Are Workplace Diversity Programs Doing More Harm Than Good?

Matter of Opinion

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Ross Douthat, News, New York Times, Journalism

4.2 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2021

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s time to rethink what’s working in the modern workplace and what’s failing. Amid a pandemic that overturned how so many work, increased calls for racial and social justice put a new pressure on companies to ensure — or at least to seem as if they ensure — equality among their employees. Diversity, equity and inclusion (D.E.I.) programs are an increasingly popular solution deployed by management. But do these initiatives do marginalized employees any good? And who are the true beneficiaries of diversity programs, anyway? Jane Coaston has spent years on the receiving end of diversity initiatives, and for that reason, she’s skeptical. To debate D.E.I. programs’ efficacy, she brought together Dr. Sonia Kang, who does research on identity, diversity and inclusion at the University of Toronto, and Lily Zheng, a D.E.I. strategy consultant and public speaker, to argue what works and doesn’t when it comes to making workplaces fair for all.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on the argument, do diversity programs at work actually work?
0:15.9	I'm Jane Kostin and if you've listened to our past two episodes, you know we've been
0:19.9	deep in debate over this moment of possible change in the way we think about work.
0:24.6	You know, work.
0:25.6	That place where too many of us spend too much of our lives.
0:29.5	I'm doing it right now.
0:31.6	This week, I wanted to tackle a part of modern work life that no one really wants to talk
0:35.7	about, but everyone has to.
0:38.0	Because, well, it's probably mandatory.
0:40.8	DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
0:45.1	And I'm the one with the anti-argument this time.
0:48.8	Making the world in the workplace, plus racist, homophobic, and transphobic, would be a good
0:53.5	thing.
0:54.5	But in my experience, DEI doesn't do that.
0:57.1	A yearly implicit bias training, the effectiveness of which is very much a point of disagreement,
1:02.4	it is unlikely to change the hearts and minds of the American worker.
1:05.8	But it will satisfy the need of companies and corporations to perform anti-racism.
1:12.1	To me, it doesn't deal with the real problems at hand, but it does let companies say they
1:16.7	do the training, so discrimination is solved.
1:19.7	Just don't listen to employees from marginalized backgrounds saying otherwise.
1:23.4	I told you, I'm coming in with the anti-argument.
1:26.3	Arguing against me are two experts who have focused their work around what really brings
	...

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