At a time when it feels like DEI is no longer a priority, does the data share a different story?

In this episode, MIchelle talks about the truth in what employees are look dives into the latest research on employee and employer demand for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the workplace. She highlights compelling data from recent studies, revealing that employee interest in DEI programs is at an all-time high, matching the fervor seen in 2020, despite fluctuating headlines and changes within the federal government. Bogan walks listeners through data from leading organizations like Edelman and Bridge Partners, detailing how DEI efforts are not only being requested by employees but are also leading to tangible business benefits, such as increased retention, loyalty, and even improved financial performance.

The episode also discusses the specific DEI commitments companies are making, from outreach and hiring practices to professional development and supplier diversity. Bogan emphasizes the correlation between comprehensive DEI initiatives and employee satisfaction, trust, and retention, supporting her points with statistics and trends from reputable sources. The key takeaway is clear—investing in DEI is both a moral and business imperative, with employees seeking inclusive cultures and organizations significantly benefiting from such environments.

Key Topics Discussed:

- Recent spike in employee demand for DEI initiatives across all demographics

- Breakdown of Edelman’s Trust Barometer findings on DEI in the workplace

- Bridge Partners’ research on leadership investment in DEI

- Increasing company commitments to DEI in areas like pay equity, ERGs, mentoring, supplier diversity, and professional development

- Impact of DEI investment on employee loyalty and retention

- Quantifiable business benefits of DEI, including revenue, innovation, market expansion, and stock performance

- Debunking negative media narratives regarding DEI and focusing on what employees are truly asking for

I'm Michelle Bogan, founder and CEO of Equity at Work, and this is your DEI Minute, your go to podcast for leaders looking to navigate the ever evolving landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Whether you're just starting out with DEI or looking to sustain your long term successes, each episode will provide you with actions you can take to move DEI forward at your organization, all in fifteen minutes or less. This episode, I'd like to share some recent data that shows that employee demand for DEI is at an all time high. And I think this is really important information for everyone to be aware of because there's been so much about DEI in the news in The US. Recently, we've currently, you know, got a lot of changes coming through the new administration related to DEI and the federal government. And, you know, I'm assuming that's gonna have an a ripple effect out into private industry. But wanted to make sure everyone's aware that while some of those movements may be happening at a high level and from a federal standpoint, employees are still really asking for a lot related to DI, and employers are absolutely reaping the benefit. So I'd like to take you through a few different sources of data that have come out in research from the last couple of months.

The first is from Edelman who does a great trust barometer. They're a wonderful research organization. And a few months ago, they they did a study to measure the demand for DI programs across employees, looking at it across racial lines, gender, income, age, and political affiliation. And I, you know, even as a DI practitioner, even I was pretty blown away by how positive this research was. You know, it can be really easy to be to get caught up in a lot of the naysaying and negativity that can, you know, pop up in, you know, certain news media and so forth. And we've seen this, you know, be so well received within organizations with our client work, but it was wonderful to see some research that was so broad across organizations that that really said the same. So what I found so fascinating about this was across every line, across race, across gender, across political affiliation, age, and income level, employee demand for diversity programs is back to the same high that it was in in 2020. So the research question that was posed by Edelman is, whether or not the respondent would agree with the statement that an inclusive work culture with a well supported diversity program is critical to attracting and retaining me as an employee.

And across all lines, though, there was an increase in a significant percentage point increase in agreeing with that statement. So across political affiliation, it was up for Republicans, for Democrats, and Independents by over five percentage points compared to two years ago. For gender, it was up by six percentage points for men, eleventh percentage points for women. Across all age groups, up significantly. Across all income levels, up significantly. And, actually, the most significant increase was in the lowest income brackets in of the survey, up 13 percentage points, which is really significant. And same across racial lines, up six percentage points for white and Asian American, Hawaiian Pacific Islanders, up nine percentage points for black employees, and up 16 percentage points for Hispanic. Overall, back to the same level as in 2020.

Really, what this is saying is employees feel like more DI initiatives foster increased belonging, and it makes them much more likely to recommend their employer to family and friends, particularly those in the same communities as them. In addition, 76% of respondents feel diverse workforces connect and build trust with customers and communities more effectively. And we certainly see this in our work with our clients, But, again, to have, a great quantitative measure by an independent firm, confirming that is is really wonderful news. So regardless of what you're hearing out in, you know, the media and in the political realm, employees see a lot of benefit from these programs. They want them. They're asking for them. And I'll share a little bit more research with you that goes deeper on on one aspect of that in a minute. On the leader side, we also saw some research coming out from Bridge Partners.

They did an inclusion barometer of across leaders across industries. These were senior leaders. And the majority of these corporate leaders are continuing to invest in building and enhancing their DEI programs. So I'll share three statistics with you here. Seventy nine percent of those leaders had an existing DI program in place today. 72% of them are enhancing their DI programs in the next twenty four months, so throughout 2025. And 73%, report that DEI is more important now than it was five years ago. So, again, a big spike over 2020, which while some organizations have been doing DEI work for many, many years, For others, 2020 was really the first time to get into a really deep level of focus there and and get programming started, training started, you know, new policies and processes put in place in a more holistic and significant manner.

