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Meta's memo to employees rolling back DEI programs

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

#681

Post by aldebran »

annzabelle wrote: post #303
baq wrote: post #55

Are they rolling back Chinese and Indian managers only hiring Chinese and Indian folks, too?

That's the most egregious hiring practice I've actually seen. The white/black/hispanic/asian american managers all hire teams with multiple ethnicities based on the most qualified candidates for the job, while Indian born managers frequently seem to end up with teams that are 80+% Indian. I don't think I've ever seen a team that's 80% white, even in roles that require US Citizenship, but 80% Indian happens frequently…

There’s a simpler non malicious explanation for this. Asians know other Asians in tech and hire based on who they are familiar with rather than their ethnicity. It’s also why women managers tend to have more women in their teams.

It’s not malicious. Just a side effect of people’s network. Should that change? Yes. You want a heterogenous team. And this is exactly why DEI is important hahaha

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

#682

Post by elsonrodriguez »

jsheard wrote: post #16
mossTechnician wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a reference to the changed TOS or something else? The recent policy carve-out allowing "allegations of mental illness" towards LGBT people (but no other minority) definitely speaks to a lack of universality, but that's from Facebook itself: https://transparency.meta.com/policies/community-standards/h...

The Intercept leaked more detailed internal guidelines: https://theintercept.com/2025/01/09/facebook-instagram-meta-...

Holy shit.

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

#683

Post by 8f2ab37a-ed6c »

hyperdunc wrote: post #539
mips_avatar wrote: post #280

My experience with DEI at Microsoft was that the true believers really had their hearts in the right place. Almost all of the negative consequences I saw, came from people who saw DEI as a way to get ahead. I think the biggest problem with DEI initiatives is how much they seem to only benefit cynical people.

This is a pattern we see again and again. The true believers are fools because they don't anticipate how the implementation of their doctrine will be gamed.

“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

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

#684

Post by drak0n1c »

cocacola1 wrote: post #196
romellem wrote: post #112

Contrast Meta's stance with Costco's, when [Costco responded][1] to a shareholder that proposed Costco prepare a report on "the risks of the Company maintaining its current DEI roles, policies and goals." Our success at Costco Wholesale has been built on service to our critical stakeholders: employees, members, and suppliers. Our efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion follow our code of ethics: For our employ…

Costco's always interested me as a company. Still the only place where I pay to be able to shop. It's a personal point of pride whenever I go there and spend less than $100.

Interestingly, Costco’s core business model and marketing is built on membership gatekeeping practices which have disproportionate exclusionary effects along class and race lines.

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

#685

Post by ceejayoz »

GiorgioG wrote: post #243

Every time you try to right a wrong like this (DEI), it just makes things worse for everyone involved. Just find the best person for the job, no matter their skin color, sex, age, etc.

That’s the goal of DEI; recognizing that scenarios like two hundred years of all male, all white SCOTUS judges and Presidents and all the other top slots was probably not due to them being inherently better than every non-white, non-male otherwise eligible person in the country.

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

#686

Post by [deleted] »

romellem wrote: post #112

Contrast Meta's stance with Costco's, when [Costco responded][1] to a shareholder that proposed Costco prepare a report on "the risks of the Company maintaining its current DEI roles, policies and goals." Our success at Costco Wholesale has been built on service to our critical stakeholders: employees, members, and suppliers. Our efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion follow our code of ethics: For our employ…

[deleted]

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

#687

Post by rvz »

OnionBlender wrote: post #248

Does this mean we can go back to using "master" as our git repo's default branch?

The damage had already been done for Git. The master -> main change was a totally ridiculous move and caused unnecessary breakages into many tools that use Git and in internal systems.

I'm still waiting for Mastercard to change their name to a less "offensive" name: [0] /s (They never did.)

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32044361

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

#689

Post by drak0n1c »

brendoelfrendo wrote: post #252
ericmcer wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did Costco ever have a diversity issue? I don't think people are worried about getting more representation among grocery store cashiers.

The diversity isn't for you the customer, it's for the employees and the kind of corporate environment Costco wants to build. Edit to add: A better corporate environment, of course, does tend to lead to a better customer experience, but the "visibility of diversity" should not be the goal but rather "genuinely fostering an inclusive environment where people are respected and feel willing to put in their best work," a…

It certainly is not there for the customer, as their core business of exclusionary membership is a quintessential example of systemic racism and classism via disproportionate impact.

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

#690

Post by antics »

Avicebron wrote: post #594
antics wrote: post #311

I am Wasq'u (a tribe in the PNW), I am connected to my tribe, and I am one of a handful of remaining speakers of the language. I am really tired of being caught in the maw of people fighting about my identity, what I am owed, and to some extent what place my identity has in society. To the pro-DEI crowd: I have some hard truths for you. Actual change requires commitment and focus over an extremely long period of time…

> "The problems that afflict my community are running water, drug addiction, lack of educational resources, and secular trends have have made our traditional industries obsolete" So in my rural, predominantly white "Non DEI target" part of the country, this is the problem too except when these people apply to hundreds of jobs in software engineering they get crickets.

Well, just one data point for you (YMMV), but in "DEI" contexts I've been a part of, class diversity did actually come up somewhat regularly. I would not say corp diversity efforts I saw were all that successful in staffing that demographic—but they also weren't that successful in staffing minorities either. Mostly I think this reflects a consistent disconnect between what people wanted corp diversity efforts to be, and what they really were.

With all that said I do have a story of my own like this. In 2013 or so I wrote some stuff about spam detection and a Twitter engineer reached out about a job. I was an outgoing new grad from the University of Utah. When I got through with the loop the recruiter said, "How did you get here, we don't get many candidates from Utah." I still wonder what they wanted me to think when I heard that. What I actually felt was deeply out of place and uncomfortable. And it has affected every hiring process I've been apart of since.

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