"Diversity Policies Rarely Make Companies Fairer, and They Feel Threatening to White Men"
This article resonates! My main success when I was sponsoring Diversity in a global company was to make the majority of staff (male white men) realise that this “diversity stuff” actually relates to me – for example through a broader focus on enablement, mental health and family. At The Diversity & Innovation Co we now focus on selling the benefits of fostering diversity of thought to all leaders: - more sensitive, empathetic and effective managers / leaders; closer connections / new insights into customers and other stakeholders; in the medium term, a more diverse and representative workforce; and diversity of thought that drives innovation and impacts the bottom line.
"U.S. companies spend millions annually on diversity programs and policies. Mission statements and recruitment materials touting companies’ commitment to diversity are ubiquitous. And many managers are tasked with the complex goal of “managing diversity” – which can mean anything from ensuring equal employment opportunity compliance, to instituting cultural sensitivity training programs, to focusing on the recruitment and retention of minorities and women.
Are all of these efforts working? In terms of increasing demographic diversity, the answer appears to be not really. The most commonly used diversity programs do little to increase representation of minorities and women. A longitudinal study of over 700 U.S. companies found that implementing diversity training programs has little positive effect and may even decrease representation of black women."