As Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) efforts are rolled back, the systems meant to address workplace harm are fading and the impact is getting harder to ignore. DEI roles dropped 5% in 2023 and another 8% in 2024. By 2025, 1 in 8 companies plan to cut or reduce funding entirely.
DEI was never just about hiring or bias training. It was designed to challenge systemic inequity and create workplaces where safety, accountability, and fair advancement are the norm, not the exception.
But, harm doesn’t always come from the top. Sometimes, it comes from peers or managers who look like you, but stay safe by aligning with the status quo.
With DEI under attack nationwide, protections are being stripped or sidelined. Speaking up now carries risk, but it’s still possible to navigate this moment with strategy, clarity, and self-respect.
Below are five examples of bullying behaviors, how to address them directly, and how to use Human Resources (HR) as a strategic tool, even when the system feels stacked.
1. Being Interrupted or Dismissed in Meetings
Behavior:
Repeatedly being talked over, cut off, or ignored—only for your ideas to be acknowledged when echoed by someone else.
How to Respond:
- Use calm language to hold space: “I’d like to finish my thought,” or “As I mentioned earlier…”
- Send a follow-up email summarizing your contribution:
“Following today’s meeting, I’d like to reiterate my suggestion regarding [topic]. I’m happy to expand further if helpful.” - Keep a private log of each incident, including dates and context.
Why It Matters:
Interruptions may seem small, but they contribute to a long-term erasure of voice. As DEI loses institutional backing, self-advocacy becomes essential.
2. Excessive Scrutiny or Unequal Standards
Behavior:
Your work is nitpicked or held to stricter standards than your peers. Mistakes that are overlooked in others become major infractions for you.
How to Respond:
- Ask for expectations in writing:
“Can you clarify the deliverables and timelines so I can stay aligned?” - Track disparities between your feedback and that of colleagues in similar roles.
- When appropriate, bring documentation to HR and frame it in terms of performance equity, not personal grievance.
Strategic Framing:
Use language such as “inconsistent accountability” and “measurable standards” when addressing the issue with HR.
3. Being Excluded From Projects or Key Conversations
Behavior:
You’re left off important emails, not invited to meetings, or quietly pushed out of growth opportunities.
How to Respond:
- Ask directly: “I noticed I wasn’t included in [X]. Was that an oversight or has the scope shifted?”
- Begin a proactive communication trail. Offer to contribute in writing to upcoming initiatives.
- If exclusion disproportionately affects you or other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) staff, document the pattern and flag it privately with ERG (Employee Resource Group) leadership or HR.
Context:
With public DEI programs being scaled back, workplace bias is rarely named. Exclusion is a form of control. Call it what it is and push back with precision.
4. Gaslighting After Raising Concerns
Behavior:
After voicing concerns, you’re told you’re “too sensitive,” “took it the wrong way,” or “need to focus on being a team player.”
How to Respond:
- Document your original concern and all follow-ups in personal notes.
- If possible, bring a witness into meetings or loop in an ERG representative.
- Stay fact-based in all communication, even when met with defensiveness.
Insight:
Gaslighting is often used to discredit marginalized voices. Staying grounded in facts, tone, and documentation shifts the power dynamic.
5. Retaliation for Advocating for Yourself
Behavior:
After raising issues, you’re micromanaged, isolated, or denied advancement opportunities.
How to Respond:
- Track each instance of retaliatory behavior, including changes in workload, tone, or exclusion.
- Send HR a written request for a check-in:
“I’ve noticed a change in engagement and would like to know if any concerns have been raised that I should be aware of.” - If internal efforts fail, file a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Reminder:
Retaliation is illegal. Keep your records detailed and timestamped. If you need to leave, do so with receipts and recommendations intact.
Rooted, Ready, and Creating Spaces That Honor You
As corporate protections shrink and workplace support systems disappear, more Black and POC professionals are turning to independent income by design, not desperation.
The goal isn’t just survival in harmful environments, it’s building alternatives. That means creating businesses, launching side projects, and carving out spaces where safety, ownership, and upward mobility aren’t negotiable.
Whether through consulting, content creation, wellness services, or product-based businesses, prioritizing your own revenue streams is no longer optional. It’s protection.
The future doesn’t belong to those who wait to be included. It belongs to those who build what’s missing.
Final Thought: Affirming Yourself, Even When Systems Don’t
Workplace bullying doesn’t always show up shouting in your face. Sometimes, it smiles in the hallway, cc’s your boss, and leaves your name off the calendar invite. It’s not new. It’s just better dressed and often backed by policy.
When support systems disappear or play neutral, the message is clear: keep your head down, stay quiet, and hope for the best. But, hope isn’t a strategy. Silence won’t protect you. And waiting for fairness rarely leads to justice.
Still, as I mentioned before, you are not powerless.
You can track patterns. Speak plainly. Hold receipts. You can use HR as a tool, not a lifeline, and know when it’s time to pivot instead of pleading for fairness. If the structure won’t make space for your safety and peace of mind, ultimately, you can (and should) create one that will.
You can new safe spaces not out of spite, but out of preservation, legacy, and the quiet knowing that you were never meant to just survive these environments.
You were always meant to learn from, rise with, and leverage them with resilience.
Sources:
Crist, C. (2025, January 29). 1 in 8 companies say they plan to weaken DEI commitments in 2025. ESG Dive. https://www.esgdive.com/news/companies-to-weaken-dei-commitments-in-2025/738608/
Bhattarai, A. (2024, February 20). Corporate America is scaling back DEI work. These workers are bearing the brunt. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/02/20/corporate-diversity-job-cuts/
Rosa, J. M. (2025). The critical importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the detrimental impact of anti-DEI policies [Preprint]. ResearchGate. Also published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/critical-importance-diversity-equity-inclusion-dei-impact-rosa-edd-ulaze/
de Souza Santos, R., Barcom, A., Wessel, M., & Magalhaes, C. (2025). From diverse origins to a DEI crisis: The pushback against equity, diversity, and inclusion in software engineering [Preprint]. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2504.16821 arxiv.org+1arxiv.org+1
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