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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the large (Fortune 100) corporation where I work, this is a huge priority and we receive constant updates from management on this.

It seems off to me to constantly discuss race, especially at work. But it is the new normal.

Honest question, but why do companies keep doing this? I understand that they feel the need to virtue signal, but I also get the impression that a silent majority thinks this stuff is B.S. and I have to assume that includes a large amount of those who are in management itself.

I mean what would really be the repercussions of a company just quietly did away with these trainings?

A very small minority would tar and feather the company publicly and it would be a PR disaster.

Yes, everyone with a brain (of any race) knows this is all BS. But most people today also genuinely are not, and certainly don’t want to be seen as, racist. So a tiny sliver of active DEI mercenaries can pretty easily control things. It just takes the implicit threat that anyone who openly questions any of this crap will be cast out for improper thoughts.

But budget cuts are prompting scaling back or outright elimination of DEI directors/teams. Then others might follow suit. The DEI consultants will still be available.

[Anonymous]

Our mgmt said out loud in a prior meeting that simply joining the DEI committee no longer counts towards your expected contribution to a diversity initiative that goes on your annual review as it's viewed by mgmt as "checking a box". You're now expected to be active on the committee as well. The apparent lack of engagement tells me all I need to know about how other non-mgmt people feel about this initiative at my workplace.

Look, my best friend at work happens to be a minority. She's a hard worker and a great, kind person. I view being forced to be active on a DEI committee- outside my hours of paid work - just to have it down on paper that I'm not a racist - as alienating. And fwiw- she thinks the entire thing is garbage as well.

[Anonymous]

So, it's not my all-time favorite thing, but as long as it doesn't involve overly personal examples like some of the PPs listed I think it can be thoughtful. I'm not at all on board with saying expectations like punctuality are racist; that's absurd. But it is good to consider representation and how to achieve that. On many fronts. My organization is very liberal and a few years ago hired a super-conservative guy whose main hobby is collecting guns. Big, big shock to most employees. But you know what, he's a great guy and great at his job and it's good to have to reassess your assumptions every so often.

To me, DEI is kind of like that - making hiring managers aware that they should cast the net broadly and not necessarily look for people whose resumes are comfortable and familiar, and because assuming everyone is qualified, there is no reason not to try to have more diverse staff. If folks aren't the best, then ok, go with the best. But in my experience (hiring for positions 2 to 3 times a year) there is usually one standout person and then about 10 really great ones, and it's easy to find diversity among the really great ones. Of course sometimes the standout is too - but my org isn't prestigious and the clear standout, diverse or not, often declines the offer.

I recently watched West Wing for the first time. (Yeah, I'm really on top of my pop culture. ) I was really struck by how white and male the top players were and how implicitly sexist a lot of the dialogue and interactions were. It would look really different if they made it now. And that's good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Exactly.

DP. Those birds could easily be seen as wealthy white people who live in a bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and we were forced to read and have discussion with our co-workers about White Fragility.
I thought it was way out of line

Both of my teenagers have been assigned to read White Fragility in their 11th grade English classes at their elite private high school. English and History classes are now all about discussing white privilege, instead of reading and analyzing books or world events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed two things in the news yesterday:

Headlines saying that companies are cutting DEI staff/programs given budget cuts.

And

The video of Morgan Freeman on 60 Minutes saying he doesn’t support black history because it is American history and his preference that we no longer discuss race and stop referring to him as a black man and simply call him a man.

Interesting, right?

My take on DEI training:

We needed it, and some of it was very effective. When done well, a periodic training (not annually) by a highly qualified trainer is a good thing. I’ve had to endure a lot of such trainings given my participation in several nonprofit boards plus my particular sector. Only one of the many trainings I participated in was actually very good. It focused on unconscious bias related to all kinds of things including age, socioeconomics, faith or lack thereof, and even white people. In short: the curriculum and talking points went to great lengths to avoid singling out anyone as the villain and everyone seemingly was represented as potentially having experienced bias—which we all can agree is a bad thing.

As someone who works a SJW nonprofit in DC, I 100% believe my colleagues and I don’t need tons of DEI training. We get it. We advocate for such things and more through law and policy change coupled with systems change. I suspect many other DC based professionals working in diverse environs feel the same way. The reality is locals tend to live and work in very diverse communities; we really aren’t the problem. If that’s your reality, it begs the question: what’s the point of a DEI director/team/program for a company or org?

Question for you. You mentioned that you work at a SJW nonprofit and that your prior training in unconscious bias related to various identities was helpful. I work in government and am often called upon to develop policies that incorporate the views of a variety of stakeholders. One think I am seeing from the more activist stakeholders is a flat outright dismissal of anything that "old white men" and, to a lesser extent, older white women have to say. I find it ironic that openly excluding older people whenever possible is so common for people who profess to be committed to diversity and inclusion.

I hear ya.

