I generally think of it as “cheap” inclusivity. Companies looking to cast the biggest virtual signal with the smallest amount of capital. On paper it looks nice enough, but dig a little deeper and you realize that it’s everything under the sun minus the most important part: training and hiring more women, people of color, and other minority groups in tech.

I’ve worked for companies that do this with mental health too. Everyone is burned out and unhappy? We’re bringing in a professional on workplace happiness! We’re partnering with non-profits! We’re doing everything! Except, you know, addressing the actual cause of the burn out and unhappiness. Because that requires a hard, sober look at our own behavior and wrongdoings. It’s so much easier to look outward instead.

I don’t identify as a minority in tech, so I won’t even pretend to understand exactly what that’s like. But it seems like being gaslit constantly. It sounds so painful and invalidating and exhausting and outright maddening to be told to look at all of this progress when you know they know it’s all the cheapest version of it and it’s mostly just for show.