Chief diversity officer (CDO) jobs were among the fastest growing in 2020 and 2021 as corporate America and politicians promised major, sweeping change to make progress on racial equity.
But a push toward efficiency that has included widespread layoffs at some of the largest and most profitable companies in the world is driving a new, less optimistic era for the position, the field, and the mission of improved representation in the workplace.
The Wall Street Journal recently noted that chief diversity officers at Disney, Netflix, and Warner Bros. Discovery have all departed and that former CDOs are looking for different kinds of jobs. Even in cases where they are still working on corporate diversity, they want it tied to a distinct area such as talent strategy or learning and development.
Chief diversity officers have shared their experiences with a number of outlets, which ultimately drive home one major point: executives appear to be doing something about equity, but when push comes to shove their actions don’t match their words. In fact, more than eighty percent of Americans report their companies have not invested in recruiting or promoting employees of color since June 2020, according to Hue’s State of Inequity report.
Beyond inaction, some diversity heads are reporting it’s a matter of having enough budget or authority in the position to do the job well. At Nielsen, the media ratings company, CEO David Kenny took on chief diversity officer responsibilities, but he still experienced challenges. He acknowledges that for those in the majority, diversity initiatives make them feel like they’re losing something.
“A lot of it is, ‘I’m losing my slice of the pie,’” he said.
NBC News identified high attrition rates for chief diversity officers and a startling lack of diversity in the chief diversity officer position itself – over 70% were white.
“I can say: ‘I will be fully vegan by 2025’ because no one will ever call me in 2025 … that’s really what is going on here,” Reyhan Ayas, senior economist at Revelio Labs, told NBC. “In 2020, a lot of companies made big commitments, big statements around the DEI roles and goals. And as we are observing a turning of that tide, I think it’s very timely that we actually look into companies to see if they have kept up with those big statements they made.”
As Hue’s Fahad Khawaja wrote in AdWeek, the job places a lot of pressure on one individual or a small, underfunded team to address a litany of systemic issues while managing every single person’s feelings and expectations on these hot-button issues. Three years ago, Khawja wrote that companies and their senior-most leaders need to adopt a greater focus on accountability for key metrics related to equity and inclusion.
“This means building an equity team, whose responsibility is to ensure equity at all levels, including racial representation, socioeconomic class representation, pay equity and health equity across diverse groups. It involves efforts focused on recruitment, retention, development and promotion – all of which can enhance belonging and deliver growth.”
Until top business leaders start prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion with the same vigor that they have for managing operational or financial performance, we will not see meaningful progress. Transparency, budgeting, and internal support remain issues that continue to hinder efforts to make the corporate world more equitable.
