The Evolving Role of the DEI Leader

New Era, New Skills, New Demands

Over the past two years, the global pandemic, social unrest, and political turmoil have highlighted the need for workplaces to consider how societal challenges affect worker well-being and retention. In addition, public demand and new regulations to disclose diversity data metrics are creating a sense of urgency when it comes DEI investments and progress.  As the approach to diversity, equity & inclusion matures, so does the role of those in charge of driving change within organizations. To understand how DEI leadership is evolving, we interviewed 40 DEI leaders across three regions (US, Asia-Pacific, and Europe) and asked them to keep individual diaries recording their work activities over the course of five days. 

Changing Landscape: The Evolving Role of DEI Leaders Brings Them Closer to the Core of Business Operations

Today, conversations about diverse representation, equity, and whether the organization should take a stand on social justice issues prevail both within workplaces and in the broader communities,^[1] and diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) leaders with the skills to approach these complex issues are more in demand than ever.

Over the past two years, the global pandemic, social unrest, and political turmoil have highlighted the need for workplaces to consider how societal challenges affect worker well-being and retention. In addition, public demand and new regulations to disclose diversity data metrics are creating a sense of urgency when it comes DEI investments and progress.^[2]

As the approach to DEI matures, so does the role of those in charge of driving it within organizations. Understanding this evolution can help position organizations for success as CEOs and their executive teams consider how to structure their organizations’ leadership to maximize DEI impact.

To understand how DEI leadership is evolving, we interviewed 40 DEI leaders across three regions (US, Asia-Pacific, and Europe) and collected individual diaries recording their work activities over the course of five days.^[3]

Insights for What’s Ahead

• To meet changing consumer and worker expectations, organizations are investing ever more into DEI; efforts to hire for the DEI function have accelerated substantially since 2019, and that trend is likely to continue. While demand for DEI practitioners had already been growing over the past decade in response to mounting evidence of the strong connections between DEI, employee engagement, and business results,^[4] it is now outpacing demand in other sectors. Our HWOL data show that DEI job ads increased by 127 percent between 2015 and August 2021, with a 36 percent jump between 2019 and August 2021 alone. New DEI job posts listings between January and August 2021 have almost doubled since the same period in 2020. Other research shows similar trends outside the US. Demand for executive-level DEI leaders, specifically, accounts for 8 percent of all new DEI ads in 2020 and 2021, up from 5 percent in 2019.
• Job descriptions for new DEI positions often do not reflect leaders’ day-to-day work; to better align with new needs and position DEI leaders for success, organizations should reexamine DEI job levels, requirements, and expectations. While the number of available DEI jobs has increased, the skills employers request in job ads have remained relatively unchanged, even for leadership positions. This suggests a gap between organizations’ initial expectations for their new hires in DEI and the day-to-day work around business strategy, external communications, and data analytics. Reexamining DEI requirements, resources, and job descriptions can help organizations find or train leaders with the right skills and capabilities for a changing landscape.
• Managing external partnerships and stakeholders, crisis response, and helping define their organization’s societal value proposition are emerging as growing new areas of work for DEI leaders. Overall, increased attention to workplace DEI has broadened and redefined DEI leaders’ work, both in the US and in other regions. Specifically, DEI responsibilities are expanding beyond human resources and talent management to include communications, business strategy, policy, external stakeholder management, and analytics. As organizations face more pressures to take a stand on social issues, DEI leaders are increasingly being asked to participate in and inform these discussions.
• DEI leaders now get more requests to advise executive leaders and the board of directors on DEI issues and communications, even as work supporting employees and people managers continues to expand in scope. Requests for collaboration with stakeholders in general have increased in the past two years, with some variations across regions: mental health support and coaching emerged as a unique new area for Asia-Pacific, for example. Many leaders across regions admit the volume of requests can be overwhelming at times.
• To ensure DEI progress and position leaders for success, it is critical to align DEI with business activities and organizational values; in some cases, moving the function out of HR can help drive executive-level communications and buy-in. The DEI practitioners we spoke with consistently cited greater accountability for DEI as one of the most important strategic elements to drive change. While head count and resources are important, even more so is looking at DEI through a business lens and ensuring that the strategy informs marketing, branding, and product development, to name a few. Interviewees also cited executive leadership support and communications as important elements of an effective DEI strategy. Organizations can consider whether hiring at least one executive-level DEI leader will give the function the gravitas it needs to drive change and influence senior leaders.