“We are putting in so much work, but our DEI efforts are not moving the needle.”
Despite 97% of HR leaders saying their organisation has made changes that improved DEI, just 37% of employees agree with that sentiment.
There is plenty of data that shows we’re not seeing significant change in this area. Here are some examples of the stubborn diversity gaps that still exist in Australia:
- 84% of working-age Australians are employed, but this drops to 54% of working-age Australians with a disability;
- 50% of the population are women but only 10% of Leadership roles in ASX300 companies are held by women;
- 42% of the population are non-Anglo, but only 3% of Executive Leadership roles are held by non-Anglo leaders.
Of course, it’s not just diversity. Inclusion is still a challenge for many with:
- Just 30% of employees strongly agreeing they are treated fairly at their company.
- Only 33% of employees believing they have the same opportunity for advancement as everyone else in their organisation — and an even lower 21% of HR leaders believing the same.
- Only 27% of HR leaders believing employees in their organisations feel comfortable being themselves at work.
While employers are striving to make changes, there’s a disconnect between those efforts and how they’re impacting the workforce.
Those trying to drive change are burnt out
Not only are we not collectively moving the needle, but those leading diversity efforts within organisations are reporting burnout, with 60% of DEI Officers at S&P 500 companies leaving their job between 2018 and 2021. Common roadblocks include:
- Emotional labour: DEI can be a challenging topic that is emotionally draining
- Insufficient resources: having to fight harder with less able to make meaningful change
- Resistance: constant pushback from stakeholders
- Role strain: often DEI professionals have multiple responsibilities to navigate
It’s time for change, but trying new things in DEI feels risky
Changing organisational culture and behaviours around DEI is not simple. Leaders often share with us that they are nervous of “getting it wrong,” especially given that DEI can be a highly emotive and sensitive subject. They don’t want to offend people or expose the organisation to reputational, cultural or legal risk.
Given all of that, we tend to default to “safer” traditional approaches, even if they are not getting the results we hope for.
How can organisations think differently when there are high risks?
At Leaders For Good we have leveraged our team’s diverse experience to address these issues. We’ve looked at areas such as agile working, design thinking, systems thinking, positive psychology, change and adult development theory, applying these approaches to the persistent and universal DEI challenges our clients face.
And now we want to share some of what we’ve learned with you.
Welcome to the Thinking Differently about DEI series. Here, we explore five DEI-related challenges and provide you with different perspectives and actionable takeaways.
Over the course of the series we’ll share our thoughts on:
- Making sense of DEI complexity
- Embedding DEI into the organisation
- Measuring DEI effectively
- Getting on leadership and employee agendas
- Delivering effective L&D at scale
If you’d like to listen to our podcast on the same topic, head here.
