HR and EDI teams are dealing with challenges on multiple fronts, both within their own organisations and externally. In this extract from new book, inclusion specialist Shakil Butt looks at strategies to keep EDI on the priority list.
The world of work is directly affected by global events, which materialise one after the other, and sometimes simultaneously.
We are all living through perpetual change, so it is no surprise that one of the Collins Dictionary’s words of the year in 2022 was ‘permacrisis’, because we are in a permanent state of crisis, with the rate of change and instability approaching faster than ever.
All of this has an impact on EDI within organisations. Social and political shifts can move EDI up and down agendas, and the role of the EDI practitioner can become much harder overnight.
In order to navigate this pushback, they have to be clear about what their initiatives aim to achieve and why they are important – in short, how these initiatives will help the business meet its short and long-term goals.
Conflicting challenges
Society and organisations face changes and challenges on every front. These might be domestic issues like the cost-of-living crisis, unemployment, homelessness, strike action, public sector services and cuts to funding, Brexit, immigration and skills gaps.
EDI in crisis?
Or they could be global challenges such as political instability, wars, populism, refugees, trade tariffs, climate change, inflation, ageing populations, cybercrime, AI and working from home.
A number of these issues directly relate to EDI, some presenting opportunities, but others posing a threat.
EDI is sometimes brought into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and it can move up and down an organisation’s priority list depending on social and political shifts.
This means it is sometimes necessary to push harder for EDI initiatives during times when the concept is not viewed as a priority by leadership.
We’ve seen a number of recent examples of businesses scrapping EDI targets or not hiring for new EDI roles. It’s a worrying downward trend, giving the message that EDI work is less of a priority. If you are a minority, this shift is likely to marginalise you further.
Priority shifts
Why is this shift happening? In recent years, we’ve seen issues such as the gender pay gap, the #MeToo and the aftermath of the murders of George Floyd and Sarah Everard.
These resulted in a targeted focus on misogyny and racism, and more broadly diversity, and EDI moved up the priority list for many organisations.
This led to a plethora of EDI roles being created and filled, often seeing appointees who lacked experience being funded to carry out quick-fix EDI initiatives.
The aim was normally to be seen to be doing something, but people often didn’t think about what they wanted to measure.
Some EDI initiatives materialise as big, (expensive) showpieces without any real sustainable impact, giving EDI a bad reputation and raising questions over their value.
Many of these initiatives focus on attracting diverse talent, creating awareness and understanding, whether through parades or fireside chats.
However, they do not go the extra mile to appreciate the lived experience, thereby failing to create cultures of inclusion, where diversity feels it belongs.
In turn, senior leaders do not see a return on their investment as they do not see an impact on retention, their customers or service users.
Consequently, the pendulum has swung the other way, and EDI has fallen down the priority list, paying the price of a lack of foresight.
What can we do?
HR needs to think about how it can remove barriers and create more equity across the employee lifecycle: from the point of recruitment and selection to termination.
Otherwise, there is a real danger of organisations ‘throwing out the baby with the bath water’, because an EDI initiative hasn’t delivered tangible results.
If you’re working in EDI, you are not going to be successful working alone. You will need buy-in from your line manager and senior leaders from across the organisation.
One of the common pitfalls for any HR initiative, including EDI, is getting buy-in from senior leaders.
HR can be regarded as neither strategic nor aligned with business objectives. This can be because an HR project has not been well articulated or planned properly and is instead a mere response to what is currently popular or trending within the profession.
Too often, EDI initiatives are not a response to the actual ‘pain points’ of the organisation. To put it another way, they don’t answer the questions that keep leaders up at night.
If EDI can help to answer a question such as ‘how can we grow the organisation?’, and clarify the pain points around it, it can then build a business case.
A business case puts your proposal into a language the business can understand. For example, if HR launched a ‘fresh fruit Friday initiative’ to improve wellbeing and reduce absence, it would need to demonstrate how it would do this, how success would be measured, what it will cost, etc.
Being ready to answer these questions increases the likelihood of funding and approval from senior leaders and explores whether or not fresh fruit is the right thing to do.
There needs to be clarity on the problem you are trying to solve, or the opportunity you are trying to take advantage of.
Metrics matter
When it comes to any piece of work, including EDI, metrics are the starting point. The importance of being data-driven cannot be stressed enough.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Explained is available now
Knowing who you have employed is the basis of everything else that follows when trying to create an inclusive workplace, but capturing diversity data can be the first stumbling block in this area of work.
If you don’t know this, by default, you don’t know how many are male, female, Black, white, disabled or their age profile. It means you are not oblivious to the people in the organisation and what their needs are.
Failing to do it robustly, or at all, can send a very negative message and harm your employer brand.
However, getting this information very much depends on an employer’s track record with their work, or lack of it, on EDI.
If employees have concerns about sharing personal data with their employer and how it will be stored and protected, they will not give much away.
If these concerns exist within the organisation, it is important to address them, because capturing diversity data is foundational to EDI work and becomes the foundation of everything that follows.
Using soft power
Where EDI sits in an organisation can vary. If you work closely with the CEO or HR director it may be easy to gain support for inclusion initiatives.
Early careers HR and EDI professionals, however, are less likely to have this visibility and reach, so need to find ‘soft power’ through allies in the organisation, or through external recognition via industry awards or accreditations.
Soft power allows your voice, visibility and reach to be amplified, enabling support for your EDI business case.
There’s no doubt that EDI goes through ‘boom and bust’ periods, where it is seen as more and less of a priority in society and organisations.
Making a good business case underpinned by metrics, together with a dose of soft power, can ensure it remains relevant in yours.
This extract from Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Explained by Shakil Butt © 2025 is reproduced with permission from Kogan Page.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Change management opportunities on Personnel Today
Browse more Change management jobs
