Why Belonging Still Matters Despite Changing DEIB Narratives

Workers who lack a sense of belonging are 1.5x as likely to actively job seek — yet the political debate over DEIB terminology is pulling organizations away from the practices that build it. Recent executive actions have sought to limit the use of "diversity" language in federal and private sectors, creating uncertainty for many organizations. Yet, even amidst political shifts, the business case for building inclusive, high-performing workplaces remains stronger than ever.

Organizations can rebrand their programs, but the underlying systems that drive belonging— fair hiring, equitable performance evaluation, and inclusive leadership — remain the levers that determine engagement, retention, and performance outcomes.

What happens when employees don't feel they belong?

They disengage, burn out, and leave. Belonging is a fundamental human need and an organizational capability. When that need goes unmet, the cost shows up across engagement, retention, and performance. Research from the Perceptyx Benchmark Database shows that a sense of belonging is key for positive employee outcomes:

• Highly engaged employees are 1.6x as likely to feel they really belong at their company versus those who are not highly engaged (92% vs. 59%).

• Committed employees (those intending to stay for at least the next year) are 2.5x as likely to feel like they really belong at their company.

But the absence of belonging comes with equally strong, if not more urgent, consequences. Our research found that employees who don't feel they belong are:

• 1.5x as likely to be actively job seeking, having looked for a new role in the past month, and

• 1.8x as likely to report that stress from work impacted their productivity significantly (for three or more days) during the last week.

Without belonging, employees lose the psychological safety needed for honest conversation, creative thinking, and persistence through challenges. They disengage, burn out, and ultimately leave.

What are the core components of belonging at work?

Belonging at work depends on five interconnected conditions:

• Connection — real relationships with peers and leaders

• Valued perspective — confidence that ideas and experiences are taken seriously

• Authentic presence — freedom to show up as yourself

• Fairness — trust in equitable hiring, promotion, and performance processes

• Psychological safety — ability to speak up and take risks without fear

Perceptyx benchmark data shows that highly engaged employees are 1.6x as likely to feel they belong at their company (92% vs. 59%).

What does belonging at work look like in practice?

Belonging at work shows up in everyday experiences such as:

• A manager who asks for input and references your idea in a meeting

• A performance review with clearly defined, consistently applied criteria

• A promotion process employees describe as transparent and merit-based

• A team culture where people disagree openly without fear

• An onboarding experience where new hires feel welcomed as individuals

• An environment where employees do not have to mask their identity to be taken seriously

Perceptyx data shows that employees who believe advancement is fair are 2.5x as likely to stay, and those with inclusive managers are 1.2x as likely to be highly engaged.

Is DEIB still important to employees and organizations?

Despite the evolving narrative, both employees and organizations continue to affirm the importance of DEIB initiatives and values. According to our State of Employee Listening, DEIB remains a top theme on which enterprises are actively seeking employee feedback, ranking among the highest-priority areas for HR leaders despite a shifting external landscape.

Our research confirms this. Over half of employees say DEIB programs are important to them and that they would not want to work for an organization that does not implement these programs. This sentiment shows up clearly in our employee lifecycle data:

These data points suggest that, when an employee perceives their company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is falling below their previously held conceptions, it may very well contribute to them walking out the door.

The data is consistent: over half of employees say DEIB programs are important to them and that they would not join an organization that does not implement them, and perception of commitment to diversity drops 19 percentage points between onboarding and exit. Organizations that deprioritize these systems face measurable attrition risk.

How has the definition of diversity expanded?

In the past, “diversity” was primarily viewed through the lens of legally protected demographics. Today, we know that effective diversity efforts encompass a broader spectrum, including:

• Personality and cognitive styles,

• Socioeconomic and generational backgrounds,

• Neurodiversity and disability,

• Gender identity, race, ethnicity, and more,

• Remote, hybrid, and distributed work arrangements, and

• Differences in how employees interact with and adapt to AI tools and workflows.

Cognitive diversity, generational backgrounds, neurodiversity, and other dimensions of difference contribute to stronger team performance when leaders actively measure and respond to belonging gaps. Perceptyx's psychological safety research shows that teams with higher psychological safety report significantly better collaboration and innovation—and organizations can track these indicators directly through targeted employee listening programs.

What systems and processes build genuine inclusion?

Retention depends on whether employees believe the systems around them are fair and designed with their best interests in mind. And those systems require leaders who own belonging as a core responsibility, not just a program to support. In fact, our benchmarks reveal that employees who intend to stay with their organization for at least the next year are:

• 2.5x as likely to feel that advancement processes are fair, and

• 1.7x as likely to believe their performance evaluations are fair.

Organizations that build inclusive, equitable processes will, by design, become more diverse and resilient.

Key elements include:

• Bias-resistant and valid hiring and promotion systems,

• Transparent, fair, and well-defined performance measurement systems,

• Inclusive leadership behaviors as core competencies that are measured through 360 feedback,

• Consistent employee listening events to surface inequities, such as annual listening events and crowdsourcing, and

• Action planning and action taking initiatives to drive behavior change and ensure these strategies are working.

Advanced analytics on the employee experience data, including correlations to specific employee demographic populations, can help organizations uncover friction points, monitor progress, and take meaningful action. Our own listening and action strategies help organizations identify where gaps exist and what follow-on steps will have the most impact.

How does diversity and inclusion affect business performance?

Workplaces that prioritize diversity and inclusion outperform their peers on engagement, innovation, and profitability. Research shows:

• Increased innovation from cognitively diverse teams,

• Stronger culture rooted in mutual respect and open collaboration,

• Broader talent pipelines and improved employer brand, and

• Higher profitability, with some studies noting gains of 20–35% over less-diverse peers.

Further, our research finds that modelling inclusive behaviors at the top is key to an engaged workforce. Employees who are highly engaged are:

• 1.2x as likely to indicate that their manager models inclusivity, as well as

• 1.4x as likely to feel that senior management creates a culture of inclusion.

The data shows that inclusive leadership behaviors, measured through 360 feedback and embedded as core management competencies, directly predict engagement. Organizations that train and evaluate managers on inclusion see higher scores across belonging, performance, and retention.

What should organizations do to build belonging at work?

Organizations should build belonging at work by turning employee feedback into changes employees can see in their day-to-day experience.

• Run regular employee listening surveys to surface where specific groups feel excluded.

• Review performance and promotion data by demographic group to identify inequity patterns.

• Train managers to model inclusive behaviors and measure them through 360 feedback.

• Follow up listening with visible action.

Organizations should also pay attention to employees who are uncertain about whether they belong. Research shows that belonging uncertainty influences job satisfaction, performance, and wellbeing just as powerfully as a clear lack of belonging. These employees may not show up in turnover data yet, but they are holding back rather than contributing fully.

When employees believe advancement opportunities are fair, they are 2.5x as likely to stay with their organization for at least the next year.