06/04/2025

DE&I Isn't Dead - It's Just Being Rebranded

What this means for organizations that do the hard work others don't

U.S. Department of Labor in the Biden administration Alaysia Black Hackett sat for a conversation with WorkLife where she shared insights on the future of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives amid the shifting cultural and political landscape. As founder and CEO of consultancy ABH Solutions and author of the new book “The Diversity Illusion,” Hackett brings a wealth of experience from higher education, state government and federal service.

Many companies are backing away from DE&I commitments due to political pressures. What’s your perspective on this trend?

We have been here before. This work has been called different things throughout the years. What’s different now is the level of attack, which stems from a lack of understanding about what the work actually entails. There’s a misconception that DE&I is solely about Black communities or Black hires, but most Americans fall into one of the diversity groups – whether by gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, formerly incarcerated or rural communities. The narrative being promoted is spoken very loud and wrong. Until organizations are willing to elevate the work and create the correct narrative, we’ll continue to face these challenges.

How should companies approach embedding DE&I principles?

DE&I should be embedded in systems, policies and procedures. You shouldn’t need a separate staff to add it to your procedures. I use an analogy from a colleague, Janice Underwood: think of cake and frosting. Everyone might eat cake, but some don't like frosting. DE&I has been approached as frosting – if you don't like it, you scrape it off. But if you bake it in with the eggs, flour, sugar and butter, it becomes part of your culture. Organizations that have integrated DE&I into what they do continue to see productivity increases.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WorkLife.