4 ms·

What If Diversity Trainings Are Doing More Harm Than Good?

15 points by RestlessMind 4y ago

hw-guy 4y ago
Well, duh. Having worked at megacorporations where the day-long diversity training was a mandatory annual ritual, my working-level colleagues and I knew this apparently surprising conclusion 40 years ago, no fancy researh needed. We all knew it was window dressing, with a healthy dose of stereotyping, but we could only say that in whispers; and managers couldn't say it at all. At least we were not subjected to today's faddish and extremely toxic claims that rational thought, hard work and “emphasis on scientific method” are white supremacy. Imagine being a black engineer and being told that the very attributes essential to your job are inherently not part of your culture!
Planktonne 4y ago
Corporate training (not just on diversity, but also bribery, harassment, etc.) isn't solely focused on actually changing behaviour/attitudes. That's a nice side benefit, but it's unlikely that an hour of group discussion will persuade someone that maybe they should stop shouting slurs/defrauding customers. This article ignores one of the more important aims of such training: it's an explicit signal of what behaviour will and will not be tolerated. It's a lot easier to get rid of someone who's broken a rule when they've got a certificate in understanding that rule.
hobbitstan 4y ago
“diversity training is likely the most expensive, and least effective, diversity program around.” The whole entire social justice movement has been a massive scam.
bioemerl 4y ago
My work had some classes and they were very good and informative. I'm sure a lot of the big companies ESG the meetings to death and make them harmful, though.
crackercrews 4y ago
I've attended many trainings like this. They always talk about correlational studies as if they're causal. "More diverse teams make more profitable companies!" But in reality it's just as likely to be reverse causality. Companies that are very profitable have enough resources to be trying non-mission-critical things like diversity. I assume that if there were better evidence out there it would be presented in these trainings. The fact that this is all that is ever presented indicates that there is not. It also indicates that the trainers are either unaware of the difference between correlation and causality, or they simply don't care.
- hw-guy 4y ago
  I suspect the trainers don't care, as long as whatever logical or factual errors they are making support the point they want to make, truth be damned. Diversity trainers are also notorious vectors of urban legends: the Chevy Nova story, for example, is presented as fact despite the fact that it has been debunked for years (search for it on Snopes).
hackrnusr 4y ago
That would be a good thing! If the host doesn't take steps to eliminate the parasite, eventually the parasite will eliminate the host.

15 points by RestlessMind 4y ago

Well, duh. Having worked at megacorporations where the day-long diversity training was a mandatory annual ritual, my working-level colleagues and I knew this apparently surprising conclusion 40 years ago, no fancy researh needed. We all knew it was window dressing, with a healthy dose of stereotyping, but we could only say that in whispers; and managers couldn't say it at all. At least we were not subjected to today's faddish and extremely toxic claims that rational thought, hard work and “emphasis on scientific method” are white supremacy. Imagine being a black engineer and being told that the very attributes essential to your job are inherently not part of your culture!

Planktonne 4y ago

Corporate training (not just on diversity, but also bribery, harassment, etc.) isn't solely focused on actually changing behaviour/attitudes. That's a nice side benefit, but it's unlikely that an hour of group discussion will persuade someone that maybe they should stop shouting slurs/defrauding customers. This article ignores one of the more important aims of such training: it's an explicit signal of what behaviour will and will not be tolerated. It's a lot easier to get rid of someone who's broken a rule when they've got a certificate in understanding that rule.

hobbitstan 4y ago

“diversity training is likely the most expensive, and least effective, diversity program around.” The whole entire social justice movement has been a massive scam.

bioemerl 4y ago

My work had some classes and they were very good and informative. I'm sure a lot of the big companies ESG the meetings to death and make them harmful, though.

crackercrews 4y ago

I've attended many trainings like this. They always talk about correlational studies as if they're causal. "More diverse teams make more profitable companies!" But in reality it's just as likely to be reverse causality. Companies that are very profitable have enough resources to be trying non-mission-critical things like diversity. I assume that if there were better evidence out there it would be presented in these trainings. The fact that this is all that is ever presented indicates that there is not. It also indicates that the trainers are either unaware of the difference between correlation and causality, or they simply don't care.

hw-guy 4y ago
I suspect the trainers don't care, as long as whatever logical or factual errors they are making support the point they want to make, truth be damned. Diversity trainers are also notorious vectors of urban legends: the Chevy Nova story, for example, is presented as fact despite the fact that it has been debunked for years (search for it on Snopes).

hackrnusr 4y ago

That would be a good thing! If the host doesn't take steps to eliminate the parasite, eventually the parasite will eliminate the host.