HR’s silence on Roe v. Wade is “kind of shocking” says one researcher

A majority of corporate leaders are choosing to stay silent on the possibility that the Supreme Court could soon overturn Roe v. Wade. According to new research from Qualtrics, that decision might not sit well with some of their employees.

What companies plan to do: Though a handful of large companies have publicly taken action in response to the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade, most have not. Gartner’s May 25 benchmarking survey, which was provided to HR Brew, found that across the country, HR leaders and executives are hesitant to take a public position on this issue.

Only 8% of “HR leaders and executives felt either significantly or somewhat compelled to respond to speculations of SCOTUS planning to overturn Roe v. Wade.” More than half of respondents were unsure whether their organization would respond. And the majority of respondents (60%) said definitively that they wouldn’t offer new benefits supporting reproductive rights.

What employees want: On June 2, Qualtrics released a survey suggesting that many employees expect more.

• Nearly half of the US employees who responded said that their employer should speak out more about environmental, social, and political issues. Only ~15% said employers should speak out less or not at all.
• 46% either somewhat or strongly agreed that “it’s more important than ever before for companies to speak up about environmental, social, and political issues.”

Don’t get us wrong: This isn’t easy. Crystal Styron, research principal in the Gartner HR practice, said she thinks it is “kind of shocking” that so few HR leaders planned to speak out about Roe v. Wade, but she wants us to have some empathy.

“HR leaders are really confused about what to do,” Styron said. “It’s also important to remember that this is one shock amidst a long series of shocks…we had Russia, Ukraine, we had Uvalde very recently—all of these things happening. And it’s been hard for HR leaders who have been forced over the last few years to step outside of their traditional role and have to really step forward on these very often controversial issues.”

Get out ahead of it. Styron said there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for whether to speak up or not—that depends on a number of factors, including a company’s geography, its industry, and employee demographics—but she does hope HR will learn to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to social issues.

“HR really needs to be able to understand that these things will likely continue to happen and be able to understand, ‘Okay, who is the point of contact when these things happen? Who are vulnerable populations? What are we going to do for our employees?’—things of that nature,” Styron said.

When it comes to speaking up, Styron said oftentimes, HR is “cursed if you do and cursed if you don’t.”—SV

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