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US Election Aftermath: Challenges and Opportunities for DEI Leaders

December 2024
Topics DEI: Strategy, Measurement & Leadership, Future of Work

Insights from Seramount’s Post-Election Employee Voice Sessions

CDOC and DBP partners to discuss how they and their organizations were responding to the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president. This executive summary includes the key findings from those sessions.

US Election Aftermath: Challenges and Opportunities for DEI Leaders Insights from Seramount’s Post-Election Employee Voice Sessions • Continued Commitment to DEI: A majority of CDOs are confident their organization will continue with their DEI efforts and commitments—about 90 percent expect low to moderate disruption of their work. • Key Talent Groups Are Concerned: CDOs are hearing fear and concern from employees from Historically Excluded Talent (HET) Groups and are providing support via EAPs and other mental health and wellness resources. Respondents view LGBTQ+ (84 percent), Black/African American (66 percent), and immigrant employees (59 percent) as in greatest need of private sector support and safeguards. • Public Statements Are Most at Risk: The most affected dimensions of DEI are public statements supporting DEI, DEI budgets and team sizes, and representational goals. Going forward, CDOs are most concerned about those three areas of their work, as well as visible support for LGBTQ+ employees. • Embassy Approach to DEI: In anticipation of an increasingly hostile regulatory and legal environment, 67 percent of CDOs expect their organizations to take an “embassy approach,” i.e., they will maintain their DEI policies and commitments internally within their companies but will not push for change in wider society. Fewer leaders saw themselves taking the “When in Rome” (17 percent) or “Advocacy” (16 percent) approaches. • Increased Private Sector Support: Sixty-eight percent envision the private sector doing more to protect the rights of women and LGBTQ+ employees. • Supportive CEOs: While 74 percent of CDOs view their CEO as very or extremely supportive of DEI and 63 percent believe that support will not change because of the election, they are less confident in the support of other C-suite leaders, with about one-third of CDOs anticipating these other leaders to be less supportive.
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