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Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

bloomberg.com

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Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#11

Post by benjaminwootton »

daveslash wrote: post #5

"Instead, he said companies should consider race, gender and ethnicity when deciding who to let go." I understand what this meant in the context of the article, but without context, this seems like a potentially dangerous statement.

It's an interesting question.

Is it both legal and ethical to prioritise specific groups when hiring, with the aim to improve diversity?

Is it therefore both legal and ethical to use the same metrics when conducting layoffs?

Though this is not my field, it somehow seems more unfair in the latter case?

Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#12

Post by VWWHFSfQ »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #7
daveslash wrote: post #5

"Instead, he said companies should consider race, gender and ethnicity when deciding who to let go." I understand what this meant in the context of the article, but without context, this seems like a potentially dangerous statement.

Illegal at the federal level, no?

I believe it depends on which race, gender or ethnicity is being let go.

Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#13

Post by dehrmann »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #7
daveslash wrote: post #5

"Instead, he said companies should consider race, gender and ethnicity when deciding who to let go." I understand what this meant in the context of the article, but without context, this seems like a potentially dangerous statement.

Illegal at the federal level, no?

Yes, but I appreciate it when people are so deep in their field that they innocently spout off ideas like this. It's also a little sloppy for Bloomberg to let that get by since it almost encourages something that's possibly illegal.

Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#14

Post by zenzen »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #9
mensetmanusman wrote: post #4

D/I initiatives need strong government/industry collaboration, because the benefits of success are shared by society, but the investment takes decades from filling the pipelines starting in elementary school.

It's unclear what D&I consultants can do in order to conjure more non-Asian computer science students out of thin air to fill that pipeline.

It’s not a pipeline problem https://www.fastcompany.com/90596325/its-time-to-debunk-the-...

Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#15

Post by danjoredd »

daveslash wrote: post #5

"Instead, he said companies should consider race, gender and ethnicity when deciding who to let go." I understand what this meant in the context of the article, but without context, this seems like a potentially dangerous statement.

I think even in context its a bit dangerous. Who counts as diverse, and who gets cut in that consideration? Imagine there are three employees, and one of them has to go due to budget cuts. One is a straight African American male, one is a white homosexual male, and one is a white straight female. All of these might be considered diverse because they are all minorities in the tech industry in some way. However, taking any of these three people's race, sexuality, or gender into consideration when making the decision might open the door to lawsuits. How do you make the decision between these three people? Is there a certain level of diversity that would ensure that they keep their job?

I apologize if I come off as ignorant...Im not sure how these things work in law. However, I can't think of any way that taking someone's personal attributes that they cannot help into consideration when laying others off would result in anything but resentment towards the company.

Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#16

Post by jxramos »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #11
daveslash wrote: post #5

"Instead, he said companies should consider race, gender and ethnicity when deciding who to let go." I understand what this meant in the context of the article, but without context, this seems like a potentially dangerous statement.

It's an interesting question. Is it both legal and ethical to prioritise specific groups when hiring, with the aim to improve diversity? Is it therefore both legal and ethical to use the same metrics when conducting layoffs? Though this is not my field, it somehow seems more unfair in the latter case?

...in 25 years the practices will be illegal, they are illegal now.

Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#17

Post by kenjackson »

danjoredd wrote: post #15
daveslash wrote: post #5

"Instead, he said companies should consider race, gender and ethnicity when deciding who to let go." I understand what this meant in the context of the article, but without context, this seems like a potentially dangerous statement.

I think even in context its a bit dangerous. Who counts as diverse, and who gets cut in that consideration? Imagine there are three employees, and one of them has to go due to budget cuts. One is a straight African American male, one is a white homosexual male, and one is a white straight female. All of these might be considered diverse because they are all minorities in the tech industry in some way. However, taking…

I was thinking of it more like, if you look at who you're planning to layoff and it is 50% white females -- and your employee population is only 20% white female... then you should probably take a look at why. Has some unintended bias crept into your decision making.

Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#18

Post by elektrontamer »

The idea of activists/politicians having any say in who companies hire disgusts me. The average person might thing of them as professional useless people. But as someone who lives in a somewhat corrupt country, I fear it's far more sinister.

Here, after every government change, public worker positions and state universities tend to get filled with by the winner with their incompetent cronies. But the private sector is relatively safe. When you bring in DEI positions you're just creating new opening for the politicians/activists to exert control over the private sector as well.

Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#19

Post by mcrib »

zenzen wrote: post #14
8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's unclear what D&I consultants can do in order to conjure more non-Asian computer science students out of thin air to fill that pipeline.

It’s not a pipeline problem https://www.fastcompany.com/90596325/its-time-to-debunk-the-...

looks like you gotta listen to a whole podcast here, do you mind summarizing the points? the research I've looked at mostly has been around number of graduates in certain fields which would seem to lend credence to it being a pipeline problem, at least so far down stream. would love to hear evidence on the other side. thank you.

Re: Big Tech Layoffs Are Hitting Diversity and Inclusion Jobs Hard

#20

Post by kypro »

I predicted this would likely happen at the start of the year.

I don't think it was an accident that tech become one of the main industries pushing D&I over the last several years. Whatever your opinion is on D&I it's arguably not something a company would put significant investment or time into unless they had spare margin and cashflows.

This isn't a political comment, just an observation as someone who works for a company with a large D&I team, but I do hope this injects some sanity into what a reasonable emphasis on D&I looks like in the corporate structure, because I think a few tech companies have gone a little too far in recent years. The company I work for at the moment has ended up dividing the workforce by race by pushing "inclusive" policies so hard. Our corporate Yammer is worse than Twitter.

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