A recent survey found that 60% of HR professionals said their company focused on more than just the compliance aspects of DEI, compared to 71% in a previous survey. This decline is concerning for workplace DEI, especially given the proven business benefits of investing in DEI initiatives.
Written by Neelie Verlinden Reviewed by Paula Garcia 12 minutes read
A diversity and inclusion (DEI) statement is a great way to showcase your DEI mission and initiatives to your employees, candidates, business partners, and everyone involved with or interested in your company. It is also an increasingly important tool to attract talent from diverse backgrounds.
Let’s look at some of the best diversity statement examples out there to inspire you.
A diversity and inclusion statement expresses a company’s commitment to DEIB and the actions or commitments the company is taking to fulfill that commitment.
Often, a DEI statement is not only intended to communicate an organization’s stance on DEIB to its employees and candidates, but also to its customers, business partners, and the wider society.
Opinions on what a good diversity and inclusion statement page should include will vary based on whom you ask and their personal preferences.
In this section, we’ll examine 13 different diversity and inclusion statement examples (in alphabetical order) to inspire you.
Adobe’s diversity and inclusion statement:
“At Adobe, we believe that when people feel respected and included, they can be more creative, innovative, and successful. While we have more work to do to advance diversity and inclusion, we’re investing to move our company and industry forward.”
Adobe’s DEI motto, “Adobe for All,” captures the essence of inclusivity in just three words. It’s concise, effective, and perfectly on point.
The statement nicely captures the core values of creativity, innovation, and success within their DEI commitment.
However, the best part of this DEI statement example is that the company is transparent about the fact that they still have more work to do to advance diversity and inclusion. Things aren’t perfect (they never are), but they’re working on it. There are no false promises; they just tell it like it is.
“We’re continuing to create a culture of inclusion, increasing representation across teams, and holding ourselves accountable at every level.
Because belonging takes all of us.”
Apple is known for its fantastic designs, and this page is no exception. It alternates colored sections with black-and-white blocks. The former highlights the company’s numerous initiatives to create more diversity, inclusion, and belonging within the organization, and the latter shares the company’s latest DEI stats.
Visitors can select various categories, such as tech, non-tech, and leadership to see what the situation is in terms of, for example, female representation in the different parts of the world where Apple is active.
Joy Through Diversity.
Our BMW Group Commitment.
“Diversity – in every form – is one of the most important success factors for us. Because as diverse as our customers, suppliers and investors are worldwide, so diverse are our teams, which manage to put a smile on our customers’ faces every day.”
The BMW Group does various things very well on its DEI page. It starts with the statement we just mentioned, immediately followed by a few DEI statistics that give visitors a brief overview of the company’s current state of diversity and inclusion.
The company also clearly connects its commitment to DEI with some of its core values, such as its innovative strength and long-term competitiveness.
Make your DEI statement evocative by including emotive words that help bring your text to life.
A declaration from a nonprofit organization is next on our list of DEI statement examples.
“Girls Who Code is an organization that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as essential to our mission.”
Girls Who Code is a nonprofit that, by its very definition, works to create more diversity, equity, and inclusion in computing. This is literally what the organization is about. Therefore, its DEI statement can be very straightforward, and that is exactly what it is: a simple expression of the nonprofit’s business as usual.
Strictly speaking, this is not a DEI statement example, but it might represent the direction companies will take in the future. HubSpot has removed its DEI statement page and dedicated that space to its most recent Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging report instead.
Rather than a statement, HubSpot has decided to share data on the current state of DI&B within the organization. These are not beautiful words but cold, hard facts that demonstrate what progress has been made and where there is room for improvement.
The report is available for everyone to download, and it is the first thing people see when they get to the company’s diversity page; it doesn’t get any easier or more transparent than that.
John Lewis is a British department store company. Each of its 85,000 employees – called Partners – owns a part of the business and shares in its success (profits).
“The Partnership was formed almost 100 years ago with the principles of humanity and equality for all at its very heart.”
First of all, the fact that every employee owns a part of the business is in itself a token of the company’s commitment to equality and inclusion.
On its simple DEI page, the company has highlighted its most recent commitments to becoming the UK’s most inclusive business for its Partners and customers, including equal parental pay and leave, support for part-time workers, and creating an inclusion committee.
John Lewis’ DEI page shows us that it doesn’t have to be fancy or full of videos to be effective.
“Only with a diverse and inclusive team that feels a sense of belonging every day will we reach our vision of making contracts more human.”
