Over the last couple of years, DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) has become synonymous with right-wing media and criticisms of hiring practices accused of being focused on demographics over merit – on both sides of the political spectrum. While the validity of these claims has frequently been argued over and perhaps oversimplified, it has opened up a larger question: is hiring and recruitment inherently political?
“I think the answer is yes. I’m going to go one step further and say I think it should be, but not necessarily in the way that you think,” said Samantha Emery, a Financial Services Executive and NED in a FinextraTV interview. She continued to say, “If you look at the origins of the word political, it comes from the ancient Greek. It was all about tying people to place and the systems that you needed to achieve best outcomes for all.
“I think what we’ve lost over the centuries, over the millennia, is that notion of best outcomes for all. It’s almost – today – seen as a pejorative. Best outcomes for some, arguably often those in power, those in the majority groupings. And that’s where it becomes problematic when you’re talking about things like recruitment.”
Emery says that this definition of politics, which she associates with recruitment, should be seen through this lens as an obligation, not an optional consideration. Alongside Emery, Nadia Edwards-Dashti, co-founder and chief customer officer, Harrington Starr, agrees about how these considerations go further than just the hiring decisions:
“I always say to people: you are hired every day, whether it is the next big project, whether it’s that promotion that Sam spoke about, whether it’s leading something within a team; and when people start to get stifled, whether that’s through redundancy, whether that’s through being overlooked, undervalued, things start to change within the business.”
Speaking to the apprehension of being involved in so-called ‘culture wars’, Emery suggests that these perspectives are reductive: “It has not been, and it should never have been about culture wars. It is very much a conversation around both business outcomes and business issues and sectoral outcomes, and I think that’s really important to remember.”
She continued: “There are practical implications of cultural homogeneity. Whether it’s how your governance functions and what you get out of it, to the products that you’re able to design and put out to market; your ability to serve to the consumer population at large and ultimately achieve positive impact in the sector. Again, is not going to be as well prepared as those who are engaging in this thoughtfully.”
“So, if you talk to me about what is the risk of complacency, it’s multi-part, but you’re talking about business sustainability, you’re talking about risk management, and you’re talking about positive sectoral impact,” Emery concluded.
Watch the full FinextraTV interview where Edwards-Dashti and Emery go on to explore how businesses can reevaluate how they approach their recruitment and retention activities, and further expand on how long-term DEI efforts inevitably sustain business longevity.
