DEI initiatives also include creating an environment where all employees feel safe and free from physical and mental health concerns, including financial stress. DEI training that is role-specific can help all employees identify where they may be bringing bias into the workplace and how they can better support the DEI goals of the company. Its success has led to this model being used for black employees and will eventually be rolled out to BIPOC employees. Research by the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) found that women of color with mentors are 81% more likely to be satisfied with their career progression than those without mentors.
The Economist has stated that “the consensus now emerging among academics is that many anti-discrimination policies have no effect. What is worse, they often backfire.” A regular claim is that these efforts mainly work to protect against litigation. A 2025 private opinion research study called Social Pressure Index by Populace found that nearly two-thirds of Americans agree more diversity would be good for the country, and 58% continue to support the Black Lives Matter movement. A September 2024 poll by the Human Rights Campaign found that 80% of LGBTQ Americans would boycott a company that repealed its DEI programs and 19% would quit their job if their place of employment did. Some of these companies’ responses to the controversies have, in turn, sparked criticism from progressives of walking back or failing DEI commitments. Political opposition to corporate DEI efforts in the United States, particularly marketing criticized as “woke”, have led to calls for boycotts of certain companies by activists and politicians; with notable examples being Disney, Target, Anheuser-Busch, and Chick-fil-A.
Here are some successful DEI initiatives HR can consider implementing within their organization to improve the diversity, equity and inclusion of the workplace. In 2019, Intel achieved global gender pay equity and reached its goal of $1B in annual spending with diverse suppliers. In an effort to improve their DEI initiatives, Slack has taken to sourcing candidates from untraditional programmer pipelines including all-women coding camps and programs that focus on training Black & Latino programmers (like Code2040). Google was also one of the first tech companies to publish an annual diversity report which transparently shares where they stand, the challenges they face, and the progress they’re making toward solving inequalities.
United States government purge
Corinne Gray has argued that, “If you embrace diversity, but ignore disability, you’re doing it wrong.” Tabia Lee, a former DEI director at De Anza College in California who has made appearances on Tucker Carlson Tonight criticizing the framework, argues that DEI programs far too often foster antisemitism.