Q&A: Future of DEI
- Kharena Coleman
- Feb 3, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 5, 2025
These days, everyone has an opinion about the what we like to call "deliberate equity and inclusion". We know that these are confusing times. It seems to be by design, but we can assure you that creating a resilience workforce and supply-chain is not going away globally or locally, even if Americans have a new set of legal hurdles. We've got 32 countries to worry about DEI in.
Join us this Wednesday for a Q&A to answer some of your operational and tactical questions on inclusion from the people writing the global standards and advising actual companies and governments.
Over the past several months, 13 companies have announced they were “abandoning,” “retreating from,” or “axing” their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Or did they?
Read the announcements carefully and you’ll notice the reality is far more nuanced than the headlines:
Some of the “retreat” is just responsible legal risk mitigation, like avoiding quotas or not tying manager compensation to diversity targets.
Some of it relates to external engagement, like withdrawing from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
A lot of it, frankly, reads like companies trying to thread a needle: backing away from specific DEI activities they consider legally or socially risky, even as 12 out of the 13 companies reaffirm values that are either explicitly DEI or sound like DEI under a different name.
We are not suggesting that there aren't real threats to the integrity of this work, but want to acknowledge that the panic is coming from headlines that do not represent the business market. At InclusionScore, we estimate that no more than 6% of the corporate market has changed DEI intentions. We also think that these trying times are an opportunity to implement more standardization and professionalization in the fledgling DEI profession.
Plan on learning the facts and becoming a member of the ISO-30415:DISM Forum, the professional society of certified DEI Professionals.
That’s a powerful initiative! Addressing deliberate equity and inclusion on a global scale is no small task, and it’s inspiring to see leaders shaping standards and guiding both governments and businesses. Events like this Q&A provide clarity during complex times. Just like crafting the Best Thank You Letters in KSA requires thoughtfulness and cultural awareness, building resilient and inclusive systems demands the same level of care and strategy.