Please Don’t Confuse Charity With Diversity and Inclusion
Like many other companies, our Culture Club is responsible for organizing holiday celebrations, group sports, charity work and influencing company culture. As we have recently revamped this group, I realize that every time I mention our charity efforts, people automatically associate it with our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Group. People are conflating charity work with D&I efforts.
What is that?
Are the wires getting crossed in people’s minds about the purpose of D&I in the workplace? For some reason, charity work is almost always associated with the D&I Group. For those who put the two in the same category, the purpose of a D&I initiative is to provide a voice to underrepresented and marginalized groups, ensure that they feel like they belong, find ways to open the talent pipeline (hence improving the product, because statistics show that products built by diverse groups are more successful and perform better financially) and level the playing field. It’s to make sure the NJIT grad has the same consideration and sets of eyes on their job application as the MIT grad. After all, one of our best engineers at WorkMarket went to NJIT!
It’s not that marginalized groups are underserved–they are underrepresented and “under-respected” in tech.
On the other hand, the purpose of charity work is to do some good in the community while connecting with your colleagues. The ethics and morals of our D&I Committee infuse our Culture Club efforts, but that’s where it ends.
As an active member of both groups, I have to wonder if we are not doing our jobs well enough at evangelizing the mission and defining what D&I in the workplace entails. I can’t seem to let go of this notion that hiring underrepresented minorities in tech still gets mentally filed by some as some sort of charity. It reeks of a savior complex.
I recently had a conversation with a coworker (who shall not be named) and I asked him why he thought the two were being conflated. His response was “D&I IS charity!” To which I had to set him straight that it is most indeed not.
Let me be the one to announce it here and now: Diversity and Inclusion within a company is 👏 not 👏 charity 👏.
D&I efforts are not tech’s version of the Boys and Girls Club. We’re here to correct years of bad habits such as bro culture, school elitism, the overlooking and exclusion of minorities and women, and to keep a potentially toxic culture in check. We set quarterly goals that we track every week (held to measurable KPIs), work with the heads of companies, and we take our shit and our mission seriously.
So next time you hear that oft-used tune of “You probably hired them because they’re a minority” or “Bravo! You’ve hired a woman!” (with sanctimonious overtones of “you should feel so good about what you did!”), feel free to fire off an email explaining why it’s wrong. We all have a job collectively to keep that kind of attitude in check. Remember that we can also often use moments like these as teaching opportunities for those less woke folks as well. You might want to also send an email to HR too, depending how offensive or ignorant the comment is, and don’t forget to add a link to this blog post too while you’re at it.
For more interesting information and opinions from WorkMarket’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, follow us on Medium at @workmarketdandi.
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WorkMarket is doing awesome things in the gig economy. We connect freelancers with businesses around the world and we recently got acquired by ADP! We do fun things every week and we’re looking for more difference makers to join our squad. If this is you, apply today! We’re hiring!
