In case you missed it, 2,400 of the nation’s CEOs signed onto a pledge to “cultivate a more diverse, inclusive and equitable workforce at an unprecedented scale.”
Simply that means more divisiveness in the workplace.
Americans are already checking out, with only one-third saying they’re “fully engaged” in the workplace. A large reason is because DEI efforts have pitted worker against worker, creating division and suspicions that deflate the teamwork and accomplishment-drive that good workplaces need.
According to a recent survey, 70% of white men claim to have experienced discrimination due to DEI quotas. And job boards like LinkedIn are encouraging employers to dumb-down the skills on their job postings if the position is attracting too many male candidates.
How’s all that working out?
Look no further than Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse. Insiders tell of how the relatively new Chief Diversity Officer would hold company-wide weekly lectures accusing employees of unconscious bias and teaching them to recognize and avoid “micro-aggressions.” Insiders say employees became too afraid to criticize those responsible for over-extending the bank’s finances out of fear of being labeled a racist.
Additionally, 2,400 Chief Executive Officers have signed a CEO Act!on for Diversity & Inclusion to “expand unconscious bias education and training,” and to share “diversity, equity and inclusion programs/initiatives.”
Basically, they’ve agreed to elevate toxic DEI policies to the status of their core business or finance plans. And that’s a recipe for disaster.
In fact, even wokesters are starting to admit these policies are nonsense, as evidenced by a recent opinion piece in the New York Times entitled, “What If Diversity Training is Doing More Harm than Good?”
The basic problem is that DEI picks winners and losers, regardless of effort or accomplishment. It assigns oppressors and victims. It divides workplaces, and elevates some because of gender or ethnicity, while demoting others for the same. Accomplishment, commitment, hard work, and self-improvement all take a back seat.
How terribly demoralizing. Who wants to work for a company like that?
According to a report from the UK advocacy group, The Unmistakables, more than a quarter of employees find conversations about diversity and inclusion frustrating and 22% of employees find them nerve wracking.
That’s one out of every five workers—and the UK is far more progressive than the United States.
The founder of The Unmistakables said, “We often hear companies say they want to hire ‘diverse employees’ and create ‘diverse cultures’. But what does it really mean when someone says ‘diverse’? Are they talking about different genders? Sexualities? Ethnicities? These kinds of expressions often simply refer to people who are not white, cisgender, and straight. They end up telling us what we’re not—as opposed to who we really are. When we frame identities this way, it often creates a feeling of us versus them.”
This is the last thing we need in an economy where two-thirds of workers are disengaged. In 2019, SRHM reported that 20% of the workforce quit due to a toxic workplace, and 26% said they actively dreaded going to work.
This was before the Great Resignation, where a toxic workplace was 10 times more likely to be the reason for an employee to quit than compensation issues.
As mainstream corporate America continues pushing divisive and toxic woke ideology, the emerging “freedom economy” will continue to grow. And these companies will have more productive teams and more fulfilling workplaces.
That’s one reason why RedBalloon has quickly grown into one of America’s largest job-boards. We connect motivated job seekers with non-woke employers that positive workplace culture rewards employees for their effort and outcomes, not their ethnicity or gender.
The CEO ACTION FOR DIVERSITY & INCLUSION is simply pushing a repackaged form of racism and sexism. 2,400 CEOs have been caught in this trap. History won’t be kind to their divisive brand of workplace culture. And, in the end, it could mean the shuttering of their companies.
Andrew Crapuchettes, is the founder and CEO of RedBalloon, which was founded in 2021 as the solution to the ever-growing problem of government overreach and “cancel culture” invading the American workplace.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.