DEI Fatigue or Just Tired of Accountability?
Remember back in 2020 when DEI was the buzzword? When companies were quick to post bold statements, share Black squares on social media, and pledge their commitment to change—at least on the surface.
But here we are now, a few years later, and the energy feels different. The hashtags have grown quieter. The dedicated DEI leaders and teams are being laid off. Budgets are shrinking. Companies are announcing “strategy shifts” that somehow always seem to deprioritize inclusion. The message is subtle but clear: We're moving on.
Lately, I keep hearing the same excuse echoed across industries: “People are just tired of DEI.” Or worse, “DEI fatigue.”
But let’s call that what it really is. Are we actually tired of DEI itself? Or are we tired of accountability?
Because here’s what I know:
Accountability is exhausting when you’re not used to holding it.
Equity is uncomfortable when it forces you to look at your systems, your privilege, your blind spots.
Inclusion is hard work—not a vibe, not a moment, not a marketing campaign.
It Was Never Supposed to Be Easy
I work in Employee Relations.
I sit in the uncomfortable spaces where conflict lives, where power dynamics play out, where the “why can’t we all just get along” fantasy meets the reality of bias, exclusion, and harm.
And let me be clear—none of this work was ever supposed to be easy.
We’re talking about undoing generations of inequality, unlearning habits that are baked into our everyday practices. That doesn’t happen because you held a workshop or hosted a speaker during Black History Month. It doesn’t happen because you added pronouns to your email signature or posted a Juneteenth message on LinkedIn.
Those things matter, yes. But they’re the starting line, not the finish.
What we’re seeing now is not just fatigue—it’s a quiet, and sometimes loud, retreat. Major corporations that once made bold public commitments to DEI are scaling back. Entire DEI teams are being dismantled. Budgets are slashed. Positions eliminated. And what happens at the top inevitably trickles down. Smaller companies follow suit, often citing the same rhetoric: "It’s time to focus on the business," as if equity and inclusion aren’t business priorities.
But here’s the consequence of this retreat: employees and applicants notice. Marginalized workers feel the shift immediately. They feel it when opportunities for growth disappear. When mentorship programs quietly dissolve. When ERGs (Affinity Groups) are underfunded or deprioritized. When the language of inclusion gets replaced with "culture fit" or "return to core values"—which often means a return to comfort for those who never had to question their belonging in the first place.
The erasure of these initiatives doesn’t just hurt the brand. It hurts the people. It damages trust. It signals to employees, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, that their presence is tolerated, not valued. That the commitments made were performative, not purposeful.
On the other hand, when DEI is done well—when it’s funded, supported, and woven into the fabric of how organizations operate—it doesn’t just "check a box." It attracts top talent. It fosters innovation. It reduces turnover. It builds cultures where people can actually show up as their full selves and thrive.
This is the work. The real work. And it was never supposed to be easy.
The Business Case for DEI: When the Work Works
What often gets lost in these conversations is that DEI is not just about morality—it’s about smart business.
Study after study has shown that diverse teams outperform homogenous ones. Inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s a proven driver of innovation, profitability, and employee engagement.
Consider these examples:
Boston Consulting Group found that companies with more diverse management teams generate 19% higher revenue due to innovation (BCG, 2018).
McKinsey & Company reported that companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity on executive teams were 36% more likely to outperform on profitability (McKinsey, 2020).
Comcast NBCUniversal embedded DEI into its business strategy, leading to stronger internal engagement and external trust. Their diversity councils and commitment to representation at every level help attract and retain top talent across industries (Engagedly, 2023).
Delta Air Lines credits its Business Resource Groups (with over 36,000 participants) as key contributors to both employee retention and strategic business insights, allowing the company to better serve a global customer base (Business Insider, 2024).
Google’s Self-ID program and transparent DEI reporting have helped increase representation among Black and Latino hires in the U.S. and foster leadership diversity globally. This level of transparency builds accountability and public trust (Google Diversity Annual Report).
The impact is clear: DEI initiatives aren’t charity work. They are talent strategies. Innovation strategies. Retention strategies.
When DEI efforts are gutted or sidelined, companies may save short-term dollars, but they pay long-term costs in higher turnover, disengagement, limited innovation, and damaged brand reputation.
The work isn’t easy. But when done well, it works.
And let’s be clear—DEI isn’t a dirty word. It’s not code for "Didn’t Earn It." It’s not a free pass. It’s not a handout.
