I’ve overheard coded conversations by my DEI department about holding off on hiring candidates because the ones they found immediately weren’t “diverse” enough.
Of course, that doesn’t make sense. A single entity can’t be diverse.
Instead, “diverse” is a code word for “not white male.”
Look, I don’t want to work in a boys club, either, but there has to be a better way to do diversity right.
And the thing about hiring is, as long as you don’t say the illegal thing out loud, and you use that coded language, you can do whatever you want.
Not truly illegal, but I also think that companies with poor 401k and healthcare benefits have no interest in improving them even if the business becomes wildly profitable because the kind of employees who know better are either older or not docile enough, i.e. they’re not going to drink the kool aid and work long hours and give up competitive compensation just because they’re “changing the world.”
The last thing a startup wants is a transactional employee who considers employment an exchange of cash for time. They want “believers.”