Diversity, Equity and Inclusion communications in the workplace: are we being counterproductive?

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has risen on the agenda across all industries, leading to a significant increase in internal communications. But do they have the intended effect? Sharn Kleiss, our Employee Experience Strategy Lead, explores an interesting trend from our internal communication audits: employees feel they hear about the topic too much, and are disengaging with it.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) continues to be a top priority for businesses – particularly in the current labour market, in the midst of the great reshuffle. If you weren’t already up to speed:

• Glassdoor found that 3 out of 4 jobseekers and employees say a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers. [Source: Glassdoor Diversity & Inclusion Workplace Survey, 2020)]
• A McKinsey report found that ethnically-diverse and gender-diverse companies are more profitable.
• Employers are aware of the importance of DEI, and 47% see it as a top HR priority. More than 9 in 10 (91%) have taken at least some steps to integrate DEI into their organizational approaches, with 43% reporting the process is mostly or entirely complete. [Source: Gallagher, Workforce Trends Pulse Survey, May 2021]

So it’s no wonder DEI is top of the agenda – particularly for CSR, HR and Communication professionals.

While our State of the Sector 2022 report found that 66% of internal communicators felt knowledgeable and comfortable communicating about diversity and inclusion, an interesting trend has recently been emerging within our internal communication audits. We’ve found, through surveys and focus groups with employees, that while they are responding positively to content about D&I, they also felt they heard about the topic ‘too much’. What does it all mean? We wondered…

1 - Is it possible to communicate too much about DEI?

Is DEI getting a disproportionate amount of airtime in an already crowded internal communication sphere? What’s fuelling this contradictory trend and what might be the reason from employees? Is the answer to simply decrease the volume of DEI comms?

We’ve contemplated a few different causes for this recent phenomenon, as well as compiling some guidance for internal communicators.

2 - Does your organisation have diversity fatigue?

A commitment to improving DEI means an ongoing state of self-reflection and self-awareness, unlearning and relearning. At an organizational level, that can seem like a lot of talk, but not much action. For employees, it’s hard to maintain energy and enthusiasm if you’re not seeing any results.

Interest and passion can turn into apathy. So while employees fully support DEI activity, they may feel they hear too much from comms without seeing and feeling enough real change in the culture, policies and ways of working.

Advice for internal communicators:

To help combat diversity fatigue, share the small wins, little and often – and not just the benefits, but the personal outcomes. Rather than promoting your revised parental leave benefits, can you tell the story of how John got to spend two whole months (at full pay) with his newborn twin daughters, and the impact that had on his family?

What about how CFO Sandra was able to revise policies after her experience as a mentee in a reverse mentoring programme with graduate Graeme? Or how Jim who joined the LGBTQ+ employee resource group as an ally, was better able to support his transgender daughter through resources the organization shared?

All of these stories emphasise what’s on offer by the organization, but are told through the lens of personal impact on employees.

3 - Are you treating DEI as a ‘problem’ to ‘solve’?

Laying our cards on the table, declaring our commitment to improving diversity, ramping up inclusion, and reviewing policies and processes to create equity: all of this ‘work’ suggests there’s one day going to be a ‘solution’ to ‘the DEI challenge’.

Framing DEI as a challenge, can make it difficult for employees to ‘own’ and want to be on board with inclusion and diversity measures. And in some cases, employees fear that the solution could mean a reduction in opportunities for them personally.

In fact, a study by Dynata found that one in three employees fear that an unintended consequence of increased awareness around D&I would be losing their role. This increased to 46% for white men.

Advice for internal communicators:

Reframe the way you communicate – it’s time to shake off the scarcity mindset, and highlight the benefits of inclusion – after all, a rising tide lifts all boats.

Imagine a scenario: within a mixed team at your organisation, a woman has been promoted. The immediate reaction may be to consider that the woman has ‘won’ and her colleague, a man, has ‘lost’. This is not the case - opportunity begets opportunity – and shouldn’t it be the case that a successful team will create new opportunities which will mean even more promotions across the team?

Think about language, framing and communicating in a way that is benefit-led. Shifting the dial on DEI should be seen as a continuous growth process – not an end-dated plan or strategy.

4 - Are you ‘preaching to the converted’?

Most folks at your company are likely good people. They’ve done the unconscious bias training, added pronouns to their email signatures and ‘liked’ that post on Yammer about Pride month. They’ve ticked the boxes, they’re already on board… that’s it, right? What more can they ‘do’ as employees?

In their minds, diversity and inclusion is on track, so there’s not much more to personally action – so why do internal channels keep talking about it so disproportionately in comparison to everything else that’s going on? In the same study by Dynata, it was found that 68% of white men who responded to the survey believe that they don’t need any further education about the importance of DEI – suggesting they have all the knowledge they’ll ever need, and have done all they can. All that said – we know we can’t drop the ball on DEI, and we have a long way to go.

Advice for internal communicators:

As a communications professional, you’re likely familiar with the ‘know’, ‘feel’, ‘do’, framework for landing key messages. When you’re communicating around diversity, it can be tricky - there is no ‘do’ for diversity for the average employee.

Instead, the ‘do’ should encourage inclusion: ingraining actively inclusive behaviours that are are a choice, and an expectation of all employees.

And better yet, make clear connections between inclusive behaviours and how these will support your business strategy and help achieve your corporate purpose. Connect the dots for employees about where the organization is headed, what DEI means in that context and what’s needed from them individually.

Earlier we posed the question “is the answer to simply decrease the volume of DEI comms?” – but indeed this was a trick question.

5 - Our hot take: There shouldn’t be ANY DEI comms at all.

But wait - hear us out!

We’d hazard a guess that for many organizations, DEI is communicated about in a silo. As a ‘thing’; a pillar, strand or initiative of a wider plan or strategy. Separate, rather than complementary to and embedded within comms about your business strategy, people priorities and ways of working. We need to stop ‘othering’ DEI comms.

Diversity is not an add-on thing, it’s integral to business to ensure you are meeting the needs of your customers. True inclusion is a behavior that we choose to ‘do’. And organizations are systematically working toward equality by rewriting policies, tweaking processes and taking human biases out of the question.

DEI work is holistic, part of the organizational ecosystem and the responsibility of everyone – and in turn, it should be communicated authentically, naturally and in a human way.

DEI is one of the areas where internal communications professionals can be a powerful ally and truly set the tone for the organization. So don’t communicate about DEI: communicate through it.

Gallagher is a global internal communication and employee experience agency.
From transforming workplace culture to championing the physical, emotional, career and financial wellbeing of employees, everything we do is linked to a strategic business objective — and designed to elevate every aspect of the employee experience.
Our communication consultants help clients communicate their strategy and vision; turn their leaders into engaging communicators; review their internal communication channels; maximise the perceived value of their rewards and benefits packages and accelerate business transformation.
We have offices in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, but we support organizations of all sizes on a global basis.