Is Performative Inclusion Hurting Your Talent Pipeline?

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Is Performative Inclusion Hurting Your Talent Pipeline? - December 9, 2025
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DEI initiatives are known to attract quality candidates by expanding the workforce with varied skills that boost organizational efficiency. Research shows that companies dedicated to DEI initiatives generally yield a 39% increase in performance compared to competitors with more exclusionary practices.

Yet, a company’s DEI initiatives (which includes inclusive hiring) could differ vastly from the reality experienced by its workforce. In the event of a mismatch, companies face performative inclusion, a phenomenon similar to greenwashing, as they reduce an organization’s credibility.

And performative inclusion is not merely a fancy new buzzword. These cracks in work culture, create a disconnect between reality and expectations, hurting employee value propositions (EVPs). An estimated 83% of jobseekers research company reviews and ratings during the job application process. As such, news could travel far and wide with performative inclusion, significantly undermining trust and hiring quality.

We will look at the common signs of performative inclusion, review sample cases of bad practices, and how you can prevent a breach of trust with proactive hiring strategies.

A diverse community of employees engaged in a team huddle. — Source httpswwwpexelscomphotophoto of people holding each other s hands 3184423

What is Performative Inclusion?

Let’s begin by unpacking the term “performative inclusion”, what employees might interpret as a form of lip service at the workplace. Companies associated with performative inclusion tend to be proponents of inclusion while their actual practices fall short of the pitch. Here are some red flags that may lead employees to suspect that they may have signed up for the wrong company:

Pay gaps remain a lingering issue among team members according to gender, ethnicity, ableism, or any other bias although the company has a diverse workforce.

Less represented groups are passed for promotions despite the organization’s workforce diversity and open opportunities.

There is a lack of leadership diversity despite widespread hiring efforts for other roles.

The company uses false, propagandistic marketing, where hiring campaigns depict diverse work culture that contradict actual employee demographics.

Individuals from less represented groups lack the resourcess, support, and channels for voicing their thoughts or contributing meaningful change to the organization.

These workplace observations would likely prompt employees to consider a barrage of questions. Mainly, they would seek a clear answer from the company in justifying the inclusive promises laid out in the hiring stage.

Performative Inclusion’s Effect at Work

Despite the rise of DEIB efforts across industries, there remains counterintuitive statistics that reflect the presence of performative inclusion. For example, Deloitte’s “Missing Pieces Report” of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups on Fortune 500 boards revealed that while inclusive representation increased by 67% within the last decade, more than half of the positions (55.3%) are held by white men.

Also, many companies still report multiple cases of microaggressions, bias, and a lack of equity at the workplace.Prejudice at work are more pervasive in certain industries. These include the field of medicine, where a Stanford study reported that women tended to identify with real-life anecdotes of microaggressions compared to their male counterparts.

These notable trends suggest that performative inclusion continues to occur within organizational cultures, undermining the quality of work experiences while true inclusion remains elusive.

Other Factors of Performative Inclusion

Then, there is the generational question, as millennials and Gen Z employees leave a major impact on organizational practices as a majority of the workforce. While millennials generally take a less emphatic approach to values like organizational authenticity, Gen Z employees consider them non-negotiables when settling for a job.

Particularly, Gen Z hires prioritize workplaces with company goals that resonate with their personal principles and belief systems.On the other hand, deceptive practices such as performative inclusion could turn away Gen Z candidates, which make up almost 20% of the workforce.

Notable Cases of Performative Inclusion

Performative inclusion occurs in multiple forms, with varying consequences. However, every instance points to a scenario where the inclusive expectations of employees are largely unfulfilled. It is advantageous for organizations to identify the earliest signs of tokenism or performative inclusion to prevent complications with employer branding, as seen in the following examples.

Zimmerman

Fashion brand Zimmerman was caught in the performative inclusion crosshair during the Black Lives Matter protests. While the brand had participated displayed solidarity via a promotional campaign (which featured a poignant quote by Desmond Tutu:“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”), employees later revealed racism at the workplace and internal communication issues that contradicted the company’s inclusion initiatives.

Netflix

The streaming giant reportedly released high-ranking staff for the Tudum product, which comprised mostly women of color. While the company initially offered significant benefits and career growth, they reneged on the promise and the staff were fired shortly upon being hired, sparking a public outcry.

Activision Blizzard

The gaming company came up with a Level Up U boot camp aimed at training non-industry professionals from underrepresented groups to boost their ranks. However, the company initiative was widely interpreted as a performative inclusion stunt towards mitigating the bad press surrounding the company’s history of toxic work culture against women employees.

The boot camp could have resulted in a revolving door effect where incoming women employees would find themselves imprisoned in toxic environments experienced by their predecessors. These would lead to similarly high turnover, defeating the purpose of the initiative.

Identifying Genuine Inclusion

Unlike the cases identified above, authentic inclusion establishes a cohesive and caring environment where employees can continue to thrive after a solidarity event or episode. With real inclusion at work, employees can expect:

Psychological Safety – Diverse teams can expect the same level of respect and support regardless of background. Every contributor in an inclusive company would have the confidence to share their opinions without fear of punishment or censure.

An Ongoing Celebration of Identities – Inclusive organizations constantly show community appreciation throughout the work year and do not rely on event-based publicity. For instance, instead of investing a bulk of the DEIB budget on isolated heritage month celebrations, genuinely inclusive companies might focus on setting long-term and measurable employee initiatives. Authentic companies would also implement practical such as recognizing and providing floating holidays relevant to specific groups.

Inclusive policies in place – An authentic employer would integrate inclusive practices in organizational policies and actively oversee them. These initiatives are not publicity stunts but practical efforts for optimizing a hire’s time in an organization.

What Can Companies do to Avoid Performative Inclusion?

