2025 was no easy year for inclusion. While many leaders entered it cautiously, few were prepared for the executive orders, legal scrutiny, and rapidly shifting expectations that forced organizations to rethink their approach in real time. For many teams, inclusion efforts felt stalled—or even pushed backward—amid real uncertainty about what to say, what to do, and what would still stand.
But 2025 shouldn’t be viewed only as a year of disruption; it was also a year that taught us important lessons. As organizations adapted in real time, some missteps were made, long-held assumptions were tested, and hard truths surfaced about what was working and what wasn’t.
Now, as leaders look ahead to 2026 and the second half of the decade, the priority isn’t to erase this year but to surface what we learned and use it to build a stronger, more durable approach to inclusion for 2026.
Three Inclusion Lessons from 2025
1.Labels Matter Less than Outcomes
In 2025, language became a battleground, so much so that even the term DEI itself became taboo, prompting widespread renaming of departments, programs, and roles. By midyear, Seramount research found that 89 percent of organizations had already renamed or were considering renaming their DEI function.
Initially, some of our partners resisted the shift, worried that changing names signaled retreat or amounted to hiding behind softer language. But over time, a different lesson emerged: What mattered most wasn’t the label but the work. Our objective remained unchanged—creating more inclusive, equitable workplaces—and updating language was just a way to remove barriers that prevented the work from moving forward.
2.Silence Isn’t Neutral
After the executive orders, one of the first reactions many organizations had was to stop talking about inclusion; Seramount research shows that inclusion leaders cite public statements about DEI as the area most negatively affected by shifting policy and political pressure. This pullback quickly rippled into internal communications as well, with only 38 percent of companies sharing changes to inclusion efforts with employees.
That silence had real consequences. Without clear guidance from their organization, employees were left to interpret on their own what inclusion still meant, often through external political narratives rather than internal values. In practice, this uncertainty eroded trust and made it harder for employees to feel confident about where their organization stood or whether they still belonged.
Yet when organizations did communicate, the employee response was clear: Those who were aware of changes to inclusion efforts reported stronger loyalty to their organization and a clearer understanding of its direction. The lesson from 2025 is straightforward: Inclusion depends on transparency and trust, especially in times of disruption. Even when external messaging must be carefully calibrated, internal transparency is not optional.
3.Inclusion Works Best When It’s Truly for Everyone
One of the clearest lessons of 2025 came from how easily inclusion efforts were misunderstood. The executive orders and public rhetoric often relied on a straw man version of DEI, casting it as quotas, lowered standards, or a departure from merit.
While most organizations never intended their inclusion work to function this way, the moment forced a reckoning: If inclusion is perceived as serving only some employees, it becomes easy to dismiss or distort.
Under pressure, organizations were compelled to clarify who inclusion is really for, and in doing so discovered what resonated. Leaders made it explicit that employee resource groups, development programs, and other inclusion initiatives are open to all while expanding the scope to address shared experiences such as multigenerational or socioeconomic inclusion. What emerged was a more durable approach: When the “movable middle” can see how inclusion supports their own success, support for the work is strengthened and becomes harder to undermine.
What DEI Leaders Must Do in 2026
1. Argue the Right Case
For years, inclusion leaders worked to move the conversation from a purely moral case to a business one. But in 2025, even that framing proved insufficient. A recent survey revealed the majority of C-suite leaders voiced concerns about legal and shareholder risks tied to DEI, and more than half said they expect commitments to decrease in the coming year.
What holds up in this environment is specificity. Seramount research shows that inclusion efforts are most defensible when leaders connect them directly to concrete organizational priorities, such as retention of critical talent, engagement in hard-to-hire roles, leadership pipeline strength, or revenue generation.
The task in 2026 is not to argue that inclusion is “good for business” in general terms but to demonstrate where, how, and for whom it drives measurable outcomes.
Making the right case for inclusion works only if leaders can also show evidence of impact. Yet today, measurement is one of the most complicated aspects of inclusion work. Traditional indicators are under heightened scrutiny, legal teams are advising against metrics once considered standard, and some organizations have paused measurement altogether.
To get to the bottom of what organizations should be measuring now, Seramount researchers examined decades of academic and practitioner research to identify what actually defines an inclusive workplace. That work surfaced four core experiences:
Employees feel psychologically safe
They believe their contributions are valued
Their identities are reflected across the organization
They trust that inclusive behavior is expected of everyone
These pillars provide a clear, defensible foundation for measurement, and from them, leaders can assess whether systems, behaviors, and practices are truly creating inclusion in practice.
Explore more of our research on next-gen metrics here.
3. Expand Where Inclusion Expertise Shows Up
One of the quieter lessons of 2025 is that inclusion leaders already have skills the business needs, often in places they haven’t been fully leveraged. Years spent analyzing systems for fairness, diagnosing barriers to opportunity, assessing employee experience, and designing equitable talent processes have built deep organizational insight that extends well beyond traditional inclusion programs.
In 2026, leaders should intentionally apply that expertise across adjacent and increasingly strategic priorities: leadership development, workforce planning, manager effectiveness, and even customer understanding and product development. These are areas where perspective, pattern recognition, and an understanding of diverse needs directly influence outcomes.
As leaders look ahead, not just to a new year but to the second half of the decade, it’s worth reflecting on more than 2025 alone. The past five years have been a roller coaster for inclusion. What began in 2020 as a surge of corporate commitments and public support was followed by growing skepticism, declining trust, and, in 2025, a sharp period of recalibration. That arc matters, because employees remember it.
Even before the heightened polarization of the past year, confidence in corporate inclusion efforts had already begun to erode. A majority of Americans believe companies failed to follow through on the commitments they made in the wake of 2020, and employee enthusiasm for inclusion has softened as expectations went unmet. That disillusionment didn’t cause the backlash of 2025, but it certainly amplified its impact.
The next generation of inclusion work must be clearer, more consistent, and more grounded in outcomes employees can actually experience. If leaders carry the right lessons forward, 2025 won’t be remembered as a setback but as the moment inclusion finally became more durable, credible, and built for the future.
Looking ahead to 2026?Hear from Seramount experts on the biggest shifts and priorities shaping the year ahead in our upcoming webinar. Register to hear what’s next.
Kayla Haskins is an Associate Director, Product Marketing at Seramount. In this role, she supports DEI Practitioners and Talent Leaders in creating more inclusive workplaces by providing valuable insights and resources through webinars, blog posts, guides, infographics, and more.
With nearly a decade of experience in the technology and non-profit sectors,
Kayla Haskins is an Associate Director, Product Marketing at Seramount. In this role, she supports DEI Practitioners and Talent Leaders in creating more inclusive workplaces by providing valuable insights and resources through webinars, blog posts, guides, infographics, and more.
With nearly a decade of experience in the technology and non-profit sectors, Kayla excels in translating complex ideas into clear, actionable concepts. She is passionate about storytelling and is dedicated to addressing today’s most pressing workplace issues to drive meaningful impact.
Kayla holds a degree in English and Creative Writing from Dickinson College. She lives in Silver Spring, MD with her partner, Nick, and their dog, Zero. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with family and friends.
