Poll: Workforce Diversity - updated poll

[atlas]

I work for a small company that manages businesses in a female dominated field. In our company of 20, we had no real diversity until October-ish when someone of Indian descent was hired.

We manage properties that have a fairly high level of AA and Hispanic employees depending on the location of the business in the US.

[whatnext]

There needs to be a category for Polynesian and also Indigenous. ...but maybe that's just me

I work in a business that is 80% white male but I have a team of one white female lesbian, two white males, and three Polynesians it's the most diverse white collar workforce I've ever had (I'm only new to the role).

Two companies ago would rave about diversity. 98% of floor employees were Asian, African or Polynesian decent. Usually I was the only woman in meetings and I had an Indian male colleague. To me that wasn't diversity it was clear segregation

[goldengirlz]

Apr 19, 2018 15:47:30 GMT -5 c7 said:

Apr 19, 2018 15:33:45 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I was the only white person in my last meeting (not uncommon) ... what do I win?

Nothing.

I wasn’t serious. The poll is weird.

Diversity isn’t having one or two POC on your team, especially if the demographics don’t reflect the city demographics. It’s not the same as inclusion or as leadership representation.

For instance, I WAS serious about being the only white person in meetings. But in a state that’s nearly 40% Hispanic, most of my coworkers are Asian, Middle Eastern or Indian. Is that diversity? Yes. Does it mean we can pat ourselves on the back and call it good? No.

[auroraloo]

I can check all the boxes, as well as Native American, if that were on there. 2 of our 4-person leadership team are WOC, 1 is LGBTQAI+, and the fourth is a white woman. Our top leader is a black woman.

But I work in an urban school district that is actively seeking to hire POC/underrepresented populations, and the Indian Education Department is in our building, so our numbers reflect that.

[erbear]

I teach at a Quaker school whose mission centers on diversity so yes to all of the above. That said, there is an obvious dearth of black men - 5 out of 50ish teachers.

[wildrice]

My department is not diverse at all, which I have brought up a handful of times because I worry it is not ideal for our students. We got 2 new assistant deans in the last year or so, and they are both POC (an Asian man and a Middle Eastern woman). Before that, in our department of about 35 people, we were 100% white. We do have a couple LGBTQ coworkers.

I think a major part of our issue is that it's almost impossible to get hired as an external candidate (not impossible, since I was). So the lack of diversity is perpetuating itself. We recently had a job opening that a former coworker (who is black) applied for, and I put in a good word for her and everything and she didn't even get an interview. I don't really think it was because of her race (I don't think her name is race specific, so I don't know how anyone but me would have known she was black) but it was because we only interviewed internal candidates. I have no idea if this is just an anecdote or if we're often passing over POC for interviews - or if we're not getting a very diverse pool of applicants -  but I do know any of the candidates I've been involved in interviewing in the last 3 years I've worked there have been white. I have never been asked to be a part of the committee that selects the interviewees so it's hard to say where the issue starts. Nobody "recruits" beyond posting the job, which I think is probably also part of the issue (we need to be doing more outreach to ensure we get diverse applicants, but that's not happening).

My last job was still majority white, but we had a ton more diversity. Same town, so I don't think geography is a great explanation. This area is something like 80% white but we should have better representation of the other 20%. Of the 20 or so former coworkers I am still in touch with, 2 are Hispanic, 2 are Indian, 1 is black, 1 is Middle Eastern - I think that's a lot more representative of the demographics of our area.

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

Apr 19, 2018 17:28:51 GMT -5 erbear said:

I teach at a Quaker school whose mission centers on diversity so yes to all of the above. That said, there is an obvious dearth of black men - 5 out of 50ish teachers.

My school has a dearth of men teachers, period. in the pre-K through 6 we have one. That is 23 teachers. We had two last year, the other went to take a tech position in the district. We had a teacher who left before come back and want another job but they would not hire him (him and the superintendent of this miniscule district have some kind of animosity...he is also openly gay but I don't think that was the issue at all, the only other male teacher is too). 

I work with no POC. Something like 70% of the teachers at this school went to this school, including the superintendent. (I did not go to school here) I am in the same building as the MS/HS and there are more males, but no POC. We had an Indian math teacher for one year who left to stay home with her new baby this year. 

ETA: I didn't include her because she doesn't work at the school per se, but the president of the school board of many years is an AA woman. 

[wawa]

Apr 19, 2018 16:58:04 GMT -5 BirdGirl said:

What is the point of this?

I'm going to guess the point was exactly what twotrue said. People were surprised that she works with zero POC. She was curious if that was really that unusual on this board.

[05heel]

I wish the term POC would go somewhere and die. It just pisses me off.

[twotrue]

Apr 19, 2018 19:44:35 GMT -5 wawa said:

Apr 19, 2018 16:58:04 GMT -5 BirdGirl said:

What is the point of this?

