Twenty DEI Training Topics for the Workplace

The most useful DEI training topics for a workplace are the ones tied to decisions people make at work, such as hiring, reviewing performance, handling a complaint or arranging an accommodation. Below are twenty topics in five groups, each with a line on what it covers and who it is for, so a training plan can match each topic to the people who need it.

A good plan rarely runs all twenty for everyone. All staff need a short foundation, while hiring managers, people leaders and communications teams each need a different set of skills. Matching topic to audience is what keeps training relevant and stops it feeling like a box to tick.

How to choose topics for your organization

Topic selection starts with a needs analysis, not a catalog. A practitioner looks at the organization's complaints, survey results, turnover and hiring data, then picks the topics that address the gaps those records show. A company with a high rate of accommodation disputes needs different training from one whose problem is promotion.

The research also argues for a mix. A meta-analysis of 260 samples by Bezrukova and colleagues found that diversity training had stronger effects when it built skills as well as awareness, ran over a significant period, and was paired with other initiatives. That points toward a sequence of practical topics rather than a single annual session.

The five groups below map to five broad audiences, and the table sets out who each group is mainly for.

The audiences overlap, and a manager will sit in more than one group. The point of the table is to stop a hiring workshop being delivered to people who never hire, which is one of the quickest ways to lose an audience.

Foundation topics for every employee

These four topics form the base layer most organizations deliver to all staff. Several states, including California, New York and Illinois, require harassment prevention training for many employers, so check your state's rules before setting the content and frequency.

• 1. Anti-discrimination law at work. What Title VII and related federal laws protect, and that they protect every employee equally. For all staff.
• 2. Harassment prevention. What workplace harassment is, how to report it and what happens after a report. For all staff, with a longer version for supervisors.
• 3. Civility and everyday respect. The ordinary behaviors that make a workplace professional, such as listening, disagreeing politely and not interrupting. For all staff.
• 4. Bystander intervention. Simple ways to step in, or get help, when a colleague is treated badly. For all staff, and especially useful in customer-facing roles.

The last two have particular support. The EEOC's Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace suggested that bystander intervention training and civility training may show promise for harassment prevention.

Hiring and talent topics for those who make decisions

The next group goes to the people whose decisions shape who joins and who moves up. These topics change processes directly, which is why they tend to produce measurable results sooner than awareness sessions do.

• 5. Structured interviewing. Asking every candidate the same questions and scoring answers against criteria written in advance. For hiring managers and interview panels.
• 6. Inclusive job descriptions. Writing postings that list only the requirements the job needs and avoid wording that narrows the pool. For recruiters and hiring managers.
• 7. Fair performance reviews. Basing ratings on evidence, applying the same standard across a team and spotting vague language. For anyone who writes reviews.
• 8. Promotion and succession decisions. Posting openings, writing down criteria and documenting the reasons for a decision. For senior managers and HR partners.

The inclusive job description template pairs well with topic six, because participants can rewrite one of their own postings during the session.

People leadership topics for managers

Managers carry most of the day-to-day weight of inclusion, so they need the most practice. The guide to DEI training for managers covers why this layer matters, and these four topics form the core of most manager programs.

• 9. Handling a concern or complaint. How to listen, what to record, when to involve HR and how to prevent retaliation. For every supervisor.
• 10. Running inclusive meetings. Making sure people can contribute, ideas are credited correctly and quieter voices are heard. For anyone who chairs meetings.
• 11. Consistent decisions on flexible work. Applying the same reasoning to every request for schedule changes or remote work. For managers of hourly and salaried staff.
• 12. Difficult conversations. Raising a sensitive issue with a team member calmly and with a clear purpose. For new and experienced managers.

Accessibility and accommodation topics

This group is the most closely tied to law, so precision matters more than tone. These topics teach a process, and the measure of success is that requests are handled promptly, privately and consistently.

• 13. Disability accommodation. How the ADA's interactive process works and what a reasonable accommodation can look like. For managers and HR. The Job Accommodation Network offers free guidance on specific accommodations.
• 14. Accessible documents and digital content. Headings, alt text, color contrast and captions, so everyone can use what the organization publishes. For communications and content staff.
• 15. Religious accommodation. Handling requests about schedules, dress or prayer time under Title VII. For managers and schedulers.
• 16. Pregnancy and new parents. Duties under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and federal rules on break time for nursing. For managers and HR.

Culture and communication topics for teams

The final group is about how people work together day to day. These topics suit facilitated team sessions, where colleagues agree on practical habits rather than listen to a lecture.

• 17. Cross-cultural communication. Working across differences in language, directness and time zones. For global and distributed teams.
• 18. Inclusive language in public materials. Reviewing marketing, signage and customer messages for clarity and respect. For marketing and customer service teams.
• 19. Working across generations. Handling differences in communication habits and expectations without stereotyping by age. For mixed-age teams.
• 20. Psychological safety and speaking up. How leaders respond to bad news and mistakes so people keep raising problems early. For team leaders and executives.

In practice, most organizations start well short of twenty. Here at the DEI Excellence Institute, about half of the practitioners we have trained in the last two years tell us their organization's DEI training was a single annual awareness session when they arrived. Adding two or three targeted topics a year is a realistic way to build from there.

Keeping any topic lawful and fair

Every topic on this list has to be delivered within anti-discrimination law. The EEOC's guidance on DEI-related discrimination at work warns that training can be unlawful if it separates employees by a protected characteristic or is discriminatory in its design, content or delivery.

That leads to a few plain rules for any session.

• Open every session to everyone in the relevant role, and never group attendees by race, sex or another protected characteristic.
• Teach behaviors and processes rather than attributing views or faults to any group of people.
• Have counsel review content that covers law, investigations or accommodations before it runs.

For ideas on how to run these topics so they stick, the companion post on DEI training activities that work covers formats and the evidence behind them. The DEI training plan template helps lay out which topics go to which audience across a year.

Where the certification goes further

Choosing and building these topics is the subject of Unit 6, DEI Education and Training Development, in the Professional DEI Certification Course. It covers needs analysis, designing workshops and e-learning, selecting outside vendors and measuring whether training worked with pre and post assessments.

Unit 5, HR Partnership and Talent Strategy, goes deeper into the hiring, review and promotion topics, because those depend on systems HR owns. Unit 2, Building Inclusive Organizational Culture, covers facilitating the conversations that the people leadership topics prepare managers for.