Workplace Inclusion Statistics: Policy, Belonging, and Retention

Workplace inclusion statistics: what the numbers say about fairness, belonging, and retention

Workplace inclusion is measurable, and the current data shows a gap between what organizations say they value and what employees actually experience.

The statistics below show where inclusion is getting built into policies, where it still depends on individual managers, and where workers are most likely to feel the cost when systems fall short.

Table of contents

• Fast facts
• What workplace inclusion looks like in policy
• What employees say matters most
• How belonging and culture affect performance
• Leadership, managers, and accountability
• Inclusion for women, LGBTQ+ workers, and disabled workers
• What the data suggests organizations should track

Fast facts

• 61% of surveyed U.S. workers say their company has policies that ensure fairness in hiring, pay, or promotions (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).
• 56% of employed U.S. adults say focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).
• 20% of U.S. employees strongly agree they feel connected to their organization’s culture (Gallup Organizational Culture 2025).
• 42% of U.S. employees say having an employer that is diverse and inclusive of all people is very important when considering their next job (Gallup What Drives a Culture of Belonging 2022).
• 29% of C-suite positions were held by women in 2024, up from 17% in 2015 (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 27.1% of the EEOC workforce identified as individuals with disabilities in fiscal year 2024, while the EEOC benchmark for employees with disabilities is 12% (EEOC Annual Performance Report 2024).
• 40% of LGBTQ+ workers have withheld their identity at their job due to fear of being stigmatized or facing violence at work (HRC Equality Rising summary).

What workplace inclusion looks like in policy

A lot of workplace inclusion begins with formal policy, but policy alone does not prove that employees experience fairness day to day.

The Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023 data shows that 61% of surveyed U.S. workers say their company has policies that ensure fairness in hiring, pay, or promotions. That is a useful baseline because it suggests many workers can point to something concrete in their organizations rather than vague statements about values (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).

Other forms of structure are also fairly common:

• 52% say their workplace has trainings or meetings on DEI (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).
• 33% say their workplace has a staff member who promotes DEI (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).
• 30% say their workplace offers salary transparency (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).
• 26% say their workplace has affinity groups or employee resource groups based on a shared identity (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).

That mix matters because it shows inclusion is not one single program. It can be embedded in compensation practices, structured training, dedicated leadership roles, or community-based support.

At the same time, the numbers also show that these supports are far from universal. Even when a majority of workers report that some fairness policies exist, the smaller shares for salary transparency and affinity groups suggest that many organizations still stop short of the stronger mechanisms that make inclusion visible and actionable.

Policy coverage at a glance

Inclusion measure	Share reporting it	Source
Fairness policies in hiring, pay, or promotions	61%	Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023
DEI trainings or meetings	52%	Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023
Staff member promoting DEI	33%	Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023
Salary transparency	30%	Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023
Affinity groups or ERGs	26%	Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023

The table suggests a practical pattern: broad policies and recurring meetings are more common than structural transparency or identity-based support networks. That difference helps explain why employees may hear about inclusion more often than they feel it.

What employees say matters most

Inclusion statistics are not only about what organizations provide. They also show what workers want from the workplace itself.

Pew’s 2023 data shows 56% of employed U.S. adults say focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023). That is an important signal because it suggests the general direction of inclusion work still has more support than resistance.

Workers also attach different levels of importance to specific forms of diversity:

• 32% say it is extremely or very important to work somewhere with a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).
• 28% say it is extremely or very important to work somewhere with a mix of employees of different ages (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).
• 26% say it is extremely or very important to work somewhere with about an equal mix of men and women (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).
• 18% say it is extremely or very important to work somewhere with a mix of employees of different sexual orientations (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).

This does not mean the lower percentages are unimportant. It means employees rank inclusion priorities differently depending on the dimension being measured. That distinction matters for HR and leadership teams because a one-size-fits-all inclusion strategy can miss the issues employees care about most.

What candidates may be screening for

Gallup’s 2022 culture-of-belonging data adds a hiring lens: 42% of U.S. employees say having an employer that is diverse and inclusive of all people is very important when considering their next job (Gallup What Drives a Culture of Belonging 2022).

That figure matters for recruiting because it shows inclusion is not only an internal retention issue. It can also shape who applies, who accepts offers, and who sees a workplace as worth joining in the first place.

How belonging and culture affect performance

The clearest recurring theme across the data is that belonging is not soft. It has measurable links to engagement, retention, and burnout.

Gallup’s 2025 organizational culture data shows only 20% of U.S. employees strongly agree they feel connected to their organization’s culture (Gallup Organizational Culture 2025). The same report says 20% of employees say their coworkers are committed to the organization’s cultural values, and 27% say leadership is committed to those values (Gallup Organizational Culture 2025).

