companies' DEI efforts as very inclusive or friendly for those demographics.

Employers are taking action. But is it enough?

Respondents indicate that 80% of companies are taking at least one action to address diversity and inclusion company-wide. Forty-five percent of employers are providing diversity training at all levels of the company, 40% are creating employee resource groups (ERGs) and 37% are examining the pay structure to ensure equal pay for equal work.

In companies where ERGs are established, 64% of group members felt increased feelings of inclusion and 55% felt the groups were making cultural changes to the organization overall. But despite the positive outlook, taking more than one action and bringing that diversity into leadership roles remains critical.

Employees who say their companies have a genuine commitment to DEI report a higher number of DEI initiatives, and the same can be said about companies that have a greater degree of diversity in their leadership — companies with six or more represented groups in leadership saw more than three times the proliferation of successful diversity strategies.