Being in middle-management is the toes on the ledge postion in almost every company. They don’t want you to jump but at the earliest inconvince they’ll be happy to give you a push. The disposable income that is easy to dispense when bets need tightening.
In the case of Diversity officers, those are convenience positions. Corporate virtue signaling that ironically, many a business could afford when the racist supremacist Nazi Donald Trump was president but that after a handful of years under Mr.unity and diversity (Joe Biden) they caa no longer afford. Affectations that, when the budget is strained, can be easily relieved. And so they have.
My oldest, best friend runs a large, contrarian investment fund. One of his favorite techniques to identify his short-sale targets (i.e., betting the stock price will fall) is counting up the minutes of investor calls devoted to DEI. He swears there is an inverse relationship between the proportion of DEI chatter and future stock performance.
In other words, the more corporate officials talk about their awesome DEI programs, the more it seems like they’re trying to distract investors from problems with their fundamentals. I would add that the more time and attention top management devotes to DEI, the less time and attention it has to give its real mission, which should be delivering a superior product or service.
Maybe, and probably, but as someone who has found themselves the object of middling staff attrition when the economy goes sideways, any change in conversation is likely, as I noted above, a product of free cash flow evaporating thanks to other factors. It could be misguided management of external political forces driving up costs. Investors who are not losing money will forgive you for spending less time on who should use which restroom. They may not even notice if you leave it out. Related: DEI … DIEs at the University of Florida
It could also be lawsuits. Individuals and State’s Attorney General have taken to reminding the denizens of Wokistan that the tenets of Diversity Equity and inclusion, when put before the law, look like Discrimination, Exclusion, and Indoctrination. Critical Race Theory suffers from a similar ailment. Both center on targeting and bullying and when applied attract lawsuits the way shit attracts flies.
The quick embrace of hiring practices that look explicitly racist has become an anchor. With whistleblowers sharing internal communications that add bullying and intimidation as a policy to that, the big picture is ugly. With the economy on a downward slope despite the rosy narrative pitch of political partisans, declining futures make a great excuse for recruiting a few diversity officers and staff.
There is also the added benefit of an immediate morale boost.
No one likes living in a culture, corporate or otherwise, where you have to think about every word you write or say for fear that someone can and will try to take it the wrong way.
It’s bad for business, as are DEIs advocate.
We’re not out of the woods. This is more a breeze that tells of a coming storm, but it is several steps in the right direction.
