Black employees aren’t impressed by DE&I efforts

Companies may be in the midst of ramping up their diversity and inclusion efforts but the very employees the initiatives are meant to help aren’t impressed — and they’re not seeing any real change.

Black employees rated their company’s DE&I efforts 3.49 out five, according to a recent study conducted by Glassdoor, a job search platform. When surveyed on how satisfied employees are with their company’s initiatives Black employees are 8% less satisfied than their white colleagues — a discrepancy that has only widened since 2019.

“For white employees there's a perception that we're doing more on DE&I than ever before,” says Daniel Zhao, senior economist at Glassdoor and lead data analyst on the study. “But for Black employees that hasn't yet translated into meaningful and significant change.”

The disparity in satisfaction between Black and white employees isn’t a surprise, Zhao says. But the fact that dissatisfaction among Black workers continues to grow year over year — at a time when DE&I efforts are getting more buzz and attention than ever — proves that what companies are promoting externally may not align with what’s happening internally.

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“Oftentimes when we see these kinds of gaps they tend to be concentrated in certain industries or occupations,” Zhao says. “But you don't really see that here — you actually see a pretty persistent gap across industries, which points to systemic barriers that Black employees face in society and in the workplace.”

Diversifying the workforce has been a growing trend for companies across the board, but while 100% of respondents of a recent HireVue survey said that diversity, equity and inclusion was “extremely relevant” or “very relevant” to them, just 33% said taking action on DE&I goals was an immediate priority.

“The most important advice for employers is that they solicit feedback from underrepresented groups and make sure that they target specific action towards those groups,” Zhao says. “Different employees are going to face different challenges so it's really important that employers don't try to stick to one size fits all solutions because there isn't one.”

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Underrepresentation in professional and management roles is hurting Black workers’ relationship with their jobs overall, according to Glassdoor. Twenty-four percent of Black employees work in lower-paid service occupations compared to 16% for white employees, and Black workers make up more than 12% of the labor force, yet 15% of the jobs lost during COVID have impacted this population, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Black employees are waiting to see if companies are going to walk the walk on DE&I,” Zhao says. “Because they've heard [them] talk the talk.”