DEI Surveys in 2026: Why Every UK Industry Needs to Listen and Act
1 Dec 2025 by Tilda Kierkegaard Holt
Why DEI Surveys Will Still Matter in 2026 (and More Than Ever in the UK)
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is no longer a “nice to have”. It’s central to how UK organisations compete for talent, build resilient cultures, and serve increasingly diverse customers.
Across every sector, leaders are waking up to the same reality:
- Diverse teams make better decisions and spot opportunities others miss.
- Inclusive cultures improve engagement and retention, which cuts hiring costs.
- Equitable processes help organisations stay ahead of regulation and reputational risk.
But you can’t improve what you can’t see. That’s where a well-designed DEI survey comes in.
What Is a DEI Survey?
A DEI survey is an anonymous questionnaire that asks employees about:
- Their experiences of inclusion, belonging, and fairness at work.
- Whether they feel safe to speak up and be themselves.
- Any barriers they’ve faced in hiring, promotion, pay, or day-to-day work.
- Demographic information they’re comfortable sharing (e.g. gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, socio-economic background, and more).
Done well, a DEI survey is more than a box-ticking exercise. It becomes your organisation’s listening engine – the way you hear directly from your people and spot patterns that might otherwise stay hidden.
Why Every UK Industry Needs DEI Surveys
1. Finance and Professional Services
Financial services, law and consulting face ongoing scrutiny around representation in leadership, pay gaps and progression. A DEI survey helps firms:
- Identify barriers for women, ethnic minority, and lower socio-economic background talent.
- Understand how inclusive their culture really feels – not just at the top, but across all grades.
- Gather data that underpins gender and ethnicity pay gap reporting and broader ESG commitments.
2. Tech, Digital and Start-ups
The UK tech scene is fast-paced and talent hungry. Employers compete not just on salary but on working culture. A DEI survey can reveal:
- Whether remote, hybrid, and in-office employees feel equally included.
- Gaps in representation in engineering, product, and leadership teams.
- How safe people feel to challenge decisions, fail fast and innovate.
3. Healthcare, Charities and Public Sector
Organisations that serve the public need to reflect the communities they support. Regular DEI surveys help:
- Spot differences in experience between clinical and non-clinical staff, or between frontline and HQ teams.
- Understand how ethnicity, disability, age and socio-economic background impact career progression and morale.
- Inform people strategies that align with regulatory and safeguarding responsibilities.
4. Retail, Logistics, and Hospitality
These sectors often have highly diverse, distributed workforces. DEI surveys can:
- Highlight if certain groups experience more harassment, bias or microaggressions from customers or colleagues.
- Show whether part-time, shift or seasonal workers feel like second-class citizens.
- Identify managers and locations where inclusion is thriving – so you can replicate what works.
From Gut Feel to Data: What You Learn from a DEI Survey
Without data, it’s easy to assume “everyone’s fine” or that the odd complaint is just an exception. A DEI survey replaces guesswork with clear evidence:
- Do employees from different backgrounds score inclusion questions differently?
- Are there departments where belonging is significantly lower?
- Do people trust leadership to act on issues like pay gaps or discrimination?
Once you’ve run your first DEI survey, you can track change over time, turning inclusion into something measurable and manageable.
Why Anonymity and Trust Are Non-Negotiable
For a DEI survey to work, people must believe it is:
- Anonymous – their answers cannot be traced back to them.
- Secure – data is handled responsibly and in line with GDPR.
- Purposeful – leadership will actually do something with the results.
Communicating this clearly, and using a trusted DEI survey platform, is critical to get honest, representative responses.
How the Divrsity DEI Survey Platform Helps UK Organisations
This is exactly what the Divrsity DEI Survey platform is built for. It helps UK organisations of all sizes:
- Run genuinely anonymous, GDPR-compliant DEI surveys.
- Use UK-relevant question sets that cover identity, experience and culture.
- Analyse results automatically, segmenting by team, location and demographic where appropriate.
- Turn survey insights into practical, prioritised action plans.
Instead of wresting with spreadsheets or generic engagement tools, Divrsity gives you a focused way to listen to your people on diversity, equity and inclusion – and to act on what you hear.
Turning Insight into Action
A DEI survey is not a one-off event. It’s the start of an ongoing conversation:
- Listen to employees through an anonymous DEI survey.
- Share the key findings openly and honestly.
- Co-create actions with teams and employee networks.
- Follow up with pulse DEI surveys to check progress.
Whether you’re in finance, tech, healthcare, retail or the public sector, the organisations that will succeed in 2025 and beyond are those that listen and act. A thoughtful DEI survey – powered by the right platform – is the most direct way to start.
If you’re ready to understand what inclusion really feels like in your organisation, it’s time to run a DEI survey and let your people speak.