Respondents are split on whether religion and faith belong in DE&I initiatives, HR Brew/Harris Poll survey finds

As employees’ needs and employers’ budgets have evolved, so have DE&I teams. Now some are advocating for religion to be part of DE&I programming. While the majority of Americans feel safe sharing their religion at work, it is also causing conflict among some coworkers, a new HR Brew/Harris Poll survey found.

The data. In a survey of more than 2,000 US adults, HR Brew found that around two-thirds (67%) think companies should have a formal DE&I program. Nearly one-half (49%) of working respondents reported that their company has a formal initiative, while 22% weren’t sure.

Of those working at companies with DE&I programs, 64% said programming was geared toward race/ethnicity, followed by sexual orientation/gender identity (57%), gender (55%), and disability (53%). Just 43% said their company had programming specifically targeted towards religion and faith.

But respondents were split over whether or not religion should be part of DE&I, with 54% saying it would be appropriate to integrate it into DE&I and 41% saying it shouldn’t—more than those who said the same about disability (26%), race (31%), and gender (33%).

Despite this, the majority (65%) of respondents believe employees should be able to share their faith/spirituality in the workplace, with 72% of working respondents saying they feel safe sharing their faith or spirituality at work.

However, 41% of US workers said that conflicts related to faith/religion have caused tension at their workplace, indicating there may be a gap between acceptance and understanding.

Sharing faith at work. Religious conflict and discrimination rose sharply in 2022, according to the EEOC, and discrimination against Jewish and Muslim individuals in particular has worsened since the Israel–Hamas War began in October.

Some religious experts believe creating workplaces where employees can have an open dialogue about religion and bring their whole selves, including their religious identity, could help.

“The US has always had issues dealing with faith in any setting, whether we’re talking about education or workplaces,” Stephanie Creary, assistant professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told the New York Times, adding that she hopes the current climate will push more employers to incorporate faith into DE&I programming.

Some companies are vocal about including religion and faith into their DE&I initiatives. Target, SAP, and Intel, among others, have faith-based ERGs as part of their DE&I strategies. Religion is likely to become a larger part of programming this year, HR Brew previously reported.

“If you’re not accommodating in the workplace, and you’re not making your workplace an area where people cannot just bring their whole selves to work, but bring their whole soul to work…you might then have biases that go unchecked,” Brian Grim, founder and president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, previously told HR Brew.