Those numbers suggest a familiar pattern: leaders may intend to support culture, but employees do not consistently experience that culture as shared or visible.

The performance links are strong:

• Employees who strongly agree they feel connected to their culture are 4.3x as likely to be engaged at work (Gallup Organizational Culture 2025).
• They are 47% less likely to be watching for job opportunities or actively looking for another job (Gallup Organizational Culture 2025).
• They are 62% less likely to feel burned out at work very often or always (Gallup Organizational Culture 2025).

A related Gallup-Workhuman workplace culture report shows similar effects:

• Employees who strongly agree they feel connected to their organization’s culture are 3.7x as likely to be engaged at work (Gallup-Workhuman Workplace Culture Report 2023).
• They are 5.2x as likely to strongly agree they would recommend their organization as a great place to work (Gallup-Workhuman Workplace Culture Report 2023).
• They are 55% less likely to be watching for job opportunities or actively looking for another job (Gallup-Workhuman Workplace Culture Report 2023).

The alignment across reports is notable. A stronger sense of belonging consistently tracks with better engagement and lower turnover intent.

A small set of culture numbers with large implications

Culture measure	Result	Source
Employees strongly connected to culture	20%	Gallup Organizational Culture 2025
Employees saying leadership is committed to values	27%	Gallup Organizational Culture 2025
More likely to be engaged when strongly connected	4.3x	Gallup Organizational Culture 2025
Less likely to be job-hunting when strongly connected	47% less likely	Gallup Organizational Culture 2025
Less likely to be burned out when strongly connected	62% less likely	Gallup Organizational Culture 2025

The gap between 27% leadership commitment and 20% employee connection is the kind of measurement leaders should watch closely. It suggests that culture cannot be inferred from executive messaging alone.

Leadership, managers, and accountability

Workplace inclusion often rises or falls at the manager layer. The data makes that clear.

McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2024 report shows 93% of companies evaluated managers on delivering business objectives in 2022, compared with 92% in 2024 (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024). That is almost universal, which is expected.

But inclusion-related accountability is weaker:

• 54% of companies evaluated managers on promoting an inclusive environment in 2024 (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 43% of companies evaluated managers on effectively managing employee career development in 2022, compared with 37% in 2024 (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 59% of managers say they are expected to support employee career development more than in the past (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 59% of managers say they are expected to promote inclusion on their teams more than in the past (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 42% of managers often or always feel burned out, versus 33% of non-managers (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).

That combination is revealing. Organizations are asking managers to do more for inclusion and development, but many are not measuring those responsibilities as consistently as business objectives. Burnout data reinforces that managers are a pressure point, not just a control point.

Employee resource groups also show uneven support:

• 9 in 10 companies offer employee resource groups for women (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• Only half of companies offer employee resource groups for women of color (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).

If inclusion is supposed to scale, that difference matters. The more specific the needs of a group, the more likely companies are to provide partial rather than full support.

Inclusion for women, LGBTQ+ workers, and disabled workers

The broad workplace inclusion picture gets sharper when you look at specific groups.

Women in leadership and advancement

McKinsey’s 2024 report says 29% of C-suite positions were held by women in 2024, up from 17% in 2015 (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024). That is real progress, but the pace is still slow.

The report also says it would take 22 years for White women to reach parity in senior-vice-president and C-suite roles at the current pace, and 48 years for White women and women of color together to reflect their share of the U.S. population in senior leadership (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).

The breakdown by race and ethnicity is especially important:

• Women of color hold just 7% of C-suite roles, compared with 22% for White women (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 50% of Black women say their managers consistently show interest in their career advancement (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 43% of Latinas say their managers consistently show interest in their career advancement (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 45% of Asian women say their managers consistently show interest in their career advancement (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).

The same report shows manager support differences in day-to-day navigation:

• 43% of Black women say their managers consistently help them balance work and personal demands (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 37% of Latinas say their managers consistently help them balance work and personal demands (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 25% of Black women say their managers consistently help them navigate organizational politics (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 23% of Latinas say their managers consistently help them navigate organizational politics (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 30% of Asian women say their managers consistently help them navigate organizational politics (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).

This is a useful reminder that inclusion is not only about access to a role. It is also about access to the unwritten support needed to succeed in that role.

Harassment and microaggressions

The same data set shows how exclusion affects safety and retention.

