DE&I Requires a More Nuanced Approach - It's Not One Size Fits All

There has been ongoing discussion about reducing expenditures on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives - some workplaces ceasing efforts altogether. There have been countless articles written on the topic. One that stands out in my mind as being robustly informative was an article in Forbes written by Janice Gassam Asare called "Is DEI Officially Dead?" The article offers statistics from a LinkedIn poll, one being that 19% of people polled believe that the current version of DE&I is dead. One thing I've learned from my experience with DE&I is that we can't just insert people into potentially unwelcoming spaces and expect things to go well. I once worked for a company where the CEO believed DE&I was not a priority. This sentiment permeated the office culture– I'm a caucasian female, and I didn't feel valued or even welcome there. Any steps taken to add diversity would have felt overtly predatory on my part – hand-selecting candidates to bring on board a company that viewed them as requirements or mandated hires – that's a challenging position to put anyone in.—especially knowing that these particular candidates are at greater odds of having already experienced workplace bias. Placing them in a position where their performance would be viewed and critiqued through the narrow lens of a microscope, any errors made serving to confirm and reinforce existing biases, is not setting anyone up for success.

I recognize that some DE & I initiatives were unsuccessful - some great things have come out of the work put in, namely, recognition of the concept that significant growth – both personally and professionally – can be realized when we have equality and diversity in the workplace. That being said, we should accept that not every job is going to be accepting of all people. Forced acceptance and Inclusion of others can result in people feeling discomfort on the job – not only is that simply never ok, but feeling uncomfortable or unwelcome on the job are critical factors to productivity loss – feeling uncomfortable, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally – can lead to a loss in motivation and productivity. Too much of that discomfort and that employee is at a greater risk of quitting, experiencing burnout, or even workplace trauma. In future pieces, I will write more about workplace trauma because that's one of the main reasons for starting this blog in the first place – my personal experience working in a toxic environment, which ultimately took me out of the workforce. Helping people to understand what behaviors to look for and how to distinguish between a company that values its workers versus one that devalues its workers may minimize workplace trauma.

Diversity, equality, and Inclusion are necessary in the workforce, but only if a culture already exists that appreciates those differences. One of the inherent benefits of having a diverse staff is realizing diversity of thought. In limiting the growth and diversification of workplace culture, they deny the unique insights that our differences bring to innovation in business, communication, marketing, and sales. Having a group of employees from similar backgrounds with equivalent education who experience life in comparable ways offers limited opportunity for nuance. Moreover, it feels stale as the world we live in is continually diversifying.

Once we can truly see everyone as a human being first and foremost, before we consider their gender, race, sexuality, religion, profession, abilities, or disabilities, before we give them any characterization at all – we need to see them as human first. With this mindset, we can start understanding how we differ and how our own bias can come into play when thinking, speaking, or acting. When enough people at a company follow this philosophy – we can realize a welcoming, inclusive environment. It doesn't mean that everyone believes in all of the same things everyone else does; it just means that they realize the private experiences of others are none of their business, so they relate to each other as human beings. We don't need to discount the beliefs of others for ours to remain strong – maybe listening to the stories of others will serve to strengthen and fortify our own beliefs with solid evidence.

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