The Littler Annual Employer Survey Report

The Littler Annual Employer Survey Report, May 25, 2025 – “It has been a turbulent start to 2025 as U.S. employers scramble to adapt to new executive orders, sweeping changes at federal agencies and a growing patchwork of workplace regulations at the state and local levels. To understand how businesses are navigating these disruptions, Littler surveyed nearly 350 in- house lawyers, business executives and human resources (HR) professionals—36% of whom hold C-suite positions at their organizations. Respondents are based across the U.S. and represent a range of company sizes and industries, including technology, manufacturing, retail, healthcare and hospitality. The findings illustrate that topics dominating the headlines—including immigration and inclusion, equity and diversity (IE&D) [Note – the use of this phrase pushes back on the derogatory references to DEI] —are creating significant challenges for employers both from a workforce management and legal perspective. These hurdles loom even as expectations of looser regulations in other areas might afford employers some relief.

IE&D SCRUTINY AND IMMIGRATION POLICY EMERGE AS TOP CONCERNS – With the Trump administration’s focus on immigration and IE&D, these are the areas where respondents most expect policy changes will impact their businesses. But the gravity of these impacts may be surprising. Nearly 85% of employers, for instance, say that changes to workplace regulations and policies surrounding IE&D will impact their businesses during the first year of the Trump administration, followed by changes in the areas of immigration (75%) and LGBTQ+ protections (58%). All other areas we asked about drew selections from fewer than half of respondents. The business impact carries over to prospective litigation as well: Two of the top three areas of concern are litigation relating to discrimination and harassment claims (63%) and IE&D practices (45%, up from 24% last year). Large organizations—those with over 10,000 employees—are particularly concerned, especially about IE&D-related litigation (60%). Despite these challenges, 45% of respondents say their organizations are not considering new or further rollbacks of their IE&D programs in response to executive orders issued by the Trump administration. Just over half (55%) are considering changes to some extent, with only 7% doing so to a large extent generally in keeping with the findings of Littler’s 2025 Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity C-Suite Survey Report, which was released in February…”