As sweeping layoffs plague Big Tech, DEI jobs are taking the brunt of the blow.
According to a Bloomberg report, listings for DEI roles were down 19% last year — a larger downtick than in legal or general human resources departments per data from Textio, a company helping businesses create unbiased job ads.
“I’m cautiously concerned — not that these roles will go to zero but that there will be a spike in ‘Swiss army knife’ type roles,” Textio Chief Executive Officer Kieran Snyder told Bloomberg.
Other sectors besides have dramatically carved into their DEI departments after deploying mass layoffs in anticipation of a pending global recession. Last year, companies made their plans to cut over 363,000 jobs public, a figure that jumped up 13% from 2021.
This comes after a boom in DEI role creation and hiring took place in the years following global Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 where companies promises to bolster their efforts in DEI. The pledges led to organizations bringing in their first ever Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers and creating new departments devoted to amplifying equity efforts. For instance, in the few months following George Flyod’s murder, DEI job listings increased 123%, per Indeed.
“Cutting DEI oriented staff now, unless you’ve made really progress and can say ‘mission accomplished’ is not a good look,” said Angie Kamath, dean at the NYU School of Professional Studies, who focuses on workforce development. “There are some real risks.”
Research shows that workers are more likely to leave a company if they fail to demonstrate an investment in DEI. Nearly one in five female leaders have left a job that failed to prioritize inclusion according to an October report from McKinsey and LeanIn.org. And as Bloomberg points out, a 2019 survey of 2,000 workers, found that 39% didn’t pursue or accepting a job if they perceived low DEI investment.