HR Leaders and the Evolving Landscape of DEI: Upholding Inclusion Values

As Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives face new challenges, HR leaders remain committed to fostering inclusive workplaces despite shifting political landscapes. Global organizations must navigate evolving DEI strategies to support both business success and employee engagement.

By Diane Turek Pire

Over the past several years, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives have become a key area of importance and consideration for organizations worldwide. As companies strive to build and foster diverse workforces, HR leaders have been at the forefront of guiding these initiatives.

In the wake of recent edicts from the new administration in Washington, D.C., to suppress these efforts, companies and organizations are compelled to revisit their approach to this topic. Some companies were already succumbing to pressure from activists, and now many organizations are moving to eliminate programs and policies that support or even mention DEI.

Despite this current shift in the U.S. political narrative, many HR leaders and the leadership teams they collaborate with remain committed to upholding the core values of inclusion—ensuring that diverse voices and perspectives are sought, cultivated, and valued. They do so not just because they believe it’s the right thing to do, but because numerous studies and data have shown it’s good for business.

For global or multinational organizations, this topic becomes more complex. For example, several European countries maintain legal requirements for gender quotas on corporate boards and directives on equal pay. Global leaders must consider how they navigate this landscape and establish careful communication plans to guide their regional teams.

In the U.S., regardless of the stance a company decides to take, there is a growing consensus that it is time to reframe the narrative around DEI to ensure its core tenet of equality is upheld in a way that everyone sees as fair.

Articles are emerging on this topic as thought leaders try to tackle how we can move forward without discarding what was always intended to be a principled movement to create equal opportunity for all.

The Changing DEI Landscape and Impact on Global Organizations

DEI has evolved beyond hiring practices and training events to encompass workplace culture, leadership principles, and product development. Corporate leaders have had to adjust their strategies to respond to both external and internal pressures while still stewarding their organizations to benefit from the diverse experiences and backgrounds of their employee community.

The direction DEI is taking in the United States has raised the stakes on how multinational companies address a go-forward strategy, as some parts of the world remain committed to openly holding companies accountable for diversity initiatives, with gender and pay parity being key examples.

Jena McGregor, Editorial Director of Modern Executive Solutions, recently spoke with over 70 global HR leaders to discuss the impact the new administration in the U.S. is having on their roles and priorities. She noted that DEI was by far the top concern in what now seems like an international split-screen on this topic. Global organizations must carefully consider their policies and communications while upholding the values they want shared consistently across different regions around the world.

For both U.S. and international locations, HR leaders remain crucial agents for how companies adapt to these pressures and foster an inclusive culture without creating division or resentment within the workforce. Providing psychological safety in the work environment will remain an essential part of the inclusivity equation. Instilling practices that allow all voices to be heard doesn’t need to have a label.

Reframing DEI

In her recent article, “What Comes After DEI” in the Harvard Business Review, Lily Zhang offers a new lens on this topic. She acknowledges that “DEI needs a reset” and proposes a new framework she calls FAIR (Fairness, Access, Inclusion, Representation).

Pulling key threads from her proposal:

Fairness: Build workplace policies, processes, and practices to prevent bias and maintain accountability while ensuring the same high standard of both performance and experience for everyone.
Access: Remove barriers to participation.
Inclusion: Establish workplace norms and a culture that enable all employees to feel respected, valued, and safe for who they are.
Representation: Ensure that people’s needs are advocated for by those who represent them; “it’s a matter of trust, not tokenism.”

She argues that HR leaders who can navigate new frameworks with authenticity, data-driven strategies, and an unwavering focus on inclusion will set their organizations up for long-term success. Hers is one approach to what is now an urgent call to action on how to preserve the positive strides that DEI has made for business outcomes and employee engagement.

By fostering environments where employees from all backgrounds feel valued and supported, leaders can shape workplaces that celebrate both diversity and high-performing talent—after all, the whole point is that these are not mutually exclusive concepts.

About the Author

Diane Turek Pire

Managing Partner, United States
Global Regional Leader, Human Resources

With decades of HR leadership experience, Diane Turek Pire is adept at aligning talent to strategy and culture in support of business goals and positioning human capital to achieve operational excellence. She has successfully built and managed high-performance global teams with a focus on engaging world-class talent, in addition to leading large-scale growth and transformation initiatives.