4 ms·
Diversity is the term to disguise cheaper labor. Call it women, ethnic minorities, trans, neuro divergent, on wheelchair, or those having criminal records. It'
by hirako2000 5mo ago
Diversity is the term to disguise cheaper labor. Call it women, ethnic minorities, trans, neuro divergent, on wheelchair, or those having criminal records.
It's a brilliant slogan, not just because virtue signalling, but because it spawns cross cultural factions, all selfishly united to defend it. At no further brainwashing cost to you.
You dare to attack it? You are out. Pack your stuff, and your shame.
Consolation? It would at least provide opportunities to those who always suffered injustice. Yet many who claim their right to a seat don't bother with competence.
It works, because the goal isn't more talents, we never lacked them: it's to pressure the overall labor cost.
- danw1979 5mo agoI can think of at least one fairly large “cultural faction” in the US that doesn’t like DEI
- hirako2000 5mo agoOne faction, whether we adhere to its other political views or not, hating DEI doesn't disprove the mechanism. The other factions still defend it selfishly. That's exactly why it holds.
- riedel 5mo agoThe way you can phrase it: you may jsut get people that are happy to do a good job for the pay they get. In many areas your typical white/cis/hetero/neurotypical male is not present, because you cannot get the maximum reward for their well-trained ego. I think diversity/pay is pretty munch confounded for plausible reasons.
- hirako2000 5mo agoThat's saying the white/cis/hetero male is absent because ego demands more reward. Exactly. Diversity fills that gap at lower cost. That's my point, or a counter? The scheme's motive is the overall effect. Lower wages. It doesn't care about white hetero, or black trans who happen to participate in paralympics.
- anal_reactor 5mo agoThis is so obvious now that you point it out I'm embarrassed not to have noticed it. By the way, I was wondering if learning Hindi would be the winning strategy here. Be the only white guy speaking Hindi, instant hire.
- pixelatedindex 5mo agolol that depends. If they are mostly from South India, learning Hindi might not move the needle as much. Might want to pick up some Kannada, Telugu and/or Tamil. Would be pretty cool for trying, and it’ll probably make your outlook favorable
- hirako2000 5mo agoThe irony is ethnic Indians in the U.S barely speak any of those.
- Conscat 5mo agoIn the bay area, I've met relatively few NRIs who don't know Hindi well, even if it's not their first language. Most of them that I've met are not even Kannadiga, Mallu, Telugu, or especially not Tamil. Sample size of at least several dozen.
- hirako2000 5mo agoDon't be embarrassed. Most don't see it, because the moral framing blocks economic analysis. As for learning Hindi, it may help. But don't make the mistake of confusing cultural diversity with competence uniqueness. One expands the number or silos in the labor pool. The other justifies better pay.
- anal_reactor 5mo agoMy thinking was, the goal of "diversity" is to have people reject their cultural backgrounds and form a shapeless blob that absorbs commands more easily and resists less. Basically "divide and conquer" applied to workplace.
- intended 5mo agoMaybe America should export US labour and safety standards. Outsourcers don’t just compete on price, they compete on hours worked, and support given. You do it in outsourcing contracts to a degree, just go further - holidays available, work hours, firing procedures, support and health services. I do know that FDA inspectors travel to factories around the world to ensure they are compliant. You’d remove the incentive to undercharge based on sweat shop practices, and then it’s only a cost of living arbitrage. At that point you could set up in a lower CoL region in America over outsourcing. I’m probably missing some incentives but I think this would work, and it’s an easy political sell.
- hirako2000 5mo agoAbolishing restricted borders, collectively would push the logic to its final destination. Such sweat shops exist because humans are confined. Cross border inspectors is mostly PR theater. Even if it was feasible, local verticals spill into others, so it would always be lower costs in less developed/regulated nations.
- simonra 5mo agoPlease don't export US labour and safety standards. The amount of paid time off is hard to argue is not unethical, the conflation of vacation time and sick time clearly is unethical, the amount of parental leave (especially maternity) is a crime against humanity. The firing procedures are also something you'd expect to read about in a history book besides a picture of a child visibly yearning for the coal mines, contracts with a mutual resignation period giving both parties adequate time to transition is a bare minimum. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Please please America spend serious efforts developing your labour standards to a humane level instead of exporting them.
- intended 5mo agoAh yes. Missed that part. Factory Safety standards I would make an argument for, you should see some of the things I see in developed nations. > Please please America spend serious efforts developing your labour standards to a humane level instead of exporting them. This is possibly the critical weakness in the idea. Maybe EU labour standards?