I don't want to do "DEI Work" at work

[Anonymous]

I work for a smallish company (40 or so people) and my company decided we need to begin a DEI learning journey. Now, I understand that everyone has their own priorities in this type of work and also that it's a very personal thing. Why is my company, whose work/clients are not related to DEI (we work in consulting), forcing this on us as a staff? I just want to focus on my work, support my clients/projects, and not have to do all this other stuff that will add hours to the already too short work days.

Why is this a part of our workplace? What if I don't want to have these conversations with my coworkers. I don't want them to know my racial/cultural backgrounds and how I feel about certain issues.

Anyone else dealing with this? It feels forced and uncomfortable.

[Anonymous]

What's DEI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's DEI?

Hahaha. My view exactly. Hope it goes away

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s uncomfortable, a distraction, and unpleasant. Which is exactly how your non-white/gay/whatever colleagues may well feel about the crap that they deal with every day in the workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's DEI?

Ah, OK, I just looked it up. Well, as a foreigner who is of mixed ethnicity, I'd be curious how they teach that, and concerned they'd completely and utterly mangle the subject (for example, by ignoring those of us who are mixed).

You'll survive OP. Try not to roll your eyes too much!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s uncomfortable, a distraction, and unpleasant. Which is exactly how your non-white/gay/whatever colleagues may well feel about the crap that they deal with every day in the workplace.

But truly, what?? People are treated as people at my workplace. They don't deal with any crap that's different from the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Because having a diverse and equitable workforce IS good for the bottom line and will ultimately result in a better workplace and product for your clients.

Also and most importantly but I don't think will sway you, people deserve to work in places that are fair and equitable. And for the most place they don't. So, places are trying to change that as they should. Ultimately if it works, it's better for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because having a diverse and equitable workforce IS good for the bottom line and will ultimately result in a better workplace and product for your clients.

Also and most importantly but I don't think will sway you, people deserve to work in places that are fair and equitable. And for the most place they don't. So, places are trying to change that as they should. Ultimately if it works, it's better for everyone.

I agree that having a diverse and equitable workforce is good. We have a very diverse staff, and people are treated pretty fairly overall. That's not what I'm referring to. Our company is having external facilitators come in and force us to have awkward and uncomfortable conversations with probing questions that I truly don't feel comfortable sharing with my colleagues. I don't want to share "the moment that I felt discriminated against" or "the moment I did something discriminatory to someone else" or "my family background and structure". None of these things contribute to me doing my job well.

[Anonymous]

There has always been corporate bullsh!t to deal with. This is the new fad. Just smile and nod and let it wash over you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s uncomfortable, a distraction, and unpleasant. Which is exactly how your non-white/gay/whatever colleagues may well feel about the crap that they deal with every day in the workplace.

But truly, what?? People are treated as people at my workplace. They don't deal with any crap that's different from the rest of us.

I’m sure you think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has always been corporate bullsh!t to deal with. This is the new fad. Just smile and nod and let it wash over you.

I hear you, this just hits differently from the "management trainings" that we had to deal with. At least those didn't feel uncomfortable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because having a diverse and equitable workforce IS good for the bottom line and will ultimately result in a better workplace and product for your clients.

Also and most importantly but I don't think will sway you, people deserve to work in places that are fair and equitable. And for the most place they don't. So, places are trying to change that as they should. Ultimately if it works, it's better for everyone.

I agree that having a diverse and equitable workforce is good. We have a very diverse staff, and people are treated pretty fairly overall. That's not what I'm referring to. Our company is having external facilitators come in and force us to have awkward and uncomfortable conversations with probing questions that I truly don't feel comfortable sharing with my colleagues. I don't want to share "the moment that I felt discriminated against" or "the moment I did something discriminatory to someone else" or "my family background and structure". None of these things contribute to me doing my job well.

Honestly, I feel this way too and I’m Black. But if having these conversations is what it takes to get co-workers to to appreciate that everyone is coming from different circumstances, then I’ll suffer along with everyone else.

[Anonymous]

I'm not comfortable sharing personal information with the people I work with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because having a diverse and equitable workforce IS good for the bottom line and will ultimately result in a better workplace and product for your clients.

Also and most importantly but I don't think will sway you, people deserve to work in places that are fair and equitable. And for the most place they don't. So, places are trying to change that as they should. Ultimately if it works, it's better for everyone.

I agree that having a diverse and equitable workforce is good. We have a very diverse staff, and people are treated pretty fairly overall. That's not what I'm referring to. Our company is having external facilitators come in and force us to have awkward and uncomfortable conversations with probing questions that I truly don't feel comfortable sharing with my colleagues. I don't want to share "the moment that I felt discriminated against" or "the moment I did something discriminatory to someone else" or "my family background and structure". None of these things contribute to me doing my job well.

AKA grifters.

OP, you are under no obligation to share this kind of information - in fact, I think your company is opening themselves up to legal challenges if they force discussion about this kind of thing at work.

Just decline to participate, for this reason. These are inappropriate questions and you can say that you are "not comfortable" discussing at your place of employment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s uncomfortable, a distraction, and unpleasant. Which is exactly how your non-white/gay/whatever colleagues may well feel about the crap that they deal with every day in the workplace.

But truly, what?? People are treated as people at my workplace. They don't deal with any crap that's different from the rest of us.

Are you a member of a marginalized group, OP? I think the goal is to ensure that no one has to deal with (to take a few random examples from my workplace experiences over the years) referring to building a robust UI as making it "grandma proof" or casual transphobia or the use of slurs to refer to Saudi Arabians.

That being said, my limited experience with DEI sessions is that they don't actually help with this goal? I don't have a lot of personal experience (my workplace doesn't do them) but as someone who's a member of an invisible minority (queer), I don't actually want to talk to my work colleagues about my sexuality and to be asked to do so would make me deeply uncomfortable.