Across the corporate landscape, Walmart, Boeing, Ford and Lowe’s are among the industry titans that have eliminated or scaled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the face of pressure from anti-DEI activists fueled by recent lawsuits and court decisions.

With President-elect Trump returning to the White House soon—and appointing anti-DEI activists like Stephen Miller to his policy team—challenges to corporate DEI efforts are expected to continue rising in 2025, according to trend-watching experts at research firm i4cp and the Texas Diversity Council.

Chief diversity officers, specifically, expect increased pushback on their organizations’ DEI plans and strategies from external anti-DEI activists in the New Year, according to an i4cp report released last week.

However, research shows that even as some companies are scaling back or nixing DEI programs, others are increasing or not changing their commitment to their efforts, leading to a polarized corporate community in the United States. For example, 57% of chief diversity officers report their DEI budgets will not change in 2025, and 29% expect their DEI budgets to increase, according to i4cp’s survey of its Chief Diversity Officer Board, which is comprised of about 50 diversity leaders at Fortune 500 companies.

DEI trends for 2025

Experts also predict that roles and communications efforts will shift for DEI professionals in the year ahead. The communications work likely will bring a heightened focus to how an organization shares its DEI message, says Lorrie Lykins, vice president of research for i4cp.

Some employees’ understanding of diversity is quite narrow, perhaps only related to race or only race and gender, Lykins says. DEI and HR leaders are responding with efforts to share and better communicate more expansive definitions of diversity and inclusion, she says. These efforts can help colleagues embrace a similar broad understanding of DEI, for example.

According to Angeles Martinez Valenciano, CEO of the Texas Diversity Council, DEI leaders also will be shifting from diversity advocates to DEI business strategists. Such shifts will require that leaders are able to connect diversity, inclusion and equity efforts to data that impacts the business, she says. (Valenciano recently sat down with HR Executive to discuss DEI in the year ahead. See the video here.)

“Understanding what a business metric is will be a full skill set for surviving and thriving in this new economy,” which could include limited or absent DEI policies or programming, Valenciano says.

In addition, AI will play a growing and crucial role in DEI in 2025, both experts say. Valenciano expects more HR leaders to rely on AI-assisted tools to gather data that will illuminate the impact of their DEI initiatives. For example, AI tools or agents could review employee exit interview data to help discover whether a lack of DEI efforts contributes to high turnover among diverse workers.

“I think organizations that have mature DEI strategies and programming in place are the ones that are seeing the results” in retaining diverse employees, Lykins says. “They’re the ones that have the data about the benefits of this, and they’re the ones that are unwavering saying, ‘We’re moving ahead and the work continues, and we will not be swayed.’ ”

Employers can study data from many additional sources—including Glassdoor reviews and candidate surveys—to understand the impact of their DEI initiatives, which then could help protect these initiatives, she says. “I like to talk about data in terms of being your sword and shield,” Lykins says.

Finally, as more organizations dismantle DEI initiatives and eliminate DEI teams and chief diversity officer roles, some HR leaders likely will see remaining diversity programs shift into their departments, experts predict.

In this case, Valenciano suggests HR leaders have an honest conversation with their CEO and leadership team to understand whether DEI will remain a business imperative or is likely to be further reduced or eliminated. Valenciano notes this information is crucial for HR planning and to minimize potential fallout to the organization from stepping away from DEI work.

The future of corporate DEI

More than four years ago, the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer spurred a surge in corporate DEI initiatives, investments, policies and hiring. In 2021, for example, the hiring rate for chief diversity officers nearly tripled compared to the previous 16 months.

Although many DEI experts are concerned about those numbers falling again and other programs getting dropped, Lykins remains hopeful that technology and other factors will limit the impact and perhaps even turn the tide in the other direction. For example, the absence of corporate DEI teams and efforts could bring such swift backlash within some organizations—toxic cultures and tarnished brands, maybe—that leaders would need to respond if they hurt hiring and retention.

“I think the pendulum is going to swing back, and it’s going to swing back very hard,” Lykins says. “It will be a confluence of things to do that, including the influence of AI.”

At the same time, despite challenges in the U.S., Valenciano says a growing number of organizations in other countries are launching DEI initiatives for the first time, including in her home country of Mexico.

“We in the U.S. are taking a step back,” she says. “But what we know is the globalization of DEI is going to be the continuation of diversity.”

Related: Read more 2025 predictions for HR leaders.

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