Several years ago, I worked for a very diverse firm with employees from different parts of the world. This resembled the poster child of a diverse work environment but there was no inclusion. Employees never felt belonged and and management never cared because they were the least inclusive.

Nothing much has changed over the course of the last two decades. A McKinsey study “Diversity wins: How inclusion matters” states that while overall sentiment on diversity was 52 percent positive and 32 percent negative, sentiment on inclusion was lower with 61 percent negative and just 29 percent positive.

The study looked at data from 15 countries and more than 1,000 large companies and found that the business case for diversity remains strong but companies lag behind in inclusion.

Unless a culture shift happens, we will all be paying lip service to DEI and changing nothing.