Organizations are increasingly implementing policies aimed at signaling inclusion and promoting ally behavior. However, these efforts are sometimes perceived as performative or coercive and may have unintended consequences for the very people the policies aim to support. Using the contemporary case of pronoun-sharing policies as an applied context, this dissertation examines how the implementation of such policies—whether optional, encouraged, or mandatory—influences perceptions of inclusion, autonomy, and engagement in ally behavior or identity disclosure. While mandatory policies can increase pronoun sharing, they are perceived as the least inclusive due to their threats to autonomy and potential pressure to disclose a stigmatized identity. Conversely, optional policies protect autonomy but are often ignored, limiting their ability to establish a norm of sharing. This creates a paradox: organizations seek to increase participation in pronoun policies while minimizing pressure and backlash. To navigate this tension, a middle-ground approach has emerged—organizations are encouraging, but not requiring, employees to share their pronouns. I examine the efficacy of these policy implementations across seven studies utilizing multiple methods, including surveys, qualitative short-answer questions, and a series of pre-registered online experiments. I examine the downstream effects of policy implementation on employee reactions across both marginalized (transgender and gender non-conforming) and privileged (cisgender) groups. I find that while cisgender employees overwhelmingly prefer optional policies for their emphasis on autonomy, TGNC employees value both autonomy and the establishment of inclusive norms, leading them to view optional and encouraged policies as similarly inclusive, depending on the context. I also find that combining an optional, top-down organizational policy with active manager participation increases employee engagement and perceived inclusion, without undermining feelings of autonomy. Together, this work advances our understanding of how policies aimed at promoting inclusion can function either as empowering signals or as subtle pressures to conform. I provide novel theoretical insights into how autonomy and norm-building interact in shaping responses to DEI policies and offer practical recommendations for organizational policy design and implementation.