Why are dei programs considered to be wrong?

[Anonymous]

[ProbablyClueless]

They're expensive and they attempt to address problems in ways that don't actually resolve the source of the problem. They rely on assumptions that haven't turned out to be very consistent with reality.

Let's say that you and I look around at our company and decide that we would be better off if our company made a more intentional effort to speak to marginalized communities. Maybe we're a fashion company or something. In an effort to make our company more diverse, we hire someone who's job it is to ensure that we have representation in our different departments. By doing this, we expand our market share and can access additional funding to help with our advertising efforts.

Sounds good, sounds logical, right?

Here's the problem; the people we get aren't the best and most talented, they're just the best and most talented from the people demographics we care about, who also apply for our jobs. And most of the DEI initiatives involved penalization of people who expressed concerns about the programs, so it prevented non-marginalized people from being able to do their jobs effectively.

That person we hired needs to be paid a salary and do the best job they can. And the people that person hires to fulfill diversity quotas in our departments also need to be paid a salary and do the best jobs they can. And there are lots of companies looking for people to meet these quotas.

The reason this is bad is because we aren't comparing those marginalized people against non-marginalized. We're comparing them against other marginalized people. So if you and I want to hire a transperson to help us design our new line of jackets, we aren't simply hiring the best designer we can find; we're hiring from the small pool of trans designers who simply need to be better than the other trans designers who applied to our job posting. And that person may or may not actually be any good at their job. If they aren't, they aren't going to create value.

So now we have a bunch of people running around our company who cost a lot of money, but because they aren't generating additional value to the business, they become a net cost.

At the end of the day, you and I need to make products people want to buy, or we go out of business.

[Syntosi]

Propaganda mostly. People have pretty much no idea what DEI programs are or why they are preferable to the alternative. It is very notable that capitalistic corporations, that only care about their own profitability has adopted DEI due to their own economic calculations. It is simply a better system for most organizations but people are being force-fed the idea that DEI is about forcing corporations to hire people not based on merit but by a required ratio.

[egarcia1360]

They adopted those programs based on calculations that include government subsidies, "anti"-discrimination laws, ESG standards, and (often violent) protests by vocal minorities. Plenty of companies have backtracked on DEI after seeing the shift in the sociopolitical landscape, and plenty more will surely follow.

[Syntosi]

@egarcia1360 If you take a step back and listen to what you just said then you would understand why that is retarded.

"Plenty of companies have backtracked on DEI after the shift in 'PUBLIC OPINION'"

That is them caving to public pressure rather than being allowed to choose the most economically beneficial system.

[egarcia1360]

Ah, I see, when they follow the wind and implement policies *you* like, it's "choos[ing] the most economically beneficial system", despite the obvious, massive unnatural incentives. But when they bend the other way, it's "caving to public pressure". Did you forget that the public doing the pressuring is the same public that's buying from these companies? Factor that in and then see what outcome you can expect in an unadultered free market.

[Syntosi]

@egarcia1360 I never bought the idea that corporations only supported DEI because of government assistance or public opinion, that is your claim. My claim is that they did it of their own free will and then you came in and made the argument that some will move away from it due to public pressure which I highlighted.

[Anonymous]

How come nobody on this site knows what equity means?

[exitseven]

They do not celebrate competence. They make a less efficient government.

[seeyounexttuesday]

Because it’s racist to judge people on the color of their skin instead of the content of their character.