The person who applied was definitely qualified. I could see maybe why he didn’t get it but the fact that the person who did get it knows the HR director made me a little suspicious.
Got it. I asked because it really is a discipline, and oftentimes people think of it as an “anyone can do it” type of role.
All of the concerns in this article articulate my concerns.
:::picks up pitchfork:::
That article is interesting, and makes a lot of good points. I particularly think #3 is a really good reminder, and something I'm going to share with my supervisor (though I suspect she's already well aware).
I will say that it's nice to have a DEI person outside of HR when something in HR is going wrong - at my last employer, our HR director had a lot of blind spots that were causing harm and it was really difficult to know who to bring that up with, since you couldn't really go to HR about the director of HR... since we had a separate DEI department, I ended up bringing it up to the director there. I ended up leaving a few months later so I don't really know what the outcome of that was, but I was glad there was someone else to approach about it.
This is where I am. It is definitely not a best practice and kind of makes me side eye when that’s the choice made because it signals a bit of a disconnect from the latest thinking in the DEI space and I wonder if they’re as up to date and committed to this issue as they should be.
On a practical level I think locating DEI within HR provides opportunities to incorporate DEI into HR practices like hiring, promotion, internal equity, staff training etc. All that is fine. But it doesn’t do much to influence the substantive work of the organization or business when it comes to interpreting DEI into decision-making about all topics at all levels. And, as my current workplace demonstrates, there are some frustrating limits to the theory that hiring more “diverse” staff is the answer to DEI and making a workplace more inclusive. It absolutely SUCKS to be one of the people who is counted on paper as a diverse staff member and talked about as if it’s so great! There are more of you [us]! We are doing such a great job! …. When our day to day experiences are so poor and depressing and the workplace is openly hostile to putting equity into practice in key areas of work and day to day workplace life. DEI directors reporting to HR is not the ONLY reason or time this happens, and not every place that structures DEI that way is going to do a crappy job but to me it is a definite red flag.
Got it. I asked because it really is a discipline, and oftentimes people think of it as an “anyone can do it” type of role.
The internal candidate has no HR background but has studied DEI and JEDI areas. Has some sort of DEI certificate. Volunteers for a DEI committee.
External candidate works in HR but as far as I know has no real DEI experience.
🫤
With this context I’m going to lean toward red flags galore. Hopefully they do have some experience or expertise in DEI since that is… critical for the role. If they hired someone without those skills they are absolutely not taking this seriously.
This stuff is of great interest to me, so I have more thoughts lol. In an ideal, functional HR department, I think having someone totally embedded in DEI is a huge positive and can help alleviate some of the issues around HR being a perpetuator of problems. While everyone in HR should be aware of using a DEI lens and following best practices around avoiding discrimination, not everyone in HR has the training or frankly, interest in taking it any further than that. Having DEI advocates in the team meetings with with an eye on day to day work is probably the best way to push HR to make sure they are aware of and thinking through decisions based on DEI. Of course, the fact that the majority of DEI professionals are minorities and often women complicated this dynamic and could be a disaster with the wrong HR culture or leadership.
I think my point really speaks to the fact that DEI shouldn't be the job of 1 person or one department, but of many people. Perhaps a DEI unit that operates separately AND some internal HR folks who are dedicated to DEI is the answer, though I would guess most smaller orgs don't have the resources. And of course the whole organization should be trained and pushed to be thinking about DEI in everything they do, too.
DEI stuff comes up alllll the time in HR if you are watching for it. I think we have an excellent, dedicated group at my employer who all care very much about equity and inclusion, but stuff still comes up all the time where we have to ask each other "wait, is that equitable? Are we thinking about how that might impact X group?" etc.
Post by definitelyO on Sept 7, 2023 9:51:52 GMT -5
we don't have a specific DEI role - but anything related to DEI is the responsibility of our VP of Talent Management who reports to the Chief People Officer.
Which is weird for different reasons, but has to do with various compliance things my org has and some unusual hierarchical structures in place and how I work within the org.
I've used the fact that I work with every department in the org to yank our DEI person (who isn't called DEI) person into meetings and processes. And our HR director has the DEI person come to all HR manager meetings.
Post by redheadbaker on Sept 7, 2023 15:01:22 GMT -5
We (company in the financial services sector) have a Diversity & Inclusion Council. I can't find anything on our intranet or anywhere that lists who is on it. There is an employee application to join (confirm you're in good standing, fill out a statement of interest, if that is accepted, there is a 20-minute panel Q&A session), so I assume it's not just, like, the head of HR on it.
Post by BlondeSpiders on Sept 7, 2023 16:58:57 GMT -5
Our DEI team (two guys, which always annoys me every March when they facilitate the Women's History Month events) reports to the EVP of Employee Experience. EE encompasses HR, Recruiting, and Real Estate & Facilities. I work for a regional health insurer.