Indeed FutureWorks 2024: How Talent Leaders Can Reclaim DEI in a Divisive Time

Key Takeaways

Avoid politicizing DEI or making it divisive, and instead focus on making it inclusive and beneficial for everyone, with people as the top priority.
Leveraging privilege as a "superpower" can help elevate underrepresented voices and break down systemic barriers.
Building deeper, relational communication and understanding the intersectional needs of your workforce foster a more inclusive, productive work environment.

At Indeed FutureWorks 2024 in Dallas last week, Indeed Senior Director of Attraction and Engagement Jessica Hardeman didn’t mince words: “Today, people have weaponized the term DEI, making it almost synonymous with being Black.”

Introducing the hot topic before welcoming ibelong founder and CEO Rajkumari Neogy to the WonderWorks stage, Hardeman urged the audience to strip the politics from DEI and reclaim its intended purpose. “DEI is not meant to be divisive. DEI is not only considerate of one person or group's experience. DEI is not meant to exclude, to minimize or disregard. DEI is not optional.”

Neogy — an executive consultant and psychological safety expert who specializes in the intersection of neurobiology, culture and empathy in business — has guided Indeed and more than 170 other companies in creating more inclusive workplaces. She joined Hardeman to share insightful strategies for doubling down on, not deprioritizing, DEI in a charged political climate. Here’s some of the knowledge they dropped.

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Why it matters: Many companies are deprioritizing DEI amid economic downturns and increasing political polarization

“It's incredibly disheartening to see DEI staff and programming get cut,” said Hardeman, noting that some organizations are taking actions that feel like two steps back instead of forward progress. “It just goes to show that many of the promises made in 2020 to bolster diversity, equity and inclusion programming were performative at best.”

What the numbers say: Not only do a majority of people support DEI — it’s also good for business

While Hardeman attributed these changes to “an overwhelmingly loud” minority group of individuals, the data shows that most people aren’t against DEI initiatives.

Roughly 6 in 10 Americans said diversity, equity and inclusion programs are “a good thing” — and support was even higher for specific programs such as internships for underrepresented groups and anti-bias training.
Around 60% of workers believe a company’s workforce should mirror the diversity of its community.
A recent global study by Ernst & Young of 5,000 adults in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Singapore and India found that 73% of Gen Z workers and 68% of millennial workers prefer companies that prioritize DEI.

Hardeman underscored that investing in DEI supports business success, citing research from McKinsey and World Economic Forum. “Companies that stay true to their beliefs and commitments to DEI, even as public dialogue evolves, will attract and retain top talent who are dedicated to advancing the company’s goals,” she said.

Additionally, Indeed’s own Work Wellbeing research — which finds that greater employee wellbeing is tied to improved company valuation, return on assets and profits — reveals belonging and inclusion are two of the top three factors driving work wellbeing.

“When the diversity of your team increases, so does the quality of your output, with teams that have age, gender, race and ethnic diversity outperforming the rest,” said Hardeman.

Neogy’s advice for DEI practitioners facing burnout: Ritualize your self-care

The climate of DEI backlash has put many professionals under added stress and pressure. When we’re constantly “triaging,” Neogy explained, it’s easy to slip into an unsustainable cycle of nonstop action, much like an emergency response team. But by ritualizing self-care, we force ourselves into the daily habit of prioritizing our wellbeing.

“We need to really understand that who we are as humans is, in fact, about being cared for and to care for others,” she said. “Caring for yourself is absolutely critical — the ways in which you show up for you in your day to day. How do you set that up?”

Neogy shared an example of an executive’s ritual where she steps outside on sunny days to eat a popsicle, forcing her to stay present and away from her laptop as it drips. She encouraged talent leaders to find their own “popsicle moment” — a simple ritual that forces us to slow down, rest and refocus. The key is to pause, breathe and care for yourself first, just like the oxygen mask metaphor: you can't help others until you’ve helped yourself.

How to do meaningful DEI work that makes a difference

Hardeman and Neogy shared the following advice for ensuring DEI initiatives are embedded into the fabric of your organization — not performative.

Jessica Hardeman speaks onstage at Indeed FutureWorks 2024.

Jessica Hardeman emphasizes the importance of putting people first in order to successfully embed DEI initiatives throughout an organization.

It's people over everything.
Jessica Hardeman, Senior Director of Attraction and Engagement at Indeed

1. Prioritize people over everything

The foundation of impactful DEI work begins with prioritizing your people first and foremost. By spending time with employees and understanding their unique experiences, organizations can uncover gaps and develop more inclusive, equitable programs and policies.

“We can leverage our collective experiences to develop inclusive, equitable programs, policies and processes — but it's people that should always be the starting point when attempting to solve where you are as an organization,” said Hardeman. “It's people over everything.”

2. Leverage your privilege as a superpower

“[Privilege] is not something that should be used to hurt or harm — it simply is,” said Hardeman. “What truly matters is that we start to treat it like a superpower, instead of another four-letter word.”

Hardeman urged leaders to recognize their privilege and use it to help elevate underrepresented voices and break down systemic barriers. For example, recognizing her own privilege, Hardeman dedicated herself to ensuring others had the support they needed to access education and employment. Her team at Indeed launched the company’s first internal technical apprenticeship program that trains Indeedians in nontechnical roles with the skills they need to join the Indeed engineering team.

“In order to activate your privilege or your newfound superpower,” Hardeman said, “you have to accept its existence, name it, and only then can it be used for good.”

When you look at organizations, what makes your company great are your people, and what makes your people great are the relationships that they have with each other.
ibelong CEO Rajkumari Neogy

3. Foster relational, not transactional, communication

Too often, Neogy said, workplace communication is transactional, focused on tasks and outputs rather than building meaningful relationships.

“When you look at organizations, what makes your company great are your people, and what makes your people great are the relationships that they have with each other,” she said. “How are you fostering these relationships?”

She emphasized the importance of fostering deeper human connections for a more supportive, productive work environment, encouraging leaders to help their employees better understand themselves and their peers on a deeper level.

4. Take an intersectional approach

Tailoring communication to reflect the diverse identities within your workforce is key to inclusive DEI work. Neogy highlighted the importance of understanding intersectionality, encouraging leaders to adapt their communication style to meet the needs of different employees.

“How would you speak to a 60-year-old veteran versus a 27-year-old millennial? You would speak very differently,” said Neogy, who also urged talent leaders to get to know the nuances of their teams in order to identify skills and tap into their full potential. “As you learn who your teams are across the business, then you can find out where you have gold mines.”

5. Actively listen and respond to your workforce

Neogy encouraged talent leaders to “get curious” about feedback from surveys, engagement metrics and employee relations conversations to identify gaps, impediments and opportunities for improvement. As she explained, your workforce will tell you where your organization stands, and it’s up to leadership to turn toward those areas to foster greater understanding and change.

“The bottom line at the end of the day is, are you prioritizing the dignity of your workforce?” Neogy asked. “Are you prioritizing care?”

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