5 Diversity themes for the future

The future of diversity and inclusion is evolving. In 2020, following the death of George Floyd in the US and in the midst of the COVID pandemic, many companies set diversity and inclusion targets with a five year time frame, and these are now reaching their deadlines.

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A photograph of a person in a business suit walking on a skywalk bridge towards a glowing portal of buildings and the city below can be seen.

In addition, early into his second term of office, US President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders directing agencies to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion offices, positions, programmes, grants and contracts across federal government.

Bates and Warburton (2025) describe how global organisations like Boeing, Walmart, Meta, and Amazon have all followed suit, reducing diversity programs, cutting DEI-related roles, and softening public commitments.

They go on to explain that in the UK, companies such as GSK and Accenture are pausing their diversity initiatives, such as mentoring for women or supporting social mobility, to align with the US executive orders.

However, a number of UK-based organisations are taking a strong stance against this change, supported by the legal and regulatory regime and a different political climate.

Palumbo (2025) suggests the following strategies for sustaining inclusion in uncertain times, where existing policy may be under scrutiny from above:

• Embed DEI within core business values – focusing on antidiscrimination and inclusive leadership, and framing DEI under broader principles such as corporate social responsibility or workforce optimisation.
• Ground everything in data - helping to justify DEI efforts as a necessary tool for talent acquisition and workforce development.
• Embed DEI into leadership development - making it clear that fostering diverse teams is a business skill rather than a social initiative.
• Adopt terms like ‘culture, inclusion and psychological safety’ – reframing DEI under broader workplace wellbeing initiatives.

Here, Asif Sadiq focuses on creating a sense of belonging - highlighting the multiple layers of people’s identities and the role that effective technology will increasingly play.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 7: Diversity – looking ahead

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Transcript: Video 7: Diversity – looking ahead

Asif Sadiq

I think the most important thing going into the future will be about understanding that diversity is not just one thing. Over the years, we focused on different elements. We’ve gone from gender, we’ve gone to race, we’ve gone to disability, and so on. The truth is, in the future, people will have those unique identities I mentioned, or the unique multiple led of their unique identities. And how we truly embed that and how we embrace those will be critical.

Furthermore, as we think of the future, it’s important to also consider what does technology mean for us in the future? Many people talk about that diversity and inclusion will get and become great because we’ll use technology, we’ll eliminate biases from processes, from systems, and so on. The truth is the technology and the automation of many things that we are currently doing are only as good as the people who design them. You will always need that diversity of thought, diversity of lived experience, diversity of different elements within the build process.

So although, yes, I think a lot will change going into the future and how we do things, the critical elements that you’re focusing on today, those will remain no matter what the future environment. It’s creating that sense of belonging, creating that sense of inclusion will always be critical to whatever we do.

End transcript: Video 7: Diversity – looking ahead

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Video 7: Diversity – looking ahead

Gabbash (2025) agrees that understanding intersectionality is vital and that technology will be an important tool, suggesting that now is not the time to go quiet, but rather a time to become more strategic and transform the approach. The article outlines five key trends to consider:

• Systems that do the work – build inclusion into the bones of organisational processes, making it part of how work gets done.
• Tech with accountability – work with partners to establish protocols for bias detection in software tools, making ‘algorithmic transparency’ part of your requirements.
• Intersectional operations – expand how you collect and analyse demographic data, looking for overlapping patterns in engagement, attrition and promotion.
• Resilient DEI – the teams that thrive will be those that plan for volatility, treating DEI less like a campaign and more like a critical function and building cross-functional coalitions.
• Strategic, not performative commitment – strip away labels and deepen the work, shifting focus to inclusive leadership behaviours, design principles and product decisions.

The article finishes with a suggestion that ‘the future of DEI is less about the banner and more about the blueprint’.

If the terminology associated with diversity and inclusion is going to change, ‘belonging’ – as suggested by Asif Sadiq in the video you’ve just watched, is also an important word. In fact, it is increasingly being added to the initials DEI to create ‘DEIB’. Talent acquisition platform Findem, defines belonging as follows: