US quieter on DEI

In an increasingly risky environment, the largest U.S. companies are muting disclosures about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), according to a new report. Disclosures relating to board diversity saw especially dramatic declines, with over half of Russell 3000 and one-third of S&P 500 companies now releasing no data about board race/ethnicity. Overall, more than one in five (21 percent) of S&P 100 companies reduced or removed disclosure of DEI-related metrics and targets since 2024.

“Looking ahead, leaders must balance legal defensibility and stakeholder expectations with long-term business priorities,” said Andrew Jones, principal researcher at The Conference Board and coauthor of the report, DEI in Transition: 2025 Corporate Diversity Disclosure Trends.

Companies are facing new scrutiny of DEI practices partly due to the Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions and Trump administration warnings about employment discrimination that may apply to the private sector, including a series of Executive Orders by President Donald Trump and memos by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Some state attorneys general have also cautioned companies to avoid illegal discrimination in the name of DEI.

But some companies may be reframing practices rather than eliminating them entirely, the report found. For example, while disclosure of DEI-linked executive pay incentives declined sharply, some firms have shifted incentives to broader human capital priorities like talent development and employee engagement.

“This shift in public disclosure doesn’t signal companies are abandoning DEI,” said Jones. “Rather, they’re selectively reframing commitments, reducing public exposure, and embedding oversight more quietly yet firmly into governance and human capital management.”

Board diversity disclosures. In recent years, disclosures of board diversity have expanded from basic aggregate counts to include self-identified characteristics, year-over-year comparisons, and matrix formats in proxy statements. But the new transparency faced headwinds, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down Nasdaq’s board diversity rule in 2024.

The report found a steep decline in board gender disclosures from 2024 to 2025. The percentage of companies reporting aggregate female directors fell 30 points for S&P companies (from 90 to 60 percent) and 37 points for Russell 3000 companies (from 82 to 45 percent). The percentage of Russell 3000 companies reporting no board gender statistics at all rose from 1 in 10 (11 percent) to nearly half (47 percent).

Disclosures of board racial and ethnic diversity fell even more sharply. The percentage of S&P 500 companies reporting no board race/ethnic statistics rose from 2 to 33 percent, while aggregate reporting dropped from 72 to 44 percent. Over half of Russell 3000 companies reported no racial/ethnic statistics (54 percent, up from 14 percent), and aggregate reporting declined from 40 to 26 percent.

For larger companies, DEI oversight responsibility increased for board committees nearly across the board, with declines seen only in compensation and ESG committees. Smaller companies saw a jump in DEI oversight for nomination/governance committees and the general board.

Executive compensation. Public disclosure of DEI-linked pay incentives has declined sharply in 2025, reversing a strong recent trend toward increased disclosure. 35 percent of S&P companies disclosed DEI metrics tied to executive compensation in 2025, compared to 68 percent last year. For Russell 3000 companies, the percentages were 41 and 18 percent, respectively.

But according to the report, this might reflect a reframing rather than elimination of DEI altogether. Disclosure of human capital metrics increased across almost all categories (employee engagement, employee health, talent development, and safety, recruitment, retention, and turnover). The exception was disclosure of pay equity, which declined from 4 to 1.5 percent.

Workforce demographic disclosures. Fewer companies disclosed data on women and minority representation in 2025.

The declines were particularly striking for metrics about women. The percentage of S&P 500 companies disclosing the percentage of women in management fell from 71 to 55 percent, while disclosure of women in the workforce declined from 82 to 69 percent. For Russell 3000 companies, disclosure of women in management dropped from 60 to 47 percent, and from 75 to 62 percent for women in workforce.

Disclosures declined less dramatically relating to minorities, though these were comparatively low from the start. Among S&P 500 companies, disclosure of minorities in management dipped from 16 to 14 percent and stayed steady at 16 percent for the workforce. Disclosures for Russell 3000 companies slid from 20 to 16 percent for management and 30 to 26 percent for workforce.

Language. More than half (53 percent) of S&P 100 companies made material adjustments to DEI-related messaging, structure, or terminology compared to 2024, a review of 2025 10-K filings showed.

“Equity” took the biggest hit. 31 percent narrowed the scope of pay equity disclosures, and 33 percent omitted the term completely.

Other changes included reducing or removing DEI metrics and targets (21 percent); using “softened” DEI language such as the addition of “belonging” (19 percent); removing a distinct DEI subsection (16 percent); eliminating the DEI acronym (11 percent); and removing references to specific DEI councils, task forces, or roles (10 percent).

“Recalibration.” Overall, the report said, companies are “selectively reframing commitments, reducing public exposure, and embedding oversight more discreetly but concretely into governance and human capital management.”

The report cautioned that the shift may result in misalignment with international disclosure standards that continue to emphasize workforce DEI as material indicators of corporate accountability, including the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

Source: Written by Lene Powell, J.D.

From WCI's HR Answers Now ©2025 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.