• 22% of women under 30 have experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment in their career in 2024 (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 37% of women age 50 and over have experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment in their career in 2024 (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• 14% of women experienced sexual coercion in 2024, compared with 2% of men (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• Women who experience microaggressions are 4.5x more likely to think their gender will make it harder to advance (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• Women who experience microaggressions are 2.7x more likely to consider leaving their company (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• Women who experience microaggressions are 4.2x more likely to almost always feel burned out (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).

Those ratios are among the most important in the entire dataset because they connect interpersonal behavior to career belief, turnover risk, and burnout.

Disability inclusion and accessibility

Deloitte’s Disability Inclusion @ Work 2024 survey adds another layer. The numbers show that disclosure, accommodation, and access are still uneven:

• 88% of respondents disclosed having a disability, chronic health condition, or being neurodivergent to someone at work (Deloitte Disability Inclusion @ Work 2024).
• 25% of those respondents who disclosed a condition at work requested accommodations (Deloitte Disability Inclusion @ Work 2024).
• 74% of respondents who requested accommodations had at least one request rejected (Deloitte Disability Inclusion @ Work 2024).
• 60% of respondents were unable to attend some kind of work event because of inaccessibility (Deloitte Disability Inclusion @ Work 2024).
• 41% of respondents experienced microaggressions, harassment, and/or bullying at work in the prior 12 months (Deloitte Disability Inclusion @ Work 2024).

The EEOC’s own 2024 performance report also provides a useful internal benchmark comparison:

• 19.6% of the EEOC’s new hires in fiscal year 2024 were individuals with a disability (EEOC Annual Performance Report 2024).
• 16% of the EEOC’s new hires in fiscal year 2024 were individuals with a targeted disability (EEOC Annual Performance Report 2024).
• 27.1% of the EEOC workforce identified as individuals with disabilities in fiscal year 2024 (EEOC Annual Performance Report 2024).
• 7.7% of the EEOC workforce identified as individuals with targeted disabilities in fiscal year 2024 (EEOC Annual Performance Report 2024).
• The EEOC benchmark for employees with disabilities is 12% (EEOC Annual Performance Report 2024).
• The EEOC benchmark for employees with targeted disabilities is 2% (EEOC Annual Performance Report 2024).

That set of figures matters because it shows how an agency responsible for equal employment opportunity still uses benchmark targets to measure representation and hiring progress.

LGBTQ+ inclusion and psychological safety

SHRM’s 2024 data paints a mixed picture for LGBTQ+ workers:

• 75% say they are treated fairly at work (SHRM Supporting LGBTQ+ Employees 2024).
• 72% say they are given equal access to opportunities and resources at work (SHRM Supporting LGBTQ+ Employees 2024).
• 71% rate their workgroups as inclusive (SHRM Supporting LGBTQ+ Employees 2024).
• 78% say senior leaders care about making meaningful DE&I progress to some extent or to a great extent (SHRM Supporting LGBTQ+ Employees 2024).
• 71% say their company has equitable representation at all levels, versus 78% of non-LGBTQ+ workers (SHRM Supporting LGBTQ+ Employees 2024).
• More than 1 in 4 LGBTQ+ workers are not broadly out at work (SHRM Supporting LGBTQ+ Employees 2024).

The HRC Equality Rising summary adds another signal:

• 84% of LGBTQ+ workers are out to at least one person in their current job (HRC Equality Rising summary).
• 40% of LGBTQ+ workers have withheld their identity at their job due to fear of being stigmatized or facing violence at work (HRC Equality Rising summary).

Those two numbers can coexist. Being out to one colleague is not the same as feeling safe being out broadly. That distinction is central to workplace inclusion.

What the data suggests organizations should track

The strongest throughline across these workplace inclusion statistics is that inclusion should be measured as both a system and a lived experience.

A practical measurement set would include:

• Policy coverage, such as fairness policies, salary transparency, and ERGs (Pew Research Center DEI in the Workplace 2023).
• Belonging and culture connection, including whether employees feel connected to organizational values (Gallup Organizational Culture 2025; Gallup-Workhuman Workplace Culture Report 2023).
• Manager accountability for inclusion, career development, and team climate (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• Representation at senior levels, especially by gender and race or ethnicity (McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2024).
• Accessibility and accommodation outcomes for disabled and neurodivergent workers (Deloitte Disability Inclusion @ Work 2024; EEOC Annual Performance Report 2024).
• Psychological safety for LGBTQ+ workers, including whether people feel comfortable being out at work (SHRM Supporting LGBTQ+ Employees 2024; HRC Equality Rising summary).

The data does not point to a single fix. It points to a pattern: workplaces that treat inclusion as a measurable operating system are more likely to create the kind of culture employees notice, trust, and stay in.