Attend any HR conference these days, and it’s hard to ignore one of the biggest topics (and acronyms) shaking up the people profession: DEI.
President Trump signed a slew of executive orders in the first 100 days of his administration, including ones targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), which has led to a noticeable shift among some private employers. As companies like IBM and Target reverse course on DEI efforts, and others like Costco and Apple stand firm, many HR leaders are left wondering about the future of DEI.
“Diversity, equity, inclusion has been reduced to an acronym, and that acronym has been turned into rhetoric, and, in that whole path of that happening, has lost its true name,” KeyAnna Schmiedl, chief human experience officer at recognition platform Workhuman, told an audience at Workhuman Live on May 13. “It was never about the letters, or even the words themselves, but rather the sentiment in identifying a better outcome and experience for all people.”
Schmiedl introduced a panel of four DEI leaders at Workhuman Live who shared how companies can stay committed to progress.
DEI is for everyone. Fueled by “disinformation” and “lies,” some people don’t feel included in “the DEI vision,” said Vernā Myers, DEI consultant and strategist.
“DEI is not about ‘we have some people who deserve better, and other people who don’t.’ DEI is about wanting better for everyone,” Myers said. In response to pushback, she recommends leaders take it as encouragement to remain focused on the impact they can make within their organizations.
“Some people think that smart people only go to 10 schools,” Myers said. “The hard work, when you put in a gap analysis, if you see that hiring and promotions [and] there’s disparity, you then have to start taking the cover off the criteria. You have to start evaluating that criteria, then you’ve got to teach people to apply that criteria…and that’s where we make progress.”
HR pros can also try to understand why some people don’t feel included in DEI, said Kia Afcari, director of Greater Good Workplaces at the University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.
“Even the Proud Boys want to belong to something. That’s why they created the Proud Boys. So I want to figure out a system that is really about us, because unfortunately, people feel not included in DEI,” Afcari said, using the far-right extremist hate group as an antithetical example. “People say, ‘Well, I’m not diverse.’ How is that possible? Everyone is a part of the diverse landscape.”
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Meritocracy, explained. President Trump’s pushback on DEI calls for a focus on meritocracy in the workplace, which means demographics and backgrounds shouldn’t be considered in applications or promotions. All four panelists urged other HR pros to consider the bigger picture of what meritocracy means.
“Think about the genesis of this country. When the Constitution was signed, there was one demographic in the room, white men, and so all of the systems that we have today are built on the perspective and the lens of one demographic group, white men,” said Alaysia Black Hackett, chief diversity and equity officer for the Department of Labor during the Biden administration.
Understanding where the US started is a backdrop for approaching meritocracy in the workplace because it “ignores the fact that the playing field is not level,” said Valeisha Butterfield, founder and CEO of well-being platform SEED Media and former global head of inclusion at Google.
“When we think about the need for DEI and accessibility, it really is grounded in leveling the playing field, so that everyone can start in a more equitable place,” Butterfield said. “If I were in a race today to LA from New York City, and Vernā is in that very same race with me, but she’s leaving from Denver. Same day, same time, same destination, same outcome…Vernā has an advantage that I don’t have.”
This analogy highlights how meritocracy can overemphasize outcome equality without acknowledging the different starting points employees are coming from, she said.
“Meritocracy is actually something that we agree on. We want everyone to have a fair shot. We want everyone to be based on their merit,” Afcari said. “But it turns out, if you have a Black-sounding name, you’re not going to get a fair shot. That’s the truth of it.”