Companies have been being attacked recently for DEI initiatives, such as boycotting, to force them to undo those efforts. These attacks are typically dog whistle coding to cover up discrimination against minorities including women and people of color. The narrative is typically that hiring standards are lowered to include a wider range of employees and that it is a form of reverse discrimination - disadvantaging one group (people that are one or more of white, male, and cisgender). But not only is this not the case, in fact, DEI initiatives are proven to strengthen companies' performance across many metrics - even financially.
Someone recently brought up lowering standard for airline pilots as proof that DEI is a radical far left practice that supposedly in this case makes pilots less qualified and flying more dangerous in order to fulfill DEI quotas. A similar case has been made recently regarding the Secret Service and issues with at least one high-profile recent event that is - rightfully so - being investigated for major failures. In both of these cases - and many others - certain voices are giving credence to false, or at least highly exaggerated, reports that DEI efforts are causing a reduction in qualified employment. In reality, its a knee-jerk reaction to certain groups of people feeling threatened with a larger pool of competition.
Before we explore why these viewpoints on the results of DEI are hogwash, let's take a - very quick - look at what DEI actually is. The acronym for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, DEI is intended to help make the workplace look more like the real world. By that we mean to make distribution of diverse employees similar to that of the population. In part it is meant to help people that have traditionally been seen as minorities and been discriminated against in employment practices just as they are in other areas of life. Women, non-white people, and members of the LGBTQ+ community have inarguably been discriminated against in employment practices not just in hiring, but in job growth, wages and more. While quotas may be used - especially outside the US - the bigger goal of DEI is to accept, support, and embrace people from a broad range of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, and socio-economic practices. This includes actively casting a boarder net for hiring, and then encouraging inclusive workplaces to make all employees feel safe and welcome and having the same opportunities as everyone else.
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| photo cr. 3rdmil.com |
Let's get back to that discussion in airline pilots. I happen to work in an airline industry adjacent company so I have some insight, but its also easy to hear a claim and then search for news and articles on it. In this case, while it is true that minimum requirements - specifically hours logged - has been lowered for some hiring practices, it is due to pilot shortage - not for DEI efforts. This is not a lowering of 'standards', other than flight hours the pilots are expected to meet the same standards in education, experience, and skill. The requirements were not changed so that a woman, or a black person, or whoever could be hired instead of a white man with more hours - they were lowered because there is a shortage of pilots.
Similarly, standards to be a Secret Service member were not lowered to hire under qualified women. The only thing that changed was some physical requirements - and there were women who were otherwise fully qualified to be an agent who would have been turned away because they missed some requirements that were created when only men were hired.
These are two examples, but there are more where people bemoan supposed lowered requirements for diverse people causing a dearth of performance. In reality, it is proven that the opposite happens when a company or organization embraces DEI efforts: employee and in turn company performance increases.
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| photo cr. transcendbusiness.com |
Transcend reports that "DEI is shown to impact decision-making and increase innovation and creativity in organizations. Diverse teams bring various perspectives and experiences, which can lead to new ideas and solutions." This of course can lead to improved products and services and in turn improved financial results. Retaining employees along can save companies huge amounts of money in saved hiring and training, and making employees feel welcome and safe and having opportunity goes a long way towards that. To this point, Gartner's article on supply chain organizations and DEI notes that "Supply chain leaders already have to deal with a major talent shortage. To stay attractive for new and existing talent, you must closely evaluate your organization's DEI commitments and take appropriate action." Harvard Business Review states that "Among companies that Glassdoor has given the highest DEI scores, change power [a strong predictor of company performace] is 80% higher than other companies."
These are just a few reports on how DEI can positively impact an organization. My own perception is: opposition to DEI probably says more about where you are at than the people that DEI benefits. You yourself do - or would - benefit from DEI by being in an organization that adopts it, regardless if you think it somehow is turned on, against, you and if you fit into it. Because you do, everyone is diverse everyone wants equitable experiences, everyone wants to be included and DEI strives to do that - not create inequity or exclusiveness.
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