What is the future of DEI in 2025 workplaces?

As someone who has been measuring and communicating on gender equity at a national level and within Australian workplaces for nearly 10 years, there’s a much to learn and observe from US President Donald Trump’s dumping of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies.

On the home front in Australia, 2024 began looking very progressive with promising legislative reforms and the publishing of gender pay gaps to improve workplace transparency.

But it wasn’t long until brewing levels of corridor and social media resistance to challenge gender norms, cost of living pressures and business uncertainty, manifested in a Trump election win.

This is still a shock to many, but if I reflect on our past publications of the Women’s Index report, this has been coming for years but many of us just didn’t want to listen.

The result is now a two steps forward and one big step back on social progress for gender equity, diversity and inclusion.

Some say DEI is dead. I just think it needs a Madonna-like reinvention.

On a personal and professional note, I’m feeling 4 things very strongly:

1. I am honestly worried about the future impact of US policies on women and diverse groups. Economic uncertainty has always had a disproportionate financial impact on these groups and that could well continue. The big areas of hope are in female leadership and via the Great Wealth Transfer with two-thirds of global wealth coming to women in the next two decades.
2. I understand why DEI is unravelling. For too long DEI has been associated with box ticking, bureaucracy and we have not focused enough on the financial benefits to a company and nor has it been inclusive enough for everyone. When cost of living and business pressures are intense, it is more important than ever to measure spending particularly when resistance emerges.
3. I do see the opportunity to push ahead on the “everyone” and “accountability front”, particularly for HR Managers, DEI Consultants and purpose-led business leaders and investors.
4. The Death of DEI could well be the best thing that ever happened for it because suddenly everyone is aware of a term once reserved for the HR profession and consultants.

So where are we at?

Many US companies including McDonalds and Meta have been quick to follow the leader and lock in government contract favour by jumping out of DEI pledges, that potentially they never really fully supported or resourced properly in the first place.

Australian based multinationals like Accenture have also publicly said they are moving away from DEI and yet continue to fly the flag in their Australian based offices, particularly as Mardis Gras approaches.

Others like Apple and Costco are holding firm and appear to be doubling down, convinced that diverse thinking is better for innovation and is more reflective of their customer base.

What we have is a DEI workplace divide, which could add to increased competition wars for employee talent.

This has many business leaders in Australia wondering what to do next and where to invest?

In my opinion, social change has come too far to regress. Try as we might. Paper straws are in, paper bags are here, and the kids are learning all about it in sustainability classes. We buy conscious shampoos and conditioners, and our groceries contain more and more food that a mix of organic and anti-inflammatory ingredients that give us that feel good vibe.

DEI has been very much an amplification of this thinking.

But where certain products find their customers, DEI advocates have struggled with their audience.

Firstly, the DEI rebrand

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as a direct term has been muddied by recent news headlines and because many resistors see it as exclusion.

For what it’s worth, DEI has always been about the structures in place to support fairness and respect for all employees.

However, in recent months the term has become increasingly associated with being too woke and being more about some, of us rather than all of us.

This is a perception issue that will take one heck of a social education campaign to change, and I feel it’s highly unlikely to change unless we see a surge of discrimination cases.

It is clear that some leaders see DEI structures as creating environments where they lack control over the business, particularly on who they can hire / fire and how they can do it.

To change perception around DEI, we need to get to its roots.

The purpose of DEI is to be People & Culture focused and to create Fair and Respectful Workplaces for Everyone.

Now as a term Fair and Respectful Workplaces for Everyone (FRWE) is something you can get your head around and it’s clear it is for EVERYONE.

The word Fair also goes to the heart of what it means to be an Australia, so let’s start with a rebrand of DEI in communications and start using Fair and Respectful Workplaces for Everyone as a term to improve these things at work.

I challenge the brand experts to find an even better term!

Secondly, financial accountability

Through all of my work with businesses on social impact marketing campaigns, I’ve learnt that most leaders want to lead with impact because it aligns with their sustainable practices, is good for the brand image and investor appetites, and they also want financial accountability.

It is critical more now than ever, that business leaders know where the money on DEI initiatives is being spent and to what impact.

We need these “new” Fair and Respectful Workplaces for Everyone initiatives to be tracked as closely as we can get to the bottom line.

Even if these initiatives do not show a direct correlation to profits, they can be tracked against employee retention and turnover, product innovation, team productivity and discrimination and harassment claims.

If DEI consultants, teams and departments cannot measure such initiatives in line with financial investment, then they will be all the weaker for it particularly if questioned by shareholders.

Finally, Australia will change

Australia will change on DEI because it has to.

I have received so many emails for comment on what is happening. Some from journalists, some business owners worried about how they should communicate on inclusion, some from academics who are worried about the future of progress, and others from business leaders who are already seeing other leaders cheering at the thought of cost cutting on DEI.

From a political point of view, Australia will have to adjust to what is happening and recognise the resistance that has come about and why. This social adjustment is okay.

We could indeed see a change of government in 2025, and we have seen Opposition leader Peter Dutton and now Independent Clive Palmer take certain lines out of the Trump playbook to target bureaucratic job cuts as a way to appeal to voters who need spending relief on cost of living pressures.

But Australia also does not have to replicate the US.

Regardless, a change of government would most certainly mean that progress on gender equity initiatives as well as DEI programs in businesses could take a back seat, even if only a little while before an inevitable surge in corporate discrimination cases starts to mount.

One thing I have observed about social progress is that when times are economically good, we see gains on things like gender equality in terms of time frames to close the gaps, but when times are more challenging, spending on critical programs gets redirected and progress seems to stall.

The Dutton-led Opposition is said to be trying to shut down proposed legislation that would require companies who want to win government contracts and who have over 500 employees, to set targets related to workforce composition, board representation, equal remuneration policies, parental leave, flexible work, sexual harassment, and employee consultation.

If passed, this legislation will be enacted for reporting in 2026 and builds on the current government’s push for greater action in support of gender equality.

The Opposition argues that such measures would add to corporate costs and be a further administrative burden.

Even if the Opposition is successful in tinkering with this proposal, Australia is not the same as the US and unlikely to unwind as far.

The past five years have been spent working on legislative reforms to improve Respect at Work, which started under the Liberal government, and that is not about to be undone when so much data and evidence is already out there to show the positive impact.

Lastly, the opportunity

Where we find ourselves now is a place of opportunity. Not because DEI might be about to die as we once knew it, but because it must be reborn to be more accountable and for everyone.

DEI Consultants, HR Managers, purpose-led business leaders and Impact-driven investors have the opportunity to refocus initiatives to ensure they align with financial goals as well as their broader impact targets.

Measuring staff turnover, discrimination and harassment cases including lawsuits and brand damage, employee productivity by team and individual, innovation by team and individual – these are commonly talked about benefits of a more inclusive workplace.

For those continuing their DEI initiatives in the workplace, evidence and showing where the investment is going is truly going to be key. Here are some things that should be tracked in correlation with the above mentioned line items over the short to long term (3-7 years) to assess the following:

• The strength of any DEI or FRWE investment
• The impact of a company without any DEI or FRWE investment
• The impact of a company that has recently removed DEI or FRWE investment

If we can refocus our efforts on DEI or FRWE for the period ahead, we should come out of this period of relative uncertainty in a stronger and better and better for everyone destination.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman is a Communications Strategist, Social Impact Commentator and CEO of Financy – which helps companies drive and amplify their social impact.