Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

axios.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 1001 posts

Re: Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

#101

Post by mempko »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #26

There are two things that are important to separate here: 1. In one hand, the rolling back of how DEI has/was implemented I think can be a good thing. I think lots of people, myself included, believe that it "went off the rails", but most importantly, I think it ended up being counterproductive to its end goals. Nearly everyone I know who wasn't part of the DEI cottage industry came to view many/most of these program…

Except the whole reason for governments to charter companies is the belief it's good for societal goals. Otherwise why allow private and public companies in the first place if their only goal is to make money, that you as a government create?

This idea that business has this singular goal is the result of brainwashing and shows a deep misunderstanding of both history and how things work today.

Re: Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

#102

Post by inglor_cz »

AndyNemmity wrote: post #61
ColdTakes wrote: post #5

That title image looks like it is from the set of a sitcom starring Mark Zuckerberg. DEI initiatives have always been a dog and pony show, not a thing executives have ever truly cared about and they are now in a political environment where they can show what they believe in. People will learn the hard way these companies have never cared about you.

Well said. What we need is real DEI initiatives. But private dictatorships don't care about this stuff. Only what marketing value they can gain from it.

[flagged]

Re: Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

#103

Post by cyanydeez »

JohnMakin wrote: post #3

I'm a PoC, and stuff like this reads extremely bizarre to me. On the one hand, you're acknowledging rolling back DEI initiatives in part because of the "political landscape," and that you were already committed to diversity on your teams. That's all well and good, but then, why the initiative in the first place? It seems to me you're doing at least 1 thing here, and acknowledging that such DEI program was performativ…

[flagged]

Re: Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

#104

Post by Animats »

So far, Zuckerberg (Meta), Pichai (Google), Bezos (Amazon),Cook (Apple), and Sarandos (Netflix) have all personally made the pilgrimage to Mar-A-Lago to kiss the ring. That's all of the FAANG CEOs. Nadella and Altman phoned it in.

The Wall Street Journal has a long list.[1]

It works for Putin.

[1] https://archive.is/ozPQi

Re: Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

#107

Post by deadbabe »

jandrese wrote: post #22
jsheard wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently they consider platforming hate speech to be beneficial because it could bolster sympathy for the groups being attacked. I wish I was joking. https://www.platformer.news/meta-new-trans-guidelines-hate-s... Alex Schultz, the company’s chief marketing officer and highest-ranking gay executive, suggested in an internal post that people seeing their queer friends and family members abused on Facebook and Instag…

[flagged]

A more recent example would be Gaza. People didn’t care till they saw images. Lately, the imagery has disappeared and people don’t care again.

Re: Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

#108

Post by resoluteteeth »

skywhopper wrote: post #50
returntocollege wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[dead]

You have a completely distorted view of the history of these programs which LONG predate 2020. Unfortunately so do a lot of people.

I think they may confused because 1) the specific phrase "diversity, equity, inclusion" and term "DEI" only really started to be common around 2019-2020, and 2) DEI only really entered the public discourse in the past couple years.

This is causing people who were not that aware of these topics before to jump to the incorrect conclusion that because they weren't seeing discussion of "DEI" before that period, corporate diversity programs in general must be recent, whereas in reality it's only this specific name for them that is recent.

Re: Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

#109

Post by AndyNemmity »

inglor_cz wrote: post #102
AndyNemmity wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well said. What we need is real DEI initiatives. But private dictatorships don't care about this stuff. Only what marketing value they can gain from it.

[flagged]

The threshold is when ideals meet actionable outcomes.

And it's not a utopian system.

Re: Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

#110

Post by ApolloFortyNine »

notyourwork wrote: post #23
jandrese wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It only seems bizarre if you didn't consider DEI programs to be largely symbolic corporate puffery in the first place. For all of the hate they received from some political spheres they were largely just PR initiatives right from the start, especially in larger companies.

I’ve interviewed candidates for DEI specific roles. Not sure how that aligns with your narrative.

If a role is specifically set to be filled by diversity hires, I really don't understand how that's not racist (or choose your descriptor here) towards whoever has been excluded for that role.
Post reply on HN