Yes: SJWs in DC shockingly lack self-awareness when it comes to such things. I think they went too far at the urging (bullying?) of the masses and landed in a bizarre fringe space that … wait for it … excludes/attacks/“others” protected classes.

I am hopeful that we are approaching a turning point that will reset the DEI conversation to a more reasonable approach.

Again: the best DEI training I’ve ever participated in led with an exercise making clear that everyone has experienced bias. Everyone. Even old white men. It’s critically important for everyone at the table to understand that being judged isn’t fair or accurate. Otherwise you will have some participants on guard, defensive, and ostensibly just going through the motions and ultimately gaining nothing.

If your DEI trainer wants to focus exclusively on white privilege or systemic racism against black people, then you are wasting your time and money.

Another strategy from the best training I attended: using the plight of native Americans as an example. The trainer realized we needed to get away from black/white fixation. Guess what? It works. Although it was interesting that whites got on board quickly while blacks focused on what about me comparisons until the facilitator helped get them looking beyond themselves. We did get to slavery and systemic racism impacting blacks, but we had a solid, purposeful foundation first.

Thanks! That is a great answer. As a middle-aged white woman, I have benefitted from some of the training I've received and regularly read and listen to try to inform myself on these topics. Unconscious bias is a real thing for all of us. Unfortunately, when everything is focused entirely on black and white or the message is more accusatory than informative, the people who need this training the most shut down and tune out.

I also have issues with terminology that not everyone agrees on (is it really "white supremacy" culture that is a problem or traditionally agreed upon norms that should be revisited and reformed to remove barriers). Most of all, I have trouble with the human connection aspect of activist dialogue. Is this about removing barriers and promoting deserving talent, or do you want to knock down and disadvantage certain people? You can't tell people they need to be mindful of microaggressions because they are hurtful to marginalized populations and, at the same time, tell other people that they and their ideas are worthless because of their skin color or age. The need for belonging is universal.

[Anonymous]

How come the person running a DEI video is always a black woman with a semi Afro or dreadlocks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and we were forced to read and have discussion with our co-workers about White Fragility.
I thought it was way out of line

Both of my teenagers have been assigned to read White Fragility in their 11th grade English classes at their elite private high school. English and History classes are now all about discussing white privilege, instead of reading and analyzing books or world events.

OP, as one with kids at a private DC Big 3, I would draw the line at this. The school would hear a complaint from me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the large (Fortune 100) corporation where I work, this is a huge priority and we receive constant updates from management on this.

It seems off to me to constantly discuss race, especially at work. But it is the new normal.

Honest question, but why do companies keep doing this? I understand that they feel the need to virtue signal, but I also get the impression that a silent majority thinks this stuff is B.S. and I have to assume that includes a large amount of those who are in management itself.

I mean what would really be the repercussions of a company just quietly did away with these trainings?

A very small minority would tar and feather the company publicly and it would be a PR disaster.

Yes, everyone with a brain (of any race) knows this is all BS. But most people today also genuinely are not, and certainly don’t want to be seen as, racist. So a tiny sliver of active DEI mercenaries can pretty easily control things. It just takes the implicit threat that anyone who openly questions any of this crap will be cast out for improper thoughts.

But budget cuts are prompting scaling back or outright elimination of DEI directors/teams. Then others might follow suit. The DEI consultants will still be available.

The DEI army will have to find something more productive to do, such as mining bitcoin or robbing banks.

#scammers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How come the person running a DEI video is always a black woman with a semi Afro or dreadlocks?

You may want to reflect on why you are asking that question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come the person running a DEI video is always a black woman with a semi Afro or dreadlocks?

You may want to reflect on why you are asking that question.

Because a white guy would have no credibility

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and we were forced to read and have discussion with our co-workers about White Fragility.
I thought it was way out of line

Both of my teenagers have been assigned to read White Fragility in their 11th grade English classes at their elite private high school. English and History classes are now all about discussing white privilege, instead of reading and analyzing books or world events.

OP, as one with kids at a private DC Big 3, I would draw the line at this. The school would hear a complaint from me.

Our Big 3 is HUGE on this. It's the only thing they seem to care about.

[Anonymous]

Have billion ppl suggested this is a troll post? Sounds very generic, like a boomer caricature

[Anonymous]

In my group, we were recently informed that our DEI officer would be "walking alongside us" in our hiring process for 2 positions to make sure they were diverse hires. This means she would participate in application comparative analysis, selecting interview questions, interviews and scoring.

One of the positions had a very specific subject matter focus, think air quality and federal regulation. We got exactly one qualified applicant, who incredibly had a background perfectly matched to the position, we would not have to train her on the project, governmental rules or goals at all. Exciting. But, she was a white lady.

A team member asked the DEI officer how to go about prioritizing subject matter expertise and hiring "diverse voices". She answered clearly, that we need to hire for lived experience and diversity, because the technical stuff can be taught, but lived experience cannot be.

The position was taken down and is in the process of being reposted.