The pandemic and the reckoning over diversity, equity, and inclusion put pressure on corporate America, but a new report indicates that employees who stepped up were not compensated for that work.

In a recent report by McKinsey and LeanIn.Org, roughly 70% of companies said work to support employee well-being as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion is very or extremely critical, yet less than a quarter formally recognize that work through performance reviews, advancement, and compensation.

“That work is by and large going unrecognized and unrewarded despite incredibly high commitments from organizations,” says Rachel Thomas, co-founder and CEO of LeanIn.Org and co-author of the report.

There’s been research touting the benefits to companies and for the U.S. economy of prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. According to McKinsey and LeanIn.Org, all employees benefit from it.

“When managers take action to support employee well-being, employees are 27% more likely to be happy with their job, 25% more likely to recommend their company as a great place to work, 28% less likely to be burned out, and 32% less likely to consider leaving their company,” according to the report.

McKinsey and LeanIn.Org surveyed more than 65,000 workers, gathering data from 423 organizations employing 12 million people, between May and August 2021.

“I hope that business leaders, [chief human resources officers] are reading this year’s report and the lightbulb goes off,” says Thomas.

The report found that women are disproportionately investing their time and energy in DEI efforts compared to their male counterparts.

Among managers, 49% of women do informal DEI work, compared to 43% of men, and 11% of women spend substantial time on DEI work, while just 7% of men do. The gender contrast is even starker among senior leaders. More than half (54%) of women who are senior leaders do informal DEI work, compared to 46% of men; 19% of women spend substantial time on DEI work, while 9% of men do.

The death of George Floyd in 2020 and the ensuing racial justice protests prompted many companies to ramp up their efforts on diversity and inclusion – and DEI-related job openings at the same time. In a survey published by Lever, a software company that tracks talent acquisition, in August 47% of companies had created or reviewed their existing DEI policies and communicated them to employees.

Job seekers have also been evaluating companies based on their DEI work. According to a Glassdoor survey published in September, 76% of employees and job seekers view the diversity of a company's workforce as important when considering job offers.

Failing to recognize how employees have stepped up employee well-being and DEI efforts amid the pandemic’s added workplace pressures hurts women as well as “companies and all employees, because progress is rarely made on efforts that are undervalued,” according to McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.Org’s report.

“If they don’t [recognize it], it’s at risk of being relegated to a new form of office housework,” says Thomas. “Work that is critically important to the business but does not lead to advancement and does not get recognized, as in rewarded the way it needs to be.”

Companies have the tools to close the gap between their statements and compensation. They “just need to decide to do it,” says Thomas.

“There are clear actions linked to advancing employee well-being and advancing inclusion in organizations,” Thomas says. “Companies need to articulate those actions and then they need to start asking employees in 360 reviews how leaders are doing against those actions.”

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