There are three things in particular that we like about Juro’s DEI page:
A DEI statement is a serious and public commitment, but it doesn’t have to be dry and unimaginative. Personalize your DEI statement to your brand using language or a layout that illustrates your company’s work.
“We believe the LEGO Group – and LEGO® play – is for everyone, no matter where you come from, what you look like or how you identify.
It’s our mission to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. To succeed in this mission and help all children develop the skills that will help them fulfill their potential, we must continue to play our part in building a more inclusive and equitable world, starting with our own organization.”
There are three main points that LEGO does well here: it keeps the statement short, captures the DEI element succinctly, and links it back to the company’s (future) mission of inspiring and developing the builders of tomorrow.
Additionally, LEGO focuses on its social responsibility when building its DEIB instead of only highlighting its internal priorities.
“We aspire to create a company and a world where equality and inclusion are achievable for all, driving growth and creating value for our employees, through our brands, with our partners and communities.”
P&G has created a DEI statement that captures what it aims to do, how it will do this, and for whom. The company then further demonstrates all of this on its DEI page.
What we find particularly strong about P&G’s statement is that it emphasizes the company’s commitment to its partners and the communities that use its products on a daily basis.
“Celebrating diversity and putting belonging at the heart of what we do.”
From the start, Ubisoft has created a link between its work—creating world-famous video games—and its approach to diversity and inclusion. Both require innovative ideas and diverse perspectives, and neither is created overnight.
The company’s DEI strategy is built on four pillars: colleagues, content, culture, and community. The approach around each of these pillars is explained on the webpage.
Another nice touch is the ‘Getting to know’ section about Ubisoft’s VP of Global Diversity and Inclusion.
Be Yourself – whoever you are…
“At Virgin Atlantic, our purpose is to empower everyone to take on the world. Our vision is to be the most loved travel company. To achieve both, we focus on creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Where our people, customers, partners and communities are united, and diverse groups are represented. An environment that values and respects an individual’s unique identity and inspires pride in being part of the Virgin Atlantic family.”
What Virgin does very well on its DEI page is demonstrating the various ways in which the organization enables its people to do precisely what its DEI statement is about, namely, to ‘Be Yourself.’
Examples include the company’s tattoo policy, which allows employees to show off their ink when in uniform, its employee-led communities that aim to raise awareness about DEI, and the company’s changed uniform code, which now allows people to choose which one of the organization’s Vivienne Westwood uniforms best represents them.
Value inclusion, belonging, and equity.™
“Our approach to diversity is simple: it’s about embracing everyone. From cultivating a culture where all employees can bring their best selves to work to deploying diversity initiatives that support all, we’re doing what it takes to build a more equitable workplace and world.”
Workday’s diversity and inclusion statement embodies simplicity. Their message is well-formulated and connected to the organization’s mission and goals.
Workday has developed the VIBE Index™ (VIBE is an acronym for value, inclusion, belonging, and equity). The VIBE Index is a means for companies to measure and set targets (as well as take action based on the results) for hiring, promotions, leadership, belonging, etc.
We conclude our list of inspiring DEI statement examples with a well-known nonprofit organization, the World Wide Fund for Nature.
“Our differences make the difference. At WWF, we are working to create an organization as diverse as the world we protect, where the richness of all our unique views, experiences, and backgrounds combine to create the most sustainable and inclusive conservation outcomes possible, bringing the greatest benefit to the planet and every person who lives on it.”
What WWF does very well is infusing the organization’s mission in its DEI statement, making it clear for everyone who reads it what the organization is about and how its mission goes hand in hand with its commitment to DEI.
Something else worth mentioning is the fact that the organization highlights the inclusive leadership training it offers and the various aspects covered during that training.
There are as many ways to write a diversity and inclusion statement as there are DEI statement examples.
This article’s diversity and inclusion statement examples have one thing in common: they all show how these companies advance DEIB at their workplaces with concrete initiatives and strategies. This is key to making your statement credible; it shows people you are walking your talk.
A good example of a DEI statement will look different for everyone. If you consider a short statement to be good, then this one from Juro can be a good example:
“Only with a diverse and inclusive team that feels a sense of belonging every day will we reach our vision of making contracts more human.”
A simple example of a nonprofit DEI statement can look like this one from Girls Who Code:
“Girls Who Code is an organization that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as essential to our mission.”
To write a solid DEI statement, you must consider a few elements:
• A strong title
• A link to your organization’s mission and values
• Your target audience
• Honesty
• Keeping it short and sweet
• Your company’s unique view.
