DEI? What is it and why was it needed in the first place?

Diversity, equity, and inclusion: Racial and social diversity; gender equity; socioeconomic and sexual inclusion.

What started out as a way to bring people together is now doing the exact opposite. Currently there’s a firestorm of opposition to make sure that DEI DIES!

The birth of a revolution

After centuries of slavery and racial discrimination, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s gained traction all over the country. And along with it grew the demand among working women for equal pay and greater political clout.

According to COOLEAF.COM “Early DEI was mostly informed by affirmative action and equal employment legislation like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.”…… “With roots in the 1960s and the civil rights movement, DEI has since expanded, becoming more and more inclusive of different groups over time. Intersectionality is at the core of modern DEI, taking into account more of the things that shape different identities: gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, race, etc.”

Recently CNN.COM interviewed Daniel Oppong, founder of The Courage Collective, a consultancy that advises companies on DEI. Oppong offered this insight: “DEI was created because marginalized communities have not always had equal opportunities for jobs, or felt a sense of belonging in majority-White corporate settings. That is the genesis of why some of these programs exist….It was an attempt to try to create workplaces where more or all people can thrive.”

Passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC]. This gave employees a new weapon to wield: filing discrimination lawsuits against their employers.  

And per CNN.COM “…diversity training efforts emerged around the time that affirmative action began by executive order from President John F. Kennedy. Although the two concepts may seem similar, affirmative action is different from DEI because it required federal contractors by executive order from the president to treat all applicants and employees equally based on race, color, religion and sex.”

The re-birth of a revolt

Today the acronym DEI is a foul “four-letter word” to millions of businesses, university systems, and other institutions. It may seem counterintuitive that the notion of diversity, equity, and inclusion should be repugnant to anybody, but that’s exactly what’s happening and its opponents are moving swiftly to shut it down.

The COVID-19 factor

Among some analysts, the pandemic is the dynamite that blew up the way companies operated—but in a good way for DEI proponents.

COOLEAF.COM posits: “…many organizations shifted to remote work, which increased gender diversity, accessibility, age range, and different backgrounds on teams. It supported work-life balance for working parents, meaning men and especially women could stay in demanding roles for much longer while being present parents.”

Also because of the pandemic, team building involved greater diversity among talent pools regardless of where everyone lived.  Even disabled workers benefited because  arduous commutes were eliminated. 

With child care woes, hybrid headaches, and other problems during the pandemic things certainly got worse before they got better. Indeed, when the dust settled, some conditions actually improved for a lot of employees. 

Workers in, DEI out

But for a lot of employers these changes were the straws that broke the camel’s back [please forgive the mixed metaphors]. The stress of leading remote employees, controlling the fluctuating rate of production, and navigating through every crisis the pandemic threw at them became too much. 

So for some analysts the pandemic is the dynamite that blew up the way companies operated—but in a bad way for DEI. The result: a hue and cry from the C-Suite for workers to return to the office and for everything to go back to the way it was—all the way back. You know, back to the good ol’ days.

And the DEI changes that were made? They’re being routed out.

Lawmakers, conservative activists, and traditional corporate leaders decry DEI as burdensome, expensive, discriminatory, and even anti-American. And the Supreme Court’s ruling opposing affirmative action has fueled their fire.

Florida, Texas, and Utah are among a number of states whose legislatures have banned DEI programs from schools and public offices. And a number of Fortune 500 corporations have laid off their DEI staff.

Underlying these actions by super-powers-that-be are ordinary albeit toxic human emotions. For example, among some corporate executives, the fear that their autonomy is at risk looms large. Noone likes the idea of losing power and control. And being forced to work with or accommodate anyone is anathema to their nature—and who can’t relate to that? 

Then there’s the “otherness” some of us feel about people who are not like us—not our color, our sexual orientation, or our social class. Otherness is dehumanizing, alienating, and most definitely not positively motivating.

And, of course, for those people who don’t have or understand the “problem” there is no problem. To them, the problem has either been resolved or never existed in the first place. “So can we just please move on?! Back to normal? You know, back to the good ol’ days!”

Leading software producer, SAP.COM explains: “…the social inequalities that DEI aims to solve don’t exist anymore. In this view, DEI efforts are not correcting historical injustices but are rather swinging too far in the other direction, causing a new set of people to feel disadvantaged or marginalized.”

Referencing an article in Harvard Business Review, COOLEAF.COM said, “…one expert wrote that ‘while people are easily taught to respond correctly to a questionnaire about bias, they soon forget the right answers. The positive effects of diversity training rarely last beyond a day or two, and a number of studies suggest that it can activate bias or spark a backlash’.” 

Why DEI still matters

It matters to company productivity:

• More diversified companies often outperform their competitors.
• Their teams are often better at strategizing and making smart decisions.
• They’re also more likely to capture new markets.

It matters to employees:

• Job seekers prefer companies with diverse workforces.
• Gen Zs and Millennials think cultural inclusion makes companies more dynamic.
• Cultural diversity is often the key to employee engagement.

Remember DEI isn’t just about race. It’s about making room at the table for everyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or “other” differences.

A diversified talent pool provides a wider breadth of ideas and a broader scope of innovations.  And this is the perfect formula for a productive company, a vibrant corporate culture, and a healthy bottom line.

DEI challenges and solutions

Are your DEI policies collecting dust because you don’t know where or how to start? Enter Magnovo, a seasoned veteran in diversity and inclusion and in leading corporate leaders through complex change.