I'm going to guess the point was exactly what twotrue said. People were surprised that she works with zero POC. She was curious if that was really that unusual on this board.

That's all it was. I was shocked people where shocked. How many times do we hear from members of minority groups that they are often the only one in the room? Wouldn't that go to say that for many people their work places are pretty straight and white? 

It was a poorly thought out poll. Maybe the better poll would have been to ask if your work place environment represents the populations within your local community accurately. 

[erbear]

Apr 19, 2018 18:20:22 GMT -5 Miss Phryne Fisher said:

Apr 19, 2018 17:28:51 GMT -5 erbear said:

I teach at a Quaker school whose mission centers on diversity so yes to all of the above. That said, there is an obvious dearth of black men - 5 out of 50ish teachers.

My school has a dearth of men teachers, period. in the pre-K through 6 we have one. That is 23 teachers. We had two last year, the other went to take a tech position in the district. We had a teacher who left before come back and want another job but they would not hire him (him and the superintendent of this miniscule district have some kind of animosity...he is also openly gay but I don't think that was the issue at all, the only other male teacher is too). 

I work with no POC. Something like 70% of the teachers at this school went to this school, including the superintendent. (I did not go to school here) I am in the same building as the MS/HS and there are more males, but no POC. We had an Indian math teacher for one year who left to stay home with her new baby this year. 

ETA: I didn't include her because she doesn't work at the school per se, but the president of the school board of many years is an AA woman. 

That's brutal. I have done some professional development cohorts with people who are the only non-white teachers at their schools. It sounds impossible.

We actually have a lot of male teachers, including 5 in the lower school (out of maybe 15?). The middle school is about half men and the upper school is maybe slightly more men.

[Michelle]

All of those demographic categories are represented on my team of ten people. Also add non-citizens, Boomers, Xers and Millennials. We don’t have any men on my immediate team though.

[kooshball]

I work in tech so no...... actually, we have more POC than women though.

[partiallysunny]

I was able to check off a few categories, but most of the POC in the office work in administrative roles, which feels misleading to me.

It's heavily skewed as white men in the engineering roles and I use to be able to go days without interacting with another woman or POC at work.

(edit wording)

[msmerymac]

My current office is not at all diverse, but TBH, I've worked with several closeted gay people, which I think is a combination of many things, including that my current state does not consider the LGBT community a protected class.

But anyway, my last office in CA was maybe half white (non-hispanic), maybe slightly less. But that's not the point - that basically represented the demographics of the surrounding city. While I was there, five out of the top six people in the company (over a course of 9 years or so) were white men. The sixth was a Latina woman who was white/white passing. This was an office of 25ish people, and I'm talking c-level positions. I think that's the bigger disparity I've noticed. I've never worked for a woman-owned company or company owned by a non-white person, and I work in an industry with a fair amount of women, for sure.

[wambam]

9 person company - one is black and he is brand new, just hired last month. I am the only LGBT employee as far as I know.

[AAM2012]

How does one define “disability”?

[05heel]

Apr 20, 2018 8:06:08 GMT -5 @stilljustash said:

Apr 19, 2018 20:02:13 GMT -5 05heel said:

I wish the term POC would go somewhere and die. It just pisses me off.

i use it on here and every time i think to myself "i really just mean black" lol. or sometimes, black + latinx.

i get what you mean.

Me too, and I've been trying to use it less and less.  Also, when I say white, I usually mean non-black.  That's why these terms lumping everyone together as either white or non-white are so useless and unhelpful.  What in God's good name do I have in common with, say, an Indian man?  He'd probably say the same thing about me.  Someone pointed it out above, maybe goldengirlz?, but POC is not synonymous with diversity.  This thread is next-level dumb.

[partiallysunny]

I keep coming back to this idea of diversity in the work place and I keep getting annoyed with the idea that just because you work or have someone at work who isn't white or have a disability doesn't mean your work is diverse.

Like I mentioned previously, many POC I work with have administrative or HR positions. Rarely any of them are in a position of power.

It reminds me of that article that was posted here about how if there is basically a smattering of women in an office, men think their workforce shows gender equality.

[05heel]

Apr 20, 2018 9:56:28 GMT -5 partiallysunny said:

I keep coming back to this idea of diversity in the work place and I keep getting annoyed with the idea that just because you work or have someone at work who isn't white or have a disability doesn't mean your work is diverse.

Like I mentioned previously, many POC I work with have administrative or HR positions. Rarely any of them are in a position of power.

It reminds me of that article that was posted here about how if there is basically a smattering of women in an office, men think their workforce shows gender equality.

In my group, all of the admins are black women.  There is exactly one black scientist (me).  Those are my work friends - women who are at least 15 years older than me, with very different income and education levels.  The shared and lived experiences are what make for a comfortable workplace for minority individuals.  The other minority people on my team discuss science and the work at hand.  Just like I do with the white folks. 

