Many companies have pledged to diversify their workforces, but diversifying may isolate those same people it's meant to help, according to a column published this month by Harvard Business Review.
Lori Nishiura Mackenzie and Melissa Abad of the VMware Women's Leadership Lab work with managers seeking to diversify their talent. Ms. Mackenzie and Ms. Abad report that many of these organizations don't create a culture where people of color feel included.
They said that the term "diverse" includes everyone who is not a white, heterosexual, nonveteran, able man, they said. The term "diverse" is misused as shorthand for the underrepresented and lumps a wide range of people together. Ms. Nishiura ans Ms. Abad measuring more categories of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability and status assists companies attempting to measure inclusion success.
"By lumping everyone together, the organization is implying, if unintentionally, that the addition of an Asian woman replaces the loss of a Black man," they said.
Ms. Mackenzie and Ms. Abad advised that organizations be clear in the hiring process that they promote inclusion and ask candidates how they have contributed to diversity and inclusion in their past roles.
"[It] may seem like additional work on top of an already full workload. Instead, consider the cost of not doing so, especially to your colleagues of color," they said.
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