In our previous article we shared with you how DEI has undergone backlash from every available corner due to so many reasons. Since that article a lot of things seem to have gone … worse for DEI. It is not looking any easier as the year advances. Whether this is a good thing or a blow to effort put into DEI policies over the years, we will find out at the end of this article.
What has happened?
In our previous article we referenced how Boeing, the airline manufacturing company, is dismantling its global DEI department due to policy concerns and hiring quotas. Late last year another important organization, the American fire fighting institution faced similar backlash by industry voices due to the agency’s inability to quell the wild fires that ravaged the Los Angeles area, which was attributed to the agency’s inclusion of a DEI arm in their recruiting department.
With President Donald Trump now at the white house and Elon Musk at his side – who has been vocal in the last 6 months about DEI and its role in literally every disaster that happened on the earth – as his aide, the government of the day has a zero tolerance approach to everything DEI. With deportation policies on a rampage, the banning of platforms and policies concerning marginalized communities, DEI seems to be having a bad day that would not end.
Based on these occurrences, organisations across the world are beginning to slash teams, corporate commitments are being rolled back, social justice organizations are being defunded. It looks like DEI, as it is, is dying.
Reimagining DEI
Amid the chaos, the uncertainty and everything in between. Amid the joblessness for dei professionals, the hopelessness for industry drivers who have put in so much work, the despair for the individuals inclusive policies have made them valuable and seen in their various workplace. There is a future for DEI in our world.
Throughout history when people gather against an idea or a policy, they oftentimes have very little understanding of what they are standing against. Pumped with false knowledge, overfed with second hand knowledge by voices they listen to, they fight against a thing they can barely grasp.
The same thing is playing out today. DEI has been made a scapegoat for the inadequacies of companies and management teams. When there are flaws in the hiring process that bring about errors in the company or a failure in some regard, the blame falls to DEI.
What are the major faults?
False DEI: between 2020 and 2024 DEI was a buzz word to accommodate remote work and improve the workforce with any and everyone that could over value. It received attention, it received funding and it lost its way. Companies started to implement quota systems to showcase their ability to create an inclusive workforce. It became a bragging right sort of, ‘Oh look my workforce has 10% Persons with Disability, 20% black/African America, 15% Latino, 15% Chinese; our C-suite has 5 women in it and a ton of staff below 25! Yay I’m Inclusive!..’ This is the ghost of DEI. As opposed to the ‘window dressing’ ideology we currently have, DEI is supposed to be the air that companies breathe. It is supposed to be the day to day of any organization. Hire staff from every walk of life simply for the value they provide and treat them, physically, mentally and emotionally, EQUAL.
DEI being restricted to just hiring: the false DEI practice we have today is operated only in the aspect of hiring and employment. Whereas DEI should form all parts of a company’s operation. From choosing suppliers, to selecting partners, brand marketing companies, marketing and sales etc., it was made to be the operational life wire of all departments in the company.
Hijacked DEI: what we have in practice today is a DEI ideology that was, for the most part, hijacked by the far-left political wing to expand their philosophy, forcing it to be a point of political debate and discussion. DEI is larger and bigger than that. It is the reengineering of how we perceive work and the culture of work. It wasn’t instituted to change organizations but change people, more the employees than the employers. To teach us that there is a better, more efficient way to work, ideate and progress that doesn’t include us shutting the door on people that do not fit our preconceived frame.
What is the hope for DEI?
In Petr Baelish’s voice, ‘Chao is a ladder.’
DEI makes a comeback: We can hope that DEI, the real DEI, will make a return. That people and organizations will see the real thing behind the mask. Most companies will cut down internal DEI units and probably outsource it to independent firms. Maybe this would be for the best.
Less press: we hope that the less attention it gets on the media, the less it is being used by far left political ideologies to push an agenda different from what it really is meant to be. The less attention it gets also means that companies can find a different reason for their occasional pitfalls.
People taking initiative: this is a hard ask, but believe that DEI has given people a new way to see and appreciate things. For all the mud it was put through, there’s hope that more people have adopted a culture of inclusion and equity in themselves. For example, if you had a bias before that a woman with albinism from Nairobi could never be a good software programmer and then you had the opportunity to work with one and got mind blown, you are more likely to change your perspective on the matter of who can and cannot do what.
Conclusion
While some company heads, leaders in the industry are retracting their support for DEI policies, while some waver, there will be more people who push forward and expand their DEI provisions. While others downsize and cut down, others will expand and increase their commitment to DEI. This is just how the world works.
If you have found value in a thing, it is very likely that you will double down. But one thing that is certain is that DEI teams will need to be more accountable. No more hiding behind the inclusivity buzz. The real DEI will rear its head and more companies will accept and operate in it, not loudly, but in a more quiet and dependable way.
