In this article, consider a talent management strategy that responds to the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The U.S. population is far more diverse today than at any point in our nation’s history – not only in terms of race, ethnicity, gender and sex orientation, but also family structure, living arrangements and physical, social, economic and financial wellbeing. Moreover, today’s populace often faces a more complex set of challenges than prior generations of Americans - including, the COVID-19 pandemic and White House Executive Orders.
Given this state-of-affairs, we need an all-hands-on-deck, multi-pronged approach to talent management to remain globally competitive. To build on and expand America’s greatness, we must recognize the critical role that immigration and immigrants need to continue to play in our economy and society.
Creating a sense of belonging
Considering the widespread dismantling of DEI policies and programs, we also must look beyond the visible aspects of our demographic identities, such as race, ethnicity and gender, to effectively develop, nurture, grow and retain the talent we need to support a robust economy and to create an America where everybody feels they belong.
Like the 90 percent of a freshwater iceberg submerged beneath the water surface and invisible to the naked eye, we need to strategically leverage our inherited and acquired traits and experiences, including those that might not be visible, but define who we are as individuals and as a nation.
Defined as iceberg demographics, examples of such U.S. population characteristics appear in the graphic below. Focusing on these and other less visible diversity traits forces us to recognize and appreciate the overwhelming commonalities in our nation’s populace and empowers us to embrace ties that bind us together while dispensing of the “isms,” stereotypes and phobias that drive us apart.
Source: https://kenaninstitute.unc.edu/commentary/shaping-north-carolinas-future-with-jim-johnson/.
What are Iceberg Demographics?
A new monthly Census Bureau Household Trends and Outlook Survey (HTOPS) monitors emergent social and economic matters facing U.S. households. It provides, almost in real time, critical data on the prevalence of person- and household-level challenges American workers face that in turn become talent management challenges for U.S. employers.
Consistent with our iceberg demographic metaphor, some challenges are not visible or obvious. We believe they are misconstrued - often - in workplaces as manifestations of a poor work ethic rather than as challenging real-world lived experiences. Specific examples of U.S. workforce iceberg demographic challenges from the February 2025 HTOPS are illustrative.[1]
Among U.S. workers (161 million), cognitive impairments, defined as “problems with a person’s ability to think, learn, remember, use judgement and make decisions,” were the most prevalent iceberg demographic in early 2025, according to the HTOPS data.
- More than half reported “being bothered by feeling nervous, anxious or on edge” (85.5 million).
- Nearly 40 percent reported experiences of loneliness (58.9 million), which can lead to “unhealthy coping mechanisms or behaviors like excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and substance abuse,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Thirty-seven percent expressed “feeling down, depressed or hopeless” (59. 8million).
- Forty-two percent recounted “being unable to stop or control worrying” (67.9 million).
- Almost 30 percent disclosed “difficulty communicating, that is, understanding or being understood” (45.5 million).
- And 5 percent acknowledged “difficulty remembering or concentrating” (8 million).
Research confirms that these cognition issues might not be obvious in various settings, including the workplace, which is in alignment with our iceberg demographic frame.
But cognitive impairments might adversely impact work performance. And, in jobs that require direct or indirect interface with customers or clients, they could very well endanger public health, safety and wellbeing. Better insights into underlying causes are urgently needed to successfully resolve America’s cognition crisis - and, by extension, improve organizational human resource management practices.
HTOPS data suggest that household level iceberg demographics contributed to the high frequency of cognitive impairments among the nation’s working population in early 2025.
Among all working households (78 million):
- One half had difficulty covering household expenses (39.6 million) and 12 percent specifically reported being unable to pay the household energy bill (10.1 million).
- Eleven percent kept their home at a temperature deemed unsafe or unhealthy to control costs (8.9 million).
- Nearly 10 percent reported a shortage of prescribed medication/medical equipment (6.1 million).
- And 5 percent did not have enough to eat (3.6 million).
Partly reflecting these economic challenges, residential instability was a common iceberg demographic among U.S. working households in early 2025.
- Four percent of homeowners were behind on mortgage payments (1.4 million).
- Nearly one-quarter of those behind on mortgage payments were likely to leave their home within the next two months because of foreclosure (340,000).
- Similarly, 8 percent of renter households were behind on rent payments (2.5 million).
- And almost a quarter of the rent delinquent households said they were likely to “leave this home or apartment within the next two months because of eviction” (327,000).
- A caregiving iceberg demographic constraint made matters worse for some working U.S. households in early 2025. According to the HTOPS data:
- Nine percent of such households with children were unable to access childcare (2.9 million).
- Thirteen percent did not look for a job for that reason (370,000) and a slightly higher percentage lost a job because of time away to care for children (396,000).
Further complicating matters, in about 11 percent of households with children (3.4 million), one or more of the children needed mental health treatment, but fewer than half of the children who needed mental health care received it (497,000), according to HTOPS data.
Concluding thoughts on talent management strategy
The HTOPS data confirm America’s new normal of turbulence and uncertainty is deeply engrained in the lived experiences of the U.S. worker. Unequal access and costly medical care, crisis-induced cognitive impairments, escalating costs of housing and necessities, and limited access to caregiving resources combine to create a national iceberg demography that strongly influences employee recruitment, on-the-job performance and employee retention across U.S. economic sectors. Recognizing the prevalence and developing strategies to address workforce iceberg demographic challenges are necessary steps to resolve the nation’s 7.4 million unfilled jobs problem.
Research suggests that investments in workforce housing and accessible, affordable and high-quality childcare will go a long way toward successfully addressing a much broader set of iceberg demographic workforce and workplace challenges. The view is that such investments will reduce some of the life stressors and strains that undergird cognitive impairments and transportation barriers uncovered in the HTOPS.
However, to effectively address these issues, organizations need to pursue a four-pronged strategy. In addition to monitoring the monthly HTOPS on an ongoing basis, HR professionals must:
- Conduct pulse surveys to determine the prevalence of iceberg demographic identities in their existing workforce(s).
- Create business resource groups (BRGs) based on the prevalence of iceberg demographic identities.
- Solicit input from those groups about appropriate workplace accommodations that will make them feel they belong.
- Demonstrate empathy and compassion by implementing required accommodations.[2]
Organizations will have to repeat this four-pronged process on a routine basis—at least annually and probably more frequently. Properly executed, they will develop a data-driven strategy for effective talent management in the current era of turbulence, enabling organizations to become “employers of choice,” where everybody wants to work, and nobody wants to leave.
James H. Johnson, Jr. is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center in the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Stephen J. Appold is a Senior Research Associate in Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise’s Urban Investment Strategies Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Jeanne Milliken Bonds is a Professor of the Practice, Impact Investment and Sustainable Finance, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
[1]Most of the workers in the February 2025 HTOPS were employed in the private sector (61 percent or 98 million). The second and third largest groups were employed in the government (16 percent or 25.7 million) and nonprofit (11 percent or 17.6 million) sectors, respectively. The balance was either self-employed (10 percent or 15.9 million) or worked in a family business (1.6 percent or 2.6 million).
[2]Given that “there are more than 15 million [midlife] women ages 45 to 60 working full time in the U.S.,” taking concrete steps to become menopausal friendly is one example of how some organizations are leveraging iceberg demographics as an employee retention strategy.