Workforce Satisfaction and DEI Efforts Don’t Match: National Survey Reveals Employee Dissatisfaction

Despite significant focus and effort on fostering workplace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), American workers are dissatisfied with the results, according to a national survey of employees by QuestionPro Workforce and EQ Community.

Although 70 percent of employees indicated their experience working for their current company was overall positive, only 60 percent said they were satisfied with DEI efforts at their company.

Key DEI areas where employees were rarely satisfied with their company’s performance were:

  • Diversity of top leadership (57%),
  • Amount of action being taken to foster inclusivity (57%), and
  • How frequently the company discussed the importance of diversity (52%).

In fact, inclusivity is so important to employees that 37 percent of all workers, 45 percent of Black workers, and 54 percent of managers say they would switch jobs to be part of a more inclusive culture.

The survey of 1,000 full-time employees from more than 30 different industries in the United States was conducted in October, 2022. The full study is available for download at: https://www.questionpro.com/diversity-equity-inclusion-study.html

“These results are a wake-up call to any company that has or is pursuing a DEI program,” said Sanja Licina, Ph.D., President of QuestionPro Workforce who is an organizational psychologist and an expert on culture development and management. “Chances are good that despite even your best efforts you’re not getting it fully right and that’s creating a flight risk for key employees.”