Why Workplace Belonging Matters

In recent weeks, the federal government’s war on DEI and executive order to eliminate all federal DEI programs has led major companies like Target, Meta, and Amazon to roll back their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, while others like Apple, Costco, and JPMorgan Chase, have said they will be standing by their DEI policies.

Interestingly, even though Target announced that it was rolling back DEI programs, it released a press release reiterating its Belonging at the Bullseye Strategy, stating, “We remain focused on driving our business by creating a sense of belonging for our team, guests and communities through a commitment to inclusion. Belonging for all is an essential part of our team and culture, helping fuel consumer relevance and business results.”

In other words, Belonging matters now more than ever.

All of this is probably leaving a lot of HR, People and Culture leaders overwhelmed and not sure what to do at their companies and organizations. As someone who helps companies build a culture of belonging and human connection, my sense is that no matter what you call (or don’t call) something, what matters is that we create a workplace where everyone feels seen, heard, and connected, and can do their best work.

Diversity and inclusion are critical to team performance, business growth, leadership and innovation (not to mention humanity). This has been proven by research over and over again. Employees who feel strong levels of belonging can save a single company $52 million a year.

While DEI has been politicized (and this acronym and these terms mean VERY different things to different people and different organizations— and even mean different things to different people within the same organization!), you can’t hide from the facts: the only way we lead, manage, and grow successfully is by creating cultures where belonging is possible.

At the end of the day, curiosity, listening, empathy, trust, psychological safety, and care are essential for every single leader, team, and organization to thrive.

So you can take letters off of a website or a job title, but you can’t take the importance of building a culture of belonging out of the hearts and minds of the humans who do the work every single day.

You can't take the fundamental human need to belong away from someone's soul.

The way forward is not to fire or rat on or ignore everyone who disagrees with you.

The only way forward is to roll our up sleeves and do the hard work of being human together, even and especially, when we disagree.

This post was originally published on my LinkedIn and on my Substack Newsletter on January 30, 2025.