How American workers feel about ‘wake up’ policies at work

Even as conservatives criticize “woke” workplaces and point to diversity, equity and inclusion programs at companies, a new report from Pew Research shows that most Americans think DEI policies make offices better.

“DEI” is broadly described as policies and principles that promote membership in an organization, especially among historically marginalized groups such as women, racial minorities, and people with disabilities. 61% of Pew respondents said their workplace has policies to ensure equal pay and promotion, and 52% said their office has DEI meetings or training.

56% of respondents said that focusing on DEI policies at work is a good thing, while 28% said it is neither good nor bad, according to survey results released Wednesday. Only 16% of those surveyed said that focusing on such policies is a bad thing.

Although some conservatives say workers are being inundated with DEI messages, 54% of those surveyed said their work pays adequate attention to DEI. Only 14% said that their work gives them too much attention.

Women, people of color, youth and Democrats were far more likely than other groups to say DEI’s policies are good.

57% of respondents said DEI meetings and training had a positive impact on the job, while 9% said they had a negative impact. Republicans were less likely than Democrats to say such programs had a positive impact, but there was a notable gender divide: 47% of Republican women said DEI training was helpful, compared to just 28% of Republican men.

Thirty-six percent of all respondents said that being a man makes things easier at work. Forty-four percent of women said being a man makes it easier at work, while 29% of men said the same. More than half of blacks and Asians in the survey said being white makes their job easier, while just 24% of whites said the same.

Very low percentages of people of each race said that being a person of color can put them ahead, suggesting that the idea that workplace DEI policies hold back white workers is not very popular.

As protests for racial justice swept across the country after the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, many workplaces placed increased emphasis on DEI programs. Three years later, conservatives are still leading a coordinated reaction to rising support for racial equity, arguing that DEI’s policies and efforts to include marginalized communities necessarily come at the expense of privileged groups like whites and men.

When Silicon Valley Bank failed this spring, largely because of deregulation policies advocated in 2008, some conservative politicians blamed the company’s DEI moves. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) he called the institution “too awake to fail”.

Some Republican-led areas have even begun to block DEI programs from public institutions. In Michigan, Ottawa County dismantled local government DEI programs earlier this year, leaving residents worried about what it will mean for marginalized groups. And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), a leader in the conservative culture wars, just signed a law defunding DEI programs at state colleges and universities and limits how professors can address race in their courses.

“DEI is best seen as synonymous with ‘discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination.’ And that has no place in our public institutions,” DeSantis said at a news conference Monday. “This bill says that the whole experiment with DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida.”