DEI is about access. Opportunity. Fairness. The recognition that talent is everywhere, but opportunity hasn’t always been. It’s about removing barriers, not lowering standards. It’s about making sure the process is as open, equitable, and just as the outcomes we say we believe in.
When DEI is dismissed as some kind of giveaway program, it erases the hard work, the qualifications, the brilliance, and the grind of the people who have had to fight twice as hard to be seen. The assumption that inclusion somehow lowers the bar says more about the system than it does about the people trying to navigate it.
Who Gets to Be Tired?
Here’s the part that exasperates me every time I hear about “DEI fatigue”:
The people who get to be “tired” of these conversations are usually the ones who’ve benefited the most from the way things have always been.
Because marginalized people?
They don’t get the luxury of tapping out.
They don’t get to be “fatigued” by injustice when they’re the ones living in it.
You can’t be exhausted from the work if you’ve never been carrying the weight.
The Truth About Fatigue
This moment we’re in—the so-called wave of “DEI fatigue”—isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s happening at a time when accountability is being questioned and commitment is being tested.
As Aparna Rae points out in Forbes, the idea of DEI fatigue may actually be more about resistance to change than true exhaustion. Rae argues that, “fatigue is often used as a shield to avoid discomfort,” and that the real opportunity in this moment is to deepen the work, not abandon it (Forbes, 2023).
This aligns with what many of us in this work have observed firsthand: fatigue is a privilege that often belongs to those who have been least impacted by exclusion and inequity. For those of us who live at the margins, the conversation is not optional—and neither is the labor.
So the question becomes: how do we navigate the discomfort instead of retreating from it? How do we stay engaged when the headlines fade?
The answer, as Rae and so many others remind us, is not to walk away. It’s to recommit. To evolve. To recognize that real equity work demands endurance—and that the discomfort is where growth happens.
What people are really tired of is being called out—of being asked to reflect on the role they may play, even unintentionally, in upholding systems that exclude or disadvantage others. The frustration often isn't about the concept of diversity itself; it's about the discomfort that comes with looking in the mirror and realizing that inclusion requires change, not just awareness.
Because the truth is, doing something different requires giving something up. It might mean giving up a little control, a little comfort, or the easy narrative that success has always been purely about merit. It means shifting from the familiar paths of “this is how we’ve always done it” to creating space for new voices, new approaches, and yes, sometimes hard conversations.
Sharing power is uncomfortable. It asks leaders to make room at the table. It means doing the work; not just for photo ops, not just for optics, but in meaningful ways that allow for influence and decision-making. It means that privilege doesn’t get to quietly sit unchallenged. It's the discomfort of that reality that is often what people label as “fatigue.”
But fatigue is not the enemy here. Resistance to change is. The question is not whether the work is tiring. The question is whether we’re willing to stay in the work anyway.
So Where Do We Go From Here?
If you’re feeling “fatigued,” I invite you to ask yourself:
Am I truly tired of the work—or am I tired of being held accountable?
Have I been expecting change without discomfort?
How am I making space for the voices that aren’t usually heard?
This work isn’t about guilt. It’s not about shame.
It’s about choosing responsibility over convenience. It’s about staying in the work, even when it’s hard.
As John F. Kennedy once said,
“If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
Equity is not about handouts. It’s about leveling the field so that everyone has a real chance to thrive. Inclusion is not about easing up on standards. It’s about recognizing that talent, potential, and leadership show up in many forms—not just the ones we’ve been conditioned to expect.
Maya Angelou said it best:
“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.”
When companies pull back on DEI, when they quietly dismantle the work, they are not just walking away from a strategy. In reality they are closing doors and reinforcing systems that keep the same people at the top and everyone else waiting outside.
As Cate Blanchett reminds us:
“You do not want to be in a creative organization with everybody being like-minded and stroking each other’s creative egos. You want differences of opinion… constructively.”
True leadership is making room for innovation, creativity, and progress. In order to do those things it is required we leave space for difference. For challenge. For new ideas. For growth.
Equity and inclusion aren’t distractions from the work. They are the work.
So the question remains: Will we rise to meet the moment? Will we do more than talk about change? Will we stay in the room when the conversation gets uncomfortable?
Because as Don Lemon put it simply:
“You don’t have true freedom until you allow a diversity of opinion and a diversity of voices.”
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
How are you seeing this conversation show up in your workplace? How do we keep momentum alive when the buzz dies down?
Let’s talk about it.
