How to Create Holistic Workplace Diversity Goals that Impact Your Bottom Line

Organizations in the top quartile for diversity are 35% more likely to outperform their peers financially, according to McKinsey research replicated across industries and years. The business case is not new. What is still underbuilt in most organizations is the structure behind the goal.

76% of job seekers consider workforce diversity a critical factor in evaluating potential employers, according to Engagedly's 2025 DEI research. But most diversity efforts remain concentrated at the top of the funnel: hiring. Hiring gets measured, reported, and celebrated. Retention, promotion, and the daily experience of belonging inside the organization are tracked far less consistently.

True diversity goals are not about representation in the candidate pool. They are about who stays, who advances, and who has access to the decisions that shape the organization. The experts below have built programs that understand that distinction.

What holistic workplace diversity actually requires

Diversity and inclusion are not interchangeable. Achieving DEI in the workplace requires treating the two as separate but connected problems. As Verna Myers' analogy puts it: diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance. In organizational terms, hiring underrepresented talent is the invitation. Everything else: how people are developed, compensated, promoted, and heard: is the dance.

An organization does not happen to be diverse. It is a strategic outcome that requires ongoing, specific investment. Three areas matter most.

Hiring, retention, and promotion as a single system

Organizations that treat diversity as a hiring problem and not a retention and promotion problem will keep having the same representation conversations every three years. Hiring increases the number. Retention and promotion change the composition of leadership.

Dionna Smith, Head of DEI at Thumbtack, described their approach:

At Thumbtack, we look at data and analytics to compare compensation within a given level to ensure equity regardless of race and gender — we're also expanding this to include differently abled, sexual orientation, veteran status and age. We also look at reviews and promotions based on race and gender to identify whether the percentages and/rate of promotions fall outside of our company wide averages. Finally, through our employee surveys we gather employee sentiment and monitor if people feel like they are being treated fairly and have equal opportunities to develop and grow at Thumbtack.

That is a complete picture: pay equity across demographic groups, promotion rate analysis by identity, and direct employee sentiment data. Most organizations have one of these. Fewer have all three as a connected system.

Intersectionality as a practical lens, not a framework label

Diversity that accounts for only one dimension of identity at a time misses the compounding disadvantages that employees at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities navigate. The data on disability, age, and class are less frequently tracked than race and gender, but they describe the experience of a substantial portion of the workforce.

Ed Jaffe, Founder and Lead Coach of Demo Solutions, described the specificity this requires:

How can I be more inclusive with my own content as I'm in front of audiences? There are a few ways to think about it. Do you have a picture of someone in a wheelchair when that is not the context of the picture? Are you unintentionally reinforcing stereotypes? An organization doesn't happen to be diverse, just like any other strategy it is intentional, has a strategic approach, and is dynamic. We're not talking about something that is set and forget it or a box is checked so we're done.

The same question Jaffe applies to sales content applies to every function: are you defaulting to representation that looks diverse on the surface while reinforcing the exact stereotypes that limit access to advancement?

Community impact as the fourth pillar

Renu Hooda, Chief Talent Officer at Kinesso, describes four pillars in their DEI approach: talent, business, clients, and community. Most organizations have programs at the first two and aspirations at the second two. The community pillar is where internal diversity work connects to the world the organization operates in.

Theresa Watts, Vice President Human Resources at True Religion Brands, described their community commitment specifically:

We prefer to work with smaller grassroots organizations who are there in the community, in the community where people are underserved. We can work alongside them to build a better opportunity.

For organizations that want their diversity commitments to reflect what their employees actually care about, partnering with grassroots organizations in the places they operate is more durable than sponsoring a heritage month event at the corporate level.

How to set diversity goals that are specific enough to work

The most common failure in DEI goal-setting is vagueness. "Increase representation" is not a goal. "Increase the percentage of Director-level and above positions held by people of color from 14% to 22% by Q4 2027, measured through semi-annual promotion data" is a goal. The difference is whether the goal produces a signal that something either changed or did not.

Break down diversity across all dimensions

Race and gender are where most public reporting concentrates. But disability, veteran status, LGBTQ+ identity, age, and socioeconomic background all describe dimensions of the workforce that shape who gets hired, retained, and promoted. Organizations serious about this set goals across multiple dimensions, not just the ones that go in the annual report.

One billion people worldwide have disabilities, and 80% are of working age. Most workplaces are not designed for them. If your diversity goals do not include accessibility, they do not include a billion people.

Connect goals to the candidate pipeline and the vendor ecosystem

Diversity goals that apply only to employees miss the full picture. Who is in your candidate pipeline? Who do you hire speakers from? Who are your vendors? Organizations that set representation targets for employees often default to homogeneous panels, networks, and supply chains. The goal of a diverse workplace extends to who you invite into contact with your organization at every level. The questions you need to ask to create an inclusive workplace culture extend beyond HR into every business function.

Measure sentiment alongside representation data

Representation data tells you who is in the room. Sentiment data tells you whether they experience belonging once they are there. Both are necessary. An organization with strong representation numbers and a culture where employees from underrepresented groups report feeling excluded or unheard has solved the invitation problem without solving the dance. Connecting intersectionality in the workplace to your measurement approach means asking directly whether different groups experience the organization differently.

2025 and 2026 update: the shifting DEI landscape

The environment around DEI programs shifted significantly in 2025 and continues evolving in 2026. HR leaders need to understand those shifts to build programs that are both durable and legally grounded.

Federal executive orders and their organizational effects

In early 2025, a series of executive orders directed federal agencies and federal contractors to end DEI programs, and encouraged private-sector organizations to review their own. According to Harvard Law School's 2025 DEI disclosure research, nearly two in five companies explicitly cited executive orders when adjusting their DEI strategies, and at least 48% of those making changes revised or eliminated hiring diversity goals. Major employers including Target, Meta, Walmart, and McDonald's scaled back or restructured DEI programs during this period.

The legal landscape for specific DEI practices: particularly those involving demographic preferences in hiring decisions: has become more uncertain. HR teams should work with legal counsel to evaluate how their specific programs map to current federal guidance and state law requirements.

The business case and employee expectations remain strong

The rollbacks at some organizations have not changed the underlying data on what diverse teams produce or what employees want from their employers. 76% of job seekers still consider workforce diversity critical when evaluating employers, and companies with diverse executive teams are 39% more likely to achieve superior financial performance, according to Intuition's 2026 DEI workplace research.

Organizations that have chosen to continue building inclusive cultures while adjusting specific program structures describe their approach as intentional rather than labeled: embedding equity into how they hire, pay, develop, and retain employees rather than positioning it as a standalone program. AllVoices is a leading employee relations platform that helps HR teams track employee feedback and ER data across demographic groups so they can see where belonging is working and where the gaps remain. Request a walkthrough to see how that data informs a more targeted approach.