The Four Pillars of DEIA for Government Agencies

Discover How to Best Understand and Implement DEIA Principles

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility – collectively known as DEIA – have become foundational priorities for government agencies across the United States. More than a set of compliance checkboxes, DEIA represents a commitment to building workplaces and public services that reflect and serve the full range of people agencies employ and support.

For federal, state, and local government organizations, DEIA is also increasingly a formal mandate. Executive Order 14035, signed in 2021, directed federal agencies to strengthen and advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility across the federal workforce. This placed DEIA at the center of how agencies recruit, retain, develop, and support their employees — and how they deliver services to the public.

But what does DEIA actually mean in practice? Each of the four pillars carries distinct meaning and requires its own intentional strategy. Diversity refers to the representation of people from different backgrounds, identities, and experiences. Equity addresses whether all employees have fair access to resources, opportunities, and advancement. Inclusion focuses on whether every person’s voice is genuinely heard and valued. And accessibility — often the most overlooked pillar — ensures that individuals with disabilities can fully participate in workplace programs, digital tools, and public-facing services.

Government agencies that treat these four pillars as interconnected rather than separate are better positioned to build workplaces where all employees can contribute and advance. They are also better equipped to serve the communities that depend on them.

Verbit works regularly with government agencies to help serve their accessibility and inclusion needs. This guide breaks down each DEIA pillar and offers practical guidance for government agencies looking to move beyond policy statements and into meaningful action.

Diversity

Workplace diversity describes the different backgrounds and experience of a workforce. An agency with high diversity will have employees of various races, religions, ethnicities, ages, genders, sexes, social economic backgrounds and access.

Diversity at work

Focus on diversity at every level, not just new hires. Consider sponsorships that help employees progress in their careers. Sponsors use their own reputations as leverage to lift up their candidates and provide them more opportunities¹. These types of programs help members of underrepresented groups move into leadership positions.

Equity

Equity refers to environments where all employees have access to the same resources, information and opportunities. Achieving equity might necessitate extra support for employees from traditionally marginalized groups.

Equity at work

Although the pay gap between women and men in federal government positions is narrowing, it still exists, and is greater for many minority women. Make a conscious effort to eliminate this ongoing inequity by evaluating salaries.

Inclusion

An inclusive workplace values the perspectives and voices of its diverse employees. While diversity describes the makeup of a group, inclusivity is the act of seeking out their different thoughts, insights and experiences.

Inclusion at work

Make sure everyone feels like their voice ad perspective matters. Creating leadership-backed employee resource groups (ERG)³ that give collective voices to women, people with disabilities and other underrepresented groups can help ensure that the agency receives their input.

Accessibility

Accessibility goes beyond compliance with the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. True access requires that everyone has meaningful participation opportunities in development and education programs that will help them advance in their careers.

Accessibility at work

Instead of focusing on compliance with accessibility laws, agencies should consider universal design. Using universal design⁴ principles is more equitable because it means creating physical and digital spaces that everyone can access instead of forcing people with disabilities to request accommodations.