Majority of U.S. Workers Committed to DEI Initiatives
WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than three-quarters of American workers say they are committed to helping their employers fight racism and injustice, while almost 80% say it is important for their company to be an inclusive organization.
According to a new national survey conducted by diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and talent strategy firm Seramount, worker support for helping employers fight racism and injustice is still robust (76%) though somewhat lower than the 83% support from a Seramount survey conducted in 2021.
In the new survey, support is highest among executives (90%) and lowest (69%) among hourly workers, though a majority of both still support such initiatives. Responses varied little by race or ethnicity.
[Read more: Majority of Americans Support Workplace DEI Initiatives]
"Many companies launched concerted DEI initiatives, especially in recent years, and employees' support for these efforts remains high," said Subha Barry, president of Seramount. "It is remarkable that employee support for corporate DEI policies and programs has stayed strong despite efforts by some to marginalize or eliminate all things DEI-related."
Despite recent backlash against diversity and inclusion support, the survey suggests some progress can be seen, including greater recognition of remaining challenges. Seventy percent of Black/African American employees say direct managers at their companies do a good job engaging people who are different from them compared to 2021 when 65% of Black/African American employees said the same. Among all other ethnic groups, however, the percentage of employees who see their direct managers engaging well with different people has decreased since 2021.
Seramount also gauged whether employees think their workplace is inclusive and engages employees equally without bias, exclusion or microaggression. Broken down by demographics, employees of two or more races reported the highest levels of experiencing bias at work (42%), followed by Blacks/African Americans (36%), Asians (33%), Hispanics/Latines (32%) and Whites (27%). Asians reported the greatest increase in bias, up from 19% in 2021.
[Read more of Convenience Store News' Diversity & Inclusion coverage here]
Barely a quarter (24%) of employees say they always feel psychologically safe at work. Just 38% say they usually feel safe and 8% never feel psychologically safe on the job. Feeling psychologically safe at work is highly correlated with feelings of inclusiveness in the workplace, according to Seramount.
The survey was conducted in May 2024 among more than 1,600 white-collar employees and more than 1,300 frontline workers at companies with 500 or more employees. Associates represented a mix of industries, job levels and tenure, from hourly to executive. They were nationally representative of the U.S. population in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, geography and other demographics.
Seramount is a strategic professional services and research firm dedicated to supporting high-performing, inclusive workplaces. The company partners with more than 600 companies to offer pragmatic solutions, including best practice DEI research, workplace assessment, employee learning and development, and talent sourcing.