A lot of groups are filled with minorities, but more of the "model minority" variety (Asian, immigrants, etc.).  Does this mean that they were better qualified than African-American or Latinx engineers or marketing professionals, or is it because this type of diversity is more palatable to the white people making hiring decisions? 

At the end of the day, white people have no business determining or opining on what a diverse workforce is.  If you're happy just to look around and see a few brown faces, you're the problem. 

[jinkies]

I work for a nonprofit that is focused on a disease that disproportionately affects non-white immigrants to this country. I am most concerned with the lack of diversity on our Board, which sets the tone for the rest of the work we do. None of our board officers, and only 2 of the board members, represent the populations most affected. (They are generally old, white, male scientists, businessmen, and friends of the founders).

We do have a good representation in our programs staff.

[twotrue]

Apr 20, 2018 8:00:39 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

How does one define “disability”?

However you want to for the sake of my silly internet poll. The organization I work for talks a lot about ableism which is why I added it on there.

[cookiemdough]

Apr 19, 2018 15:59:19 GMT -5 MeMyselfandI said:

We do have one black man on staff, just hired last year. Until then I was the only POC on staff and I "pass."

Like intentionally?

[05heel]

Apr 20, 2018 10:31:01 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

Apr 19, 2018 15:59:19 GMT -5 MeMyselfandI said:

We do have one black man on staff, just hired last year. Until then I was the only POC on staff and I "pass."

Like intentionally?

This is an older poster with a new name.  She's posted before on the WOC board, but she has an interesting background/history.  I don't think she passes intentionally necessarily.  At least according to a thread she started awhile back. 

[goldengirlz]

Also we’re counting minorities like we’re taking inventory of a box of donuts for a party: let’s see...we’ve got three chocolate, five sprinkled, a couple of glazed ... this one’s technically a cruller ...

It’s embarrassing.

[twotrue]

Apr 20, 2018 11:25:57 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Also we’re counting minorities like we’re taking inventory of a box of donuts for a party: let’s see...we’ve three chocolate, five sprinkled, a couple of glazed ... this one’s technically a cruller ...

It’s embarrassing.

You're absolutely correct. I admitted my mistake earlier in the thread. A better question would have been if the work place accurately represents the community in which it is located. 

[downtoearth]

Apr 20, 2018 11:48:20 GMT -5 twotrue said:

Apr 20, 2018 11:25:57 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Also we’re counting minorities like we’re taking inventory of a box of donuts for a party: let’s see...we’ve three chocolate, five sprinkled, a couple of glazed ... this one’s technically a cruller ...

It’s embarrassing.

You're absolutely correct. I admitted my mistake earlier in the thread. A better question would have been if the work place accurately represents the community in which it is located. 

But looking at the results, you can see that a lot of the women on this board have some, relative diversity in their workplace. I think is why diversity discussions in workplaces sometimes fail. It looks from the general poll that you have a lot of work places with some diversity, so a company can self-report that they have representation, but in reality things are different and/or there are disparities in numbers compared to the location/general population, disparities in pay and pay-grades and technical staff vs. support staff, disparities in decision makers/management, etc. 

ETA: So basically you might not be proving the point that a handful of people don't work with any minorities, but you are proving the point that workplace diversity reporting is problematic.

[wawa]

Apr 20, 2018 11:48:20 GMT -5 twotrue said:

Apr 20, 2018 11:25:57 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Also we’re counting minorities like we’re taking inventory of a box of donuts for a party: let’s see...we’ve three chocolate, five sprinkled, a couple of glazed ... this one’s technically a cruller ...

It’s embarrassing.

You're absolutely correct. I admitted my mistake earlier in the thread. A better question would have been if the work place accurately represents the community in which it is located. 

I think you'd have gotten the same answers of people giving you their tally in each category though.

[jenny1980]

Apr 20, 2018 11:48:20 GMT -5 twotrue said:

Apr 20, 2018 11:25:57 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Also we’re counting minorities like we’re taking inventory of a box of donuts for a party: let’s see...we’ve three chocolate, five sprinkled, a couple of glazed ... this one’s technically a cruller ...

It’s embarrassing.

You're absolutely correct. I admitted my mistake earlier in the thread. A better question would have been if the work place accurately represents the community in which it is located. 

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Which would mean what, exactly? Let's say a city has 20% black people and a local company has 35% black people. Do they get a gold star for being "diverse"? Who holds the power in the company? 

[MeMyselfandI]

Apr 20, 2018 10:31:01 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

Apr 19, 2018 15:59:19 GMT -5 MeMyselfandI said:

We do have one black man on staff, just hired last year. Until then I was the only POC on staff and I "pass."

Like intentionally?

No. But my story is unusual. My dad is Italian, but my biological father is black. I didn't know about him until I was an adult.  I was raised by my white family, but was asked a lot if my dad was black and to my knowledge at the time he was just Italian and tanned in the summer.  I have a lot of anger with my family for keeping that from me.