I've seen this plenty of times. I even heard one manager at a happy hour say, "Thank god I finally hired an ABC and an XYZ, I can finally start recruiting based

I've seen this plenty of times. I even heard one manager at a happy hour say, "Thank god I finally hired an ABC and an XYZ, I can finally start recruiting based on talent again". This may be an extreme example, but still. Unfortunately when you have affirmative action or hiring quotas, you inadvertently to create a culture where the diverse individuals are seen as less skilled and less qualified even when many of them would have gotten to the same place without the quotas.