Attacks On DEI Initiatives Are Fueling A Resignation Crisis

The Florida state Board of Education and the Board of Governors for Florida’s public universities adopted similar policies recently against spending federal or state dollars on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, according to CBS News. Both boards also replaced Sociology with a U.S. History course as a core requirement. Last year, the Board of Governors for Florida’s university system gave notice of the proposed policy amendment. The website for the Florida Education Foundation blames the teacher shortage on “more than a decade of bad policy” and suggests lawmakers can “prioritize recruiting racial and ethnic minorities.”

Increased attacks against DEI efforts follow notable increases in DEI roles between 2019 and 2021. DEI job postings rose 56.3 percent between September 2019 and September 2020. Despite being one of the fastest growing roles in recent years, Chief Diversity Officer roles declined 4.5 percent between 2021 and 2022, according to a LinkedIn workforce report. The World Economic Forum says it will take 151 years to close the Economic Participation and Opportunity gender gap, according to their insight report. The New York Times shared that DEI job postings on ZipRecruiter dropped 63 percent in 2023.

Employees in DEI executive roles are less empowered to execute diverse communications as legislation continues to restrict efforts. Policies and legislation that limit the ability to improve diversity have increased. In 2023, SCOTUS struck down affirmative action in college admissions. In addition to the controversy over changes in law, high-profile people have taken to social media to debate and scrutinize the importance of DEI.

In response to Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman’s long op-ed post On X, formerly known as Twitter, Elon Musk wrote, “DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it.” Ackman wrote, “What I learned, however, was that DEI was not about diversity in its purest form, but rather DEI was a political advocacy movement on behalf of certain groups that are deemed oppressed under DEI’s own methodology.” Mark Cuban, another of the world’s richest people, engaged Musk and wrote, “good businesses look where others don’t.” Their public feud escalated and Musk called Cuban a “racist.”

Harvard University’s first Black president, Dr. Claudine Gay, resigned this month following criticism of her response to claims of antisemitism on Harvard’s campus. President Gay provided testimony in a congressional hearing and later became the subject of plagiarism allegations.

Since September 2021, Princeton University saw the resignation of three DEI staff members. After the peak of DEI hiring, previously championed topics and efforts have become difficult to navigate. John Hopkins Medicine issued an apology after outrage regarding the ‘privileged’ list from their CDO, Dr. Sherita Hill. Organizations are struggling to support previously celebrated DEI strategies and the political landscape is fueling the debate.

In 2020, Zoom Video Communications, Inc. announced hiring Damien Hooper-Campbell as their first CDO. After less than two years in the role, Hooper-Campbell decided to transition from Zoom. Target removed merchandise from their Pride Month lineup following safety concerns for its employees.

Last year, half the staff of Atlanta Magazine resigned following a disagreement with the publisher over editorial choice and the use of pronouns in a profile story. The exodus of Atlanta Magazine staff was an earlier demonstration that employees will exit when environments do not champion diversity or when they disrupt the ability to conduct their work in ways that are impactful.

In 2018, Mike Jordan, a culture writer shared that the magazine’s lack of African American journalists was inexcusable. Editor-in-Chief Betsy Riley, took action with Jordan to develop an advisory panel that led to the magazine including more Black writers and better representing the communities within the city. Ultimately, these efforts did not prevent the mass exodus in 2023.

T0 help shift mindsets around DEI companies can increase focus on building a sense of belonging, which has become ubiquitous in DEI discourse. Nobel laureate Richard Thaler, noted the importance of diversity in how people think in an interview with McKinsey & Company. To effectively communicate diverse and inclusive narratives we must listen to them first. Internal reflection, addressing audience demands, changing societal norms and regular analysis of efforts are essential to approaching DEI with continuous improvement goals.

Change can be accompanied by resistance and pushback from stakeholders. Success rates indicate that even fully executed and implemented transformations fail to reach their complete potential. Taking larger quantities of actions makes transformational success more likely, according to McKinsey & Company.

Employees will exit when companies fail to embrace and celebrate diversity or when workplace cultures disempower staff. Efforts that lack meaningful impact can cause a similar outcome and disrupt organizational stability. While companies continue to tackle both isolated incidents and the cumulative effect of historical offenses that perpetuate systemic inequalities and hinder progress, public debate and new legislation fuels resignations and debate.