Is your DEI Strategy Ending or Evolving? Exploring What Comes After 2025?
Following the 2020 ‘surge’ in organisations placing DEI at the forefront, many made bold commitments to diversity and representation targets. Fast forward to 2025 and our recent poll on DEI commitments shows a mixed picture: while 60% of organisations are making measurable progress or even planning the next phase as their approach evolves, the other 40% stated that they never really had targets in the first place. Many more of our clients are still gathering or facing challenges with data.
Reflections from our work supporting organisations
Put it into perspective. Geographic and industry benchmarks (e.g. proportion of women in STEM fields) may help provide the context for current DEI numbers, but they shouldn’t dictate your targets. Instead, this context should help you understand why creative strategies may be needed, perhaps looking beyond your industry or setting targets that exceed current benchmarks.
Get connected. If you're consistently meeting all your DEI targets, it may be time to move beyond siloed DEI goals towards an embedded and intersectional commitments. Instead of tracking female or ethnic diversity representation in isolation, consider adopting a more intersectional approach, for instance, making a commitment to improve the % of women in management who are also from an ethnic minority background, have a disability, identify as LGBTQ+, or are neurodivergent.
Work in progress. In addition to this, consider shifting the focus from leadership to the pipeline by complementing leadership representation targets with progression and pipeline commitments, such as promotions, retention, or access to leadership development. For instance, a commitment pipeline goal for 50% of early careers intake to be from underrepresented groups.
What gets measured, gets improved. One of our favourite mottos at the Clear Company! If your organisation is still struggling with declaration rates, there may need to be a shift in focus on communications and improving psychological safety. Consider setting a target around data disclosure; this can be a KPI in itself, tied to leadership accountability and fostering a safe culture.
Finally, it’s important to set inclusion targets too and not just representation targets. For example, a commitment to achieve and maintain positive employee engagement scores across different groups.
The Clear Company’s Impact Re-audit helps measure progress against your DEI commitments and reassess future direction. The Inclusion Maturity Index, our diagnostic toolkit, collects reliable DEI data and provides insight into your organisation’s current diversity. Conducted anonymously and by an external expert, it builds confidence among your people to share their data in a way that internal engagement surveys typically cannot.
For support on setting target strategies and gathering meaningful data, contact us today.