Post-Election, Employees Seek Stability, And Clarity On ESG And DEI

(MENAFN- PRovoke) Three key quotes from the roundtable:

• “A continuation of the DEI work, [is balanced] with an awareness of the way language has been weaponized in a polarized environment."
• "DEI practitioners need to shift from evangelists to engineers."
• “We've adapted the 'not talking about things that aren't business relevant' policy to realize we need to address employees' needs and concerns through support from their managers or more targeted communication.”

After the US election, American employees are looking to their their employers to create an environment of trust, stability, and belonging-and to provide information on the business implications of the new administration, including the future of environmental, social & governance (ESG) and diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) policies.

That was the message from communications executives participating in a roundtable
organized by The Conference Board
on how to engage employees and communicate internally after the elections. (The discussion was conducted on an off-the-record basis, so comments are not attributed to specific participants).

In times of uncertainty, employees seem to seek emotional reassurance at work and companies are looking to help: one roundtable participant from a larger organization with a diverse-including politically diverse-workforce said the company was providing resources including psychologists and a priest for group and individual counseling.

A majority of respondents said employees were looking for consistency-evidence that companies planned to stay the course on business strategy and values-and improved communication.

As a result, companies are balancing the need for stability ("as far as we are concerned, it is business as usual until we learn what is changing," said one respondent) with "what if" scenarios to prepare potential
messaging for different possible policy changes.

And while employees have less of an expectation that the company in general or executives personally express their stance on social or political topics, they make an exception
for topics directly relevant to the core business. As a result, companies are hosting“listening sessions” with senior executives to keep track of employees' sentiments and are also running employee surveys.

“Post election, several of our business resource groups hosted conversations to support and listen to employees,” said one participant.“Each of our BRGs have an executive team champion who plays an important connection role to bring voices to leadership and help employees feel heard.”

In the face of the ESG and DEI backlash, many companies have emphasized the business value of ESG, often replacing the term“ESG” with“sustainability,” and
have changed their DEI terminology
to wording such as inclusion and belonging, while also aligning DEI strategies with core business objectives.

The result, according to one participant, is "a continuation of the DEI work, with an awareness of the way language has been weaponized in a polarized environment." Another emphasized the importance of maintaining their organization's commitment to the core values of equity and justice, even if the language changes, and shift from promoting those values to just applying them

"DEI practitioners need to shift from evangelists to engineers," the executive said, focusing on integrating DEI into the core business strategy and operations.

On other controversial issues,“We took a step back and decided to only reply and comment on what's aligned with our organization,” said one participant.“We did an exercise to determine what are the things we'll respond to. We made it clear we would not comment on anything else.”

But if political intervention is now less aggressive, employee concerns still need to be addressed.“We've adapted the 'not talking about things that aren't business relevant' policy to realize we need to address employees' needs and concerns through support from their managers or more targeted communication, but not at an external or company broadcast level,” explained one participant.

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