So if you've got 73% of those folks continuing to say that this is even more important than it was then and 72% planning to enhance their programs over the next year, again, that's in response to employee demand, and it really shows that the benefits case is proving out for them. Another piece of research that we found really interesting is from a partner of ours, Bernadette Davis Communications, which is a public relations firm. They do annual reports to see what kinds of topics related to DEI are coming out there. You know, what are public organizations talking about in their inner reports and to their stockholders and to the analysts and so forth. What was interesting there is there were more there was more mention of DEI commitments and the depth of the commitments and the information was much more significant than any of the years in the past. And the company commitments for DI were particularly strong in the following areas. In outreach and hiring, in pay equity, in ERGs, mentoring, and listening circles, in professional development, in supplier diversity, and in philanthropy and community outreach. And some of those have been popular for quite some time.

So we have for a number of years seen a focus on or an emerging focus on pay equity, for example. We've seen people doing a lot of philanthropy and community outreach, which is wonderful. Of course there's always a focus on outreach and recruiting and hiring. But what I found really interesting with this was, you know, the continued investment in some of the internal programming that is really looking to build skills, build connections, create inclusion, foster sense of belonging. So ERGs, mentoring, listening circles, professional development. And then with supplier diversity, I think that's an amazing way. That's something that we work with a lot of clients on of how to help extend your DEI principles out into your broader community and, you know, provide new opportunities for small businesses, for minority owned businesses, women owned businesses, etcetera. So really pleased to see just how broad and deep those commitments are going.

And one more piece of data that I wanna share again, this is back from Edelman with their trust barometer. And this really talks about how investing in DI drives loyalty, And that's really because it demonstrates how much you value your people. DEI programs are at the end of the day, really focused on providing opportunity for everyone and lifting everyone up, providing peep lots of ways for people to be successful and reach their full potential to the extent they want to within the workplace. So here, they they did a survey of ranking among those who say their employer has fewer DEI initiatives, which they said zero to seven versus more, which they categorize as eight to 16. The question was related to regardless of background, loyalty increases with more of these initiatives. That was the finding. So, again, across all the lines I mentioned before, you see significant percentage points increases indicating that these employees are saying they wanna stay working with their organization for many years. So those with more DI initiatives, the companies that have invested more and provide more programming, more training, more ERGs, more cultural observances, etcetera, consistently are anywhere from 19 percentage points all the way to 32 percentage points higher in employees saying they want to stay working at that organization for many years.

That's huge. One of the biggest things that we try to combat through GI work is turnover. Increasing retention, increasing engagement, increasing loyalty. And again, this shows that, you know, that investment has a direct correlation with people wanting to stay for a much longer time in that organization. And trusting the organization, feeling like the organization is, has their best interest at heart. And finally, the other place we're seeing all this prove out is in the benefits cases. And there's been a lot of research over the years to try to quantify what, you know, the impact can be. So we've shared a little bit earlier.

We talk a lot about this benefits case in all of our work on our website and and in this podcast. Of course, it's impossible to do a direct causation because you've got so many, you know, different factors at play, but there definitely is a correlation between this investment in your DEI work and a number of top and bottom line benefits here. So I'm gonna share a few with you that we that we've seen proven out time and again. And these have been well researched by McKinsey and Company, by Deloitte, by Harvard Business Review, Great Places to Work, etcetera. So I'll share six of them with you right now. The first is every 1% increase in gender diversity yields a 3% increase in revenue. I don't know any business that would not jump at the chance to have a a great sort of slam dunk way to increase revenue. The top 25% of racially diverse companies are 33% more likely to outperform on EBIT margin.

So again, huge financial benefit there. Diverse companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders. That innovation is of course driving top line revenue and margin. Diverse teams are 70% more likely to capture new markets. A A lot of that comes from innovative thinking and bringing a lot of different perspectives together on, you know, white space opportunities and how to think about different risks related to that. Inclusive workplaces outperform the S and P five hundred stock performance by four times, which is just incredible. And finally, diverse and inclusive workplaces have 5.4 times higher employee retention. And we've actually seen that in some cases at much higher levels, particularly in an hourly workforce where you typically have very high turnover.

Investing in DI programming and training and policies there really goes a long way in retaining those employees long term. But again, all of this comes from, you know, it's a focus on your people and a willingness to create safe spaces for people with different experiences and backgrounds and perspectives to come together, share ideas, brainstorm, think out of the box, and ultimately break up the group think. And that's what's driving this top line revenue and margin gains and helping you significantly in your cost management by reducing your turnover and, of course, improving engagement. So, again, you know, it's tempting to just follow some of these headlines that have been out in the news and in coming out of the current administration. And I would just challenge you to make sure you click down a little bit and and focus on what your people are really asking for. What's really gonna drive their commitment to you. They're feeling like, you know, they're valued. Their ability ability to feel like themselves at work and engaged.

And that's where you're gonna get the biggest benefit. Thank you so much. And that's a wrap. I'm Michelle Bogan, and that's your DEI minute for today. Thank you so much for listening. Please be sure to follow us wherever you listen podcasts, and don't forget to leave us a review. If you ever have questions, please visit our website or send us an email. You can also sign up for our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.

Links to everything can be found in the episode notes. This episode was produced and edited by Podgrove with podcast art by our very own Jamie Applegate.