Workplace inclusion is under pressure: why it matters during change

National Inclusion Week 2026 comes at a time when EDI is under greater pressure from budgets, competing HR priorities and wider scrutiny. We look at why workplace inclusion still matters and five practical ways SMEs can keep it moving without a large budget.

National Inclusion Week takes place from 14th to 20th September 2026 and this year’s theme, ‘Build Trust. Navigate Change.’, feels particularly relevant.

There is plenty of change going on in UK workplaces. AI is affecting how jobs are done, businesses are watching costs closely, employment legislation is keeping HR teams busy and restructuring or changing working practices has become familiar territory for many organisations.

With all that competing for attention, equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) has slipped down the priority list for some employers. And for HR teams working with limited time and budget, the challenge is how to stop inclusion quietly falling by the wayside.

Has EDI slipped down the agenda?

Recent research suggests it has.

In March 2025, People Management reported on research from Freeths which found that just 5% of HR professionals selected diversity and inclusion as one of their priorities for the year, compared with 27% in 2024. That is quite a shift in the space of a year.

That doesn’t necessarily mean employers have lost interest in inclusion. HR teams simply have a lot competing for their attention, particularly with the changes brought in by the Employment Rights Act adding to an already busy workload.

Budgets are under pressure: Many organisations are looking carefully at spending and HR teams are being asked to achieve more without additional resource. Anything regarded as separate initiatives can become vulnerable when budgets are being reviewed.

There is a lot on HR’s plate: Employment law is only one of the demands competing for HR’s attention. Add recruitment, retention, wellbeing, organisational change and AI into the mix and priorities can become difficult to juggle. For a SME with one HR professional or a small people team, that pressure is particularly noticeable.

There is more scrutiny of what EDI activity achieves: The CIPD’s Resetting EDI and reaffirming inclusion report, published in May 2025, found that organisations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate clear business outcomes from their EDI activity. The research drew on discussions with 50 HR leaders and EDI specialists.

The CIPD recommends linking EDI more closely to business strategy, improving accountability and measurement, using clearer language and building managers’ capability. Arguably, that is no bad thing. If inclusion is seen primarily as a programme, campaign or annual event, it can easily become detached from what people actually experience at work.

Why inclusion still deserves attention

You can see inclusion, or the lack of it, in very ordinary workplace decisions: who applies for a role, who gets recruited or promoted, who feels able to speak up and who decides to stay.

The CIPD’s 2026 guidance on EDI in the workplace links effective EDI practices with recruiting and retaining skilled employees, meeting legal responsibilities and creating working environments where people are able to contribute fully.

Trust becomes particularly important during change. Employees pay close attention to how decisions are made and communicated. They notice who has been consulted, whether different circumstances have been considered and whether managers appear to be applying decisions consistently.

People will not always agree with a business decision but they are more likely to accept difficult changes when they understand the reasoning, believe the process has been fair and feel they have had the chance to be heard.

That makes this year’s National Inclusion Week theme, ‘Build Trust. Navigate Change.”, especially pertinent. Inclusion is part of good change management, not something to think about once the main decisions have already been made.

What People Business are seeing in practice

What we are seeing with clients reflects this shift. We are being asked less often about broad EDI programmes and more about specific employee needs, legal responsibilities and everyday people practices.

Neurodiversity is one of the clearest examples. More organisations are looking at occupational health assessments and reasonable adjustments, from flexible start times and quieter workspaces to clearer written instructions and changes to recruitment processes, such as sharing interview questions in advance.

We are seeing a similar pattern around menopause, mental health and psychological safety. The focus is increasingly on practical support, manager capability and adapting roles or working environments so that people feel able to contribute fully.

Legal change is also driving much of this work. The Employment Rights Act 2025 is bringing inclusion into everyday HR decisions. It includes day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave, as well as changes around bereavement leave, pregnancy loss, protection for pregnant employees and maternity returners, and sexual harassment. We are being asked about these issues regularly, alongside support for people undergoing fertility treatment or living with a terminal illness. They may be framed as employment law questions, but fundamentally they are about whether people can access and remain in work on fair and equal terms.

Perhaps the biggest change is that much of this no longer carries an EDI label. Inclusion is increasingly being built into recruitment, reasonable adjustments, wellbeing, manager practice and employee listening. In many ways, that is where it has the most impact.

Five practical ways SMEs can keep inclusion on the agenda

For smaller businesses, keeping inclusion on the agenda does not have to mean launching a large programme or finding a new budget. There are plenty of useful things that can be done through the people practices already in place.

1) Find out what working in your organisation actually feels like

Rather than guessing where the issues might be, ask employees.

Add a few questions to an existing staff survey, run a short pulse survey or have structured conversations with different groups of employees.

Do people feel listened to, respected and able to speak up? Do they believe opportunities are open to everyone? Do decisions feel fair?

Our work with employee engagement surveys looks at areas such as inclusion and psychological safety alongside wider engagement because they can tell you a great deal about how people experience an organisation.

Of course, asking is only useful if you’re prepared to respond to what you hear.

2) Check the everyday processes

A useful starting point is often the processes you already have.

Take another look at the processes you already have: job adverts, recruitment, onboarding, development opportunities, promotions, flexible working and performance management.

Who tends to hear about opportunities? Are managers interpreting policies in the same way? Is there anything in your recruitment process that might make it unnecessarily difficult for good candidates to succeed?

Inclusion is often shaped by these everyday practices rather than a standalone EDI initiative.

3) Help managers handle inclusion well

For most employees, their manager has far more influence on whether work feels inclusive than a corporate policy does.

Managers need to know how to listen properly, deal with difficult conversations, challenge inappropriate behaviour, explain decisions and respond to people whose needs or circumstances may be different from their own.

That does not automatically call for a lengthy training programme. A short workshop, practical guidance or some targeted coaching may be far more useful.

4) Look more closely at the information you already have

Recruitment figures, turnover, absence, grievances, promotions and exit interviews can all highlight possible inclusion issues. You do not need a complicated dashboard to start spotting patterns.

Are some groups leaving sooner than others? Are development opportunities consistently going to a relatively small group of employees? Does a diverse shortlist of candidates become much less diverse by the end of the recruitment process?

The figures will not always tell you why something is happening, but they can show you where to start asking questions.

5) Think about inclusion before making changes

If you are restructuring, introducing new technology or changing ways of working, think from the outset how different employees may be affected.

Who needs to be consulted? Is the communication accessible to everyone? Might a new process create difficulties for a particular group? Do managers know how to respond when employees raise concerns?

Clear communication matters too. Explain what is changing, what is staying the same and, where possible, why decisions have been made.

People generally cope better with change when they understand what is happening and feel that their perspective has been considered.

Making inclusion part of how the business works

We have written before about the difference between diversity, inclusion and a genuine sense of belonging at work. That distinction is still useful.

National Inclusion Week gives organisations a reason to stop and think about the subject. But inclusion cannot depend on one week in September, a dedicated campaign or whether there happens to be spare budget available.

For a SME, some of the most valuable work is quite ordinary: recruit fairly, listen to employees, help managers become better managers, communicate clearly and make sure that opportunities are genuinely open to different people.Those things may not always carry an EDI label. That does not make them any less important.

When you are asking employees to cope with a great deal of change, handling that change fairly and inclusively is one of the most practical ways to build trust.

If your organisation needs assistance or advice in any HR related matters, get in touch at info@peoplebusiness.co.uk to arrange to talk to one of our HR consultants.