Perhaps the biggest first step an organization can take is to back up every promise with data. These would include promotion statistics and numbers across the hiring funnel. Data would also include quantitative and qualitative, comprising results from inclusion survey scores, exit interview analyses, and performance review disparities.

Essentially, organizations need to make their DEI efforts measurable and back the numbers up with adaptive strategy. Doing so prevents the dangers of perceived tokenism, driving a substantial story that serves as a pillar of the organization’s identity rather than a glazed add-on.

It is important for decision-makers to ensure that they make good on their company’s DEIB promises. By proving that actual steps have been taken to flesh out inclusion, organizations can prove that it’s more than just talk aimed at elevating employer branding. Through the following practices, companies can make DEIB more intentional and impactful.

Clearly Define Organizational Objectives

Preventing performative inclusion calls back to organizational alignment based on evidence. A company’s oveall employee engagement and jobseeker outreach strategy should harmonize with onging DEIB efforts. As such, workplace inclusion should not appear contrived at any point by linking efforts back to established company goals and targets.

For instance, if a company advocates a high-profile diversity month event while employee engagement consistently indicates a high turnover rate of minority workers, these could strongly suggest a misalignment of inclusion policies and goals.

Maintain Company-Wide Practices

It is integral to ensure that inclusion remains an ongoing topic throughout the company. Inclusion should not fall solely on the responsibility of top management staff or specific DEIB managers. Through company-wide practice, it becomes easier to naturally integrate inclusion into everyday communications, pipelines, and decision-making for real-world impact.

Key decision makers should also ensure that they communicate DEIB initiatives regularly. Doing so keeps the conversation strong and responsive to the ever-changing needs of various groups. Having staggered meetings with risks of communication gaps could lead to certain groups being overlooked even in the case of genuine inclusion efforts.

Go Beyond Inclusive Hiring (But Start Here)

Inclusive hiring is merely the first (although crucial) pit stop in workplace inclusion. Organizations must understand the post-hiring needs of diverse talent, which may include follow-up interviews to address their workplace relationships, career prospects, and salary concerns. In other words, employers need to give each individual, regardless of background, a reason for staying engaged and committed in their roles.

According to Gallup, employee recognition remains a top factor for retaining quality talent. These initiatives could lead to a positive ripple effect, by motivating other employees with a standard of success. It is also important to note that employee recognition does not necessarily translate to monetary rewards. Other popular methods of recognition include private notes of encouragement, regular peer evaluations, and certificates of commendation.

Leverage AI Advancements

AI has emerged as a gamechanger for hiring parties as the technology’s algorithm makes it increasingly easier for companies to manage and improve their DEIB efforts at scale.

Particularly, enterprises that struggled with large volumes of compliance and structures can reliably tap onto AI solutions to track the progress, experiences, and developments of marginalised team members. As such, AI technically fuels a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) approach to managing organizational inclusion.

Companies may also apply AI automation to align DEIB directives across every facet of talent management, from interviewing to remuneration, training, and promotions to ensure a holistic approach to workplace inclusion. These data-driven AI solutions offers the accountability needed to present the evidence needed to back up inclusion statements.

Boosting JD Performances with AI

Scaling DEI hiring efforts can be extremely tricky for enterprises that manage thousands upon thousands of applications each year. It is almost inevitable for some biased and boring JDs to pass unchecked. Unfortunately, the slightest errors could repel valuable talent and disrupt the hiring process.

Ongig’s Text Analyzer platform resolves the scalability issues with advanced AI algorithm and natural language processing (NLP) capabilities, consistently generating inclusive ads that appeal to leading hires. Text Analyzer’s smart templating function enables you to repeat winning JD formulas (retaining the employer branding style and key sections) so you can expedite hiring campaigns for similar roles.

As such, you can scale inclusive hiring processes with data-backed precision. These include boosting JD efficiencies with trending jobseeker keywords, responding to the evolving demands of any target audience (which includes passive jobseekers that make up more than 70% of role prospects according to LinkedIn).

Closing Thoughts – Making Inclusion a Long-Term Strategy

When it comes to inclusion at work, it is necessary for companies to consider the subtle but major difference between equality and equity. While equality ensures that every team member receives the same support and opportunities to succeed at work, equity dives further to care for the unique needs of each person. These special considerations can constantly avoid unfair, avoidable or remediable differences among people by implementing added provisions if necessary.

As such, to truly integrate inclusion within the culture, companies must identify specific employee needs on top of standard employee benefits. For instance, while an organization may provides a fixed amount of paid time-off, it is necessary to consider flexible work arrangements and additional caregiver leave for parent employees.

Ultimately, overcoming performative inclusion requires an empathetic approach to employee demands, right from the hiring stage. Companies should always avoid jumping allyship bandwagons or DEIB trends to boost employer branding as it is never a viable quick fix hiring solution. There is a continuous need to identify the shifting concerns and expectations of various groups based on their background and career pathway, proactively accommodating to these demands.

With AI support and open communication that flows throughout workplace hierarchy, talent acquisition teams can keep employees engaged for the long term and make inclusion a genuine competitive advantage in hiring.

Through AI tools like Text Analyzer, TA teams can set the right tone for an inclusive environment straight from the first touchpoint between prospects and companies: the JD. Doing so would tackle tokenism at its roots, overcoming the limitations of awareness months, ERGs, and short-term strategies that are easily detected by an increasingly astute workforce.

Why I Wrote This?

Ongig is on a mission to connect employers with the most talented hires through the power of genuine inclusivity. Through Text Analyzer, hiring parties can consistently align their inclusive hiring campaigns for every job listing, eliminating the risks of performative inclusion, which could be compromising organizational hiring efforts.

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December 9, 2025 by Laurenzo Overee in Diversity and Inclusion