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I was recently sent a survey whose questions all presupposed that DEI should be critical organizational goal. The questions only let you say that the organizati

I was recently sent a survey whose questions all presupposed that DEI should be critical organizational goal. The questions only let you say that the organization was accomplishing its DEI goals, or was not doing enough. There was no way to suggest that the organization was spending too much time on DEI. I learned that the survey was created by an equity consulting company. They were paid tens of thousands of dollars for their bogus survey and equity audit.

fwungy 4y ago
I always say they're doing a really good job so someone can argue that they don't need to keep pushing it more. They are doing a good job. Why create a good product? That's difficult and failure is possible. Much more fun to work on the diversity stats, because quota hiring is an easy win at review time. Who cares if strategic hiring is bad? Big companies have enough process inertia that no one will know if the new hires are working out for years.
dragonwriter 4y ago
Most likely, the reason you were sent this survey is because the organization has already decided on its priorities, and was looking to evaluate its success at acheiving them, not questioning them.
- crackercrews 4y ago
  Yes, that's why it was no surprise when I heard that this was driven by an equity consulting firm. They have no interest in finding out if respondents think that too much time is being spent on equity.
- PradeetPatel 4y ago
  ^ That, also this is an extremely effective way at identifying problematic individuals whose values don't align with the organisation's objectives. The HR department at my previous employment sent out a similar survey last year, with the intention to identify, and remove troublesome individuals during a period of downsizing. Needless to say it was quite effective.
- red-iron-pine 4y ago
  DEI also makes for good, easy-to-meet metrics for groups otherwise not up to much, like HR. "Here is a metric about diversity, and everyone keeps talking about how great it is, and look -- we're so much better about it! Promotion plz."
at_a_remove 4y ago
I recently received a survey from my local public library that was the same: are we doing enough diversity, or should we work even harder? No option for "too much emphasis on."

fwungy 4y ago

I always say they're doing a really good job so someone can argue that they don't need to keep pushing it more. They are doing a good job. Why create a good product? That's difficult and failure is possible. Much more fun to work on the diversity stats, because quota hiring is an easy win at review time. Who cares if strategic hiring is bad? Big companies have enough process inertia that no one will know if the new hires are working out for years.

dragonwriter 4y ago

Most likely, the reason you were sent this survey is because the organization has already decided on its priorities, and was looking to evaluate its success at acheiving them, not questioning them.

crackercrews 4y ago
Yes, that's why it was no surprise when I heard that this was driven by an equity consulting firm. They have no interest in finding out if respondents think that too much time is being spent on equity.
PradeetPatel 4y ago
^ That, also this is an extremely effective way at identifying problematic individuals whose values don't align with the organisation's objectives. The HR department at my previous employment sent out a similar survey last year, with the intention to identify, and remove troublesome individuals during a period of downsizing. Needless to say it was quite effective.
red-iron-pine 4y ago
DEI also makes for good, easy-to-meet metrics for groups otherwise not up to much, like HR. "Here is a metric about diversity, and everyone keeps talking about how great it is, and look -- we're so much better about it! Promotion plz."

at_a_remove 4y ago

I recently received a survey from my local public library that was the same: are we doing enough diversity, or should we work even harder? No option for "too much emphasis on."