Why we need to rethink Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

Ticking the box

Let’s start with a small, playful test. What do you see in your mind’s eye when you read the word “woman”? What about “man”? Or “different”?

I suspect that most of you imagined someone who is fairly close to the “average person” in your everyday environment. There is nothing wrong with this - these mental shortcuts are essential for us. Human cognitive capacity simply cannot engage with everything in equal depth, so sometimes we must let the autopilot take over. The risk, however, is that these shortcuts turn into stereotypes, preventing us from seeing each other as individuals.

Indeed, today’s approach to diversity within organisations strives to create increasingly intricate categories so that everyone can tick a particular box on a form. Organisations can then present diversity metrics based on how employees differ from one another.

But in practice, this approach to diversity tends to emphasise differences instead of promoting equality and inclusion. The more rigid the boxes become, the higher the walls between them. This is how diversity becomes a superficial compliance exercise with little relevance to daily organisational life.

The diversity bubble has burst

If we want to strengthen equality and inclusion, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) must evolve beyond box-ticking and toward genuine human connection. Yet recent headlines show large, successful companies such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Walmart scaling back or abandoning their diversity programmes.

Although political dynamics may contribute to this trend, some programmes simply fail to meet their stated goals. That failure is unsurprising when those programmes were designed primarily to evidence that workforce is diverse rather than to build more equal or inclusive environments. This dynamic often leads employees to assume that gains for one group imply losses for another - a zero-sum perception that fosters defensiveness and frustration. The diversity bubble built on emphasising difference has clearly burst.

So what next?

A productive way forward lies in returning to insights from human evolutionary history. Contrary to the familiar narrative that humans are inherently competitive and self-interested, current evolutionary psychology shows that cooperation, generosity, curiosity and social bonding are deeply rooted in our species.

In hunter-gatherer societies, collaboration and deep-rooted trust were essential for survival. Reciprocal altruism and group bonding represented genuine connections, shaping fundamental aspects of human psychology. These patterns remain embedded in us today, even though modern societies have evolved rapidly.

By contrast, many organisational environments prioritise competition and performance. Within this context, trust, collaboration and connection often become framed primarily in terms of organisational goals.

While this orientation supports effectiveness, it may not be sufficient to nurture an atmosphere where people feel genuinely valued and included. Because EDI initiatives often grow out of the need to set measurable objectives, organisations tend to focus on diversity - something easier to quantify than the lived experience of equality or inclusion.

The REDI project

If we are serious about creating workplaces where EDI is meaningful, we need to rethink its foundations. Evolutionary psychology suggests that the essence of human social life is mutual trust and connection - resources just as relevant in modern organisations as they were in ancestral communities.

If we want EDI to foster true equality and inclusion, our focus must shift from classifying people to cultivating the social fabric of organisations. Trust, care, and connection are not peripheral - they are the building blocks of human cooperation. The Rethinking EDI practice and policy through evolutionary psychology (REDI) project (funded by the European Union [101200671]) begins the work of reimagining EDI through this more human lens. We invite you to join us on this journey.

Recommended reading

Spikins, P. (2022). Hidden Depths: The origins of human connection. White Rose University Press.

Harari, Y. N. (2014). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Random House.