The UK workforce reports some of the highest levels of team-based inclusion in the world, according to new research, but experts warn that deeper gaps in representation and equality of opportunity still remain.
A major new dataset from workplace culture specialists O.C. Tanner – drawing on feedback from more than 38,000 employees across 24 countries, including 1,668 from the UK – shows that 76% of UK employees consider themselves part of an “inclusive team.” This compares with a global average of 32%, placing the UK significantly ahead of most surveyed nations.
Researchers identified five behaviours that most strongly shape an inclusive team environment: emotional intelligence, respect, shared goals and purpose, learning, and employee voice. UK teams score particularly strongly on these interpersonal elements, which the report links to higher engagement, stronger collaboration, and better employee wellbeing.
Positive sentiment but uneven outcomes
Despite these encouraging figures, the data also highlights a tension: while many UK employees feel included within their immediate teams, this sentiment does not necessarily align with equal access to progression, representation in leadership, or pay equity.
Other UK and global findings within the same report show that although 85% of organisations say diversity and inclusion are priorities, fewer than one-third of employees worldwide experience genuinely inclusive teams — a gap researchers describe as evidence that “strategy does not always translate into experience.”
Separate UK analyses echo this concern. Recent reviews indicate that while many employers continue to invest in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, some organisations are scaling back or rebranding their initiatives, often placing responsibility under broader culture, HR or ESG teams. Industry commentators have warned that this shift risks slowing progress on long-standing structural issues such as pay gaps and under-representation.
A sector at a crossroads
The findings suggest that DEI in the UK is entering a transitional period. On one hand, interpersonal inclusion — how employees feel treated by colleagues and managers — appears to be improving. On the other, the wider systems that shape career development and organisational power structures remain uneven.
Legal and risk briefings published this year show some employers adopting a more cautious tone, with concerns about compliance and reputational risk influencing the design of DEI programmes. Industry advisers argue that this can make initiatives less visible, less ambitious, or less centred on measurable outcomes.
Implications for UK employers
Experts say the UK’s high inclusion sentiment is a valuable foundation but warn against using positive employee feeling as a substitute for evidence of broad equity.
The report recommends that employers pair cultural improvements with hard data on workforce representation, pay gaps, leadership demographics, promotion rates and employee voice. Strong interpersonal culture, it argues, should be matched with transparent measurement and structural accountability.
The findings also suggest that the five inclusion behaviours linked to positive UK results — emotional intelligence, respect, purpose, learning and voice — could provide a practical framework for leadership training and everyday management practice.
A need for balanced progress
The research paints a mixed but hopeful picture: UK teams are reporting strong feelings of belonging and psychological safety, but the wider system of equality is still uneven and, in some areas, slowing.
With DEI strategies under scrutiny across multiple sectors, analysts say the central challenge for UK employers is now clear: to ensure that inclusive team culture is matched by fair, measurable and sustained organisational change.