Majority of companies in UK continuing with DEI

New research has shown the majority of companies in the UK are continuing to run programmes dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), despite the backlash against these policies in the wake of the US election.

This finding comes from a poll that was carried out by Censuswide and that spoke to over 1000 companies. The results show that 74% of them – nearly three quarters – are maintaining these schemes. More than a quarter of the companies that took part in the poll said that they were putting more money into DEI this year compared with 2024. Another third stated that they were maintaining funding at a similar level.

What makes these findings so interesting is that they come at a time when DEI is under assault within the wider culture. Since coming to power in January, US President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants to root out all such programmes in America.

This has led to speculation about a policy shift in other nations away from DEI, but that does not appear to be happening in the UK. Those companies that Censuswide spoke to said that they consider the programmes good value for money.

However, they are also experiencing restrictions to DEI budgets. Many told the survey that they want to make DEI part of their core operations to deal with that. Such a move would require radical change of the sort that a company culture consultant can help with.

It would mean placing DEI processes at the heart of recruitment, as well as staff evaluations and engagement.