Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs • Hacker News Board

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

#351

Post by jiggawatts » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:28 PM UTC

jlhawn wrote: post #257

firefoxd wrote: post #184

I wrote about my experience working as a software developer and being black in the industry and I was lucky to have it published on BBC [1]. What immediately followed, every large company reached out to have me work as a consultant for their diversity program. I found it fascinating that they had a team of DEI experts in place already. Like what makes one an expert? In addition to my job, I spent nights developing pr…

> ... who owned the land ... they didn't use the word "owned", only "occupied". The indigenous groups probably didn't even have anything like our modern concept of land "ownership" and would think of it more like land alienation. As a Georgist, I'm personally very annoyed by these sort of empty indigenous land acknowledgements. I'm more excited about stuff like this Squamish Nation housing development in Vancouver, B…

Here in Australia they use the carefully crafted phrase: “the previous custodians of this land”.

As in… we are the custodians now.

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

#352

Post by Tiktaalik » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:29 PM UTC

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #15

This comment is based upon n two assumptions: 1) Twitter has imploded, and is on the road to Myspace level relevance 2) that implosion is due to a removal of moderation I'll try to keep it politically neutral. But this and other Facebook announcements means inexorable collapse is on the medium term horizon, because they mirror what Twitter did These actions could possibly be done with social network circa early to mi…

What is there at this point that is going to stop FB from having the same advertising problems that Twitter has had?

You used to have major corporations advertising on Twitter but they bailed out when they realized that their ads were appearing amidst people posting insane bigoted screeds.

It would seem like there is now a severe risk of a revenue collapse at Facebook if advertising corporations behave the same way they did with Twitter.

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

#353

Post by random_i » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:29 PM UTC

I previously assembled & managed a team of engineers at Microsoft.

Out of 10 employees on my team, I had:

- male and female (80/20 split)

- black, white, asian, latino

- engineers in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s

- east coast, west coast

- ivy league, college and high-school graduates

That level of diversity was very rare at Microsoft, and even rarer at other tech companies.

It took a *lot* of work; with less effort I would have had a more uniform distribution (male, white/asian, younger, west coast)

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

#354

Post by jeffbee » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:30 PM UTC

gigatree wrote: post #343

firefoxd wrote: post #184

I wrote about my experience working as a software developer and being black in the industry and I was lucky to have it published on BBC [1]. What immediately followed, every large company reached out to have me work as a consultant for their diversity program. I found it fascinating that they had a team of DEI experts in place already. Like what makes one an expert? In addition to my job, I spent nights developing pr…

Has anyone asked why so many companies seem to care so much about the appearance of DEI? And all at the same time? I know there’s cultural shifts towards that sort of thing, probably to fill the void left by religion, but does that explain why the world’s largest private equity firms push them so hard? Seems like something everyone just accepts without question, even though it’s completely out of character for people…

Companies care about attracting all segments of society because if they can expand their applicant pool they will pay less for labor. If I am the only person smart enough to recruit qualified graduates from HBCUs then I get to be more selective in hiring and I also get to offer less wages but still fill the position.

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

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Post by encoderer » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:30 PM UTC

As an elder millennial I have to cheer.

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

#356

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:30 PM UTC

mmooss wrote: post #117

The problem isn't evil, but the lack of any leader standing up for good (using simplistic terms). The evil is always there, in our souls and in our society, as is the good; we just need to choose and use the latter to check the former. Who of any serious stature is standing up to Zuckerberg, Musk, Trump, etc.? The absence - the empty stage - is shocking. It is one of Biden's great responsibilities, but he has long ab…

Zuckerberg and Musk are billionaires, money always grants power.

What are Biden and Harris supposed to do when the swathes of land that vote for politicians, don't vote for them? And when Congress doesn't back them up? Should they just... say "Pweeeaase" louder?

This is why recently I've switched from "Progressive income taxes are good because we need to fund social programs, and rich people can afford to bear a greater tax burden" to "Taxing rich people is essential to democracy, since wealth can buy political power."

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

#357

Post by foota » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:31 PM UTC

miles wrote: post #273

bko wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people say DEI programs were purely performative and just for political points. But these policies did change the corporate landscape and affect hiring decisions. Of 323,092 new jobs added in 2021 by S&P 100 companies, 302,570 (94%) went to people of color This data came from workforce demographic reports submitted to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by 88 S&P 100 companies Hispanic individua…

> Of 323,092 new jobs added in 2021 by S&P 100 companies, 302,570 (94%) went to people of color Given this July 2024 population estimate by race from census.gov[1], leaving only 6% of new jobs to the majority seems tailor-made to trigger a large-scale backlash: 75.3% White alone 13.7% Black alone 1.3% American Indian and Alaska Native alone 6.4% Asian alone 0.3% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 3.1% T…

I don't want to make too many assumptions here because it's a bit of a minefield, but... perhaps there's an entirely selfish and rational explanation for DEI hiring programs in a tight labor market? If you feel like you've hired all of the labor you can at a given market price (e.g., you're cheap and don't want to pay people more) it might make sense to try and reach out to parts of the labor force that you feel have been underutilized (or historically underrepresented, but we're looking at this from the perspective of a ruthless business), and DEI programs could be a way of achieving this.

I don't think that's an entirely accurate narrative, but I do think it's probably at least part of this (e.g., that all of the best white people were already hired, while many POC people of equal caliber were not or not making as much). The job market was soaring in 2021 and looking for ways to hire new people without having to pay them more would likely be highly attractive. Now that the job market is not so competitive, there's not as much need to do so if you're just trying to find workers.

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

#358

Post by yoavm » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:31 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #104

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

As an outsider looking at the US, this looks so dangerous. It feels like the whole democratic system is bending to the power of money.

Just a few weeks ago, an American friend was making the comparison between the number of billion $ companies in the EU vs the US. I was trying to tell them that it isn't necessarily a bad thing to have less of that - I rather have 1,000 million $ companies than a billion $ one. The concentration of financial power seems so unhealthy, and it looks like it's crippling the whole American system.

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

#359

Post by say_it_as_it_is » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:31 PM UTC

jsheard wrote: post #6

spondylosaurus wrote: post #2

> We serve everyone. We are committed to making our products accessible, beneficial and universally impactful for everyone. The new(ly leaked) moderation guidelines might suggest otherwise...

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…

The world moved away from legitimate grievances to something else entirely. Hate speech in 2025 is not the same as it was in 2000. None for the better.

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

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Post by eapressoandcats » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 9:33 PM UTC

cbeach wrote: post #336

eapressoandcats wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you serious that you’ve never witnessed any discrimination against women or minorities?

I have witnessed: * co-workers being extremely wary of offending them in any way * superiors telling me to hire them * corporate literature that focuses on promoting their interests * corporate networks that grant them additional networking and social opportunities I have worked at a hedge fund, market data company, American and Australian investment banks and a travel startup. I have NEVER witnessed racism or sexism…

Maybe try talking to this guy: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23669188

If you’re not witnessing it then that’s only because you’re not noticing it, unless you think a large chunk of the population is just a bunch of liars.

Also you need to explain why there is a huge racial imbalance in elite jobs.

Also you need to explain literal blinded studies demonstrating racism in callbacks based on resumes.

None of it excuses reverse discrimination but denying it is happening is just not based in reality.