Inclusion@Work Index 2025-2026

Reversing Inclusion Progress

The Diversity Council Australia’s Inclusion@Work Index, a biennial survey of 3,000 nationally representative Australian workers since 2017, tracks experiences of inclusion and exclusion across multiple dimensions including disability, sexual orientation, age, cultural background, and more.

Recent early-release findings from the 2025-2026 edition reveal a worrying uptick in reported discrimination and harassment. Workers with disability now report these experiences at 47% over the past 12 months—up from 42% in the 2023-2024 Index—making them almost twice as likely to face such treatment as workers without disability. LGBTIQ+ workers fare similarly poorly, with 46% reporting discrimination or harassment, compared to 39% previously.

These shifts follow a post-pandemic period in which exclusion overall increased, with close to one in three workers affected in the prior report. The persistence and worsening for specific groups suggest that while many organisations have adopted diversity rhetoric, translating it into reduced everyday exclusion remains elusive, particularly around inclusive leadership.

The real-world impact falls heaviest on affected individuals: higher stress, lower job satisfaction, and greater risk of leaving the workforce. For employers, the costs include elevated turnover in a competitive talent market, reduced team performance—where inclusive environments have been linked to 10x higher innovation rates—and potential breaches of anti-discrimination legislation.

A less-discussed tension is the contrast between strong employee support for inclusion action (around 75% consistently favour organisational efforts) and deteriorating outcomes for marginalised groups. This points to implementation gaps, where broad policies fail to change leader behaviour or cultural norms. The Index’s broad lens also exposes intersectional effects, where overlapping identities amplify disadvantage.

With the full report due 26 February 2026, Australian businesses face renewed scrutiny on whether their D&I commitments deliver measurable change or remain superficial.