The cultural diversity problem does exist — sure, but not in the companies.
The companies are a mere representation of how things stand in society and workplace in general.
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Note for Nishant Agrwal — O ye of little faith. Have a little trust in humanity.
Note for everyone else — It was supposed to be a response to Nishant’s comment, but turned out longer and I ended up including some data that feels pertinent and relevant to the last story I wrote on the topic. If you haven’t read that, you might wanna check that out.
I’m not saying it doesn’t piss me off, because it does (otherwise why would have I written that piece). But the truth is, even if we are in minority, that’s okay. Change begins with one, and these sentiments are definitely shared by more than just you and I.
But you are absolutely right. The problem has become an epidemic and it is politically motivated. As far as the coverages and articles on the topic go, IMHO it is just because the topic is juicy. And I hate that. Feels much like clickbait, only worse.
I am not saying there shouldn’t be cultural diversity. It most certainly is important as well. But the way it is being perceived of, as of today, is just plain and simple wrong. It is rife with problems.
The first problem is with the vilification of it
To what extent should a company’s workforce be culturally diversified? I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone should. Companies are supposed to build their teams based on talent, compatibility, diversification of thought processes etc, not culture and skin-tone. If you find the right candidate who is culturally diversified, that’s great. If not, it’s okay.
The moment we start forcing companies to form their workplace based on their ‘demo’ instead of talent and other key workplace attributes, how is it any different from caste-based reservations in India which is rampant, despised and hated by any and all intellectuals — including intellectuals from those very same segments.
The second problem — People are looking at the numbers wrong. They need to understand how stats work
So there was a town in the woods. Largest supplier of timber to half the country. The town did not have any other natural resources — no coal, no iron ore. One day a coal miner moved into the town. After witnessing the fact that the town was solely represented by lumberjacks and carpenters, he went on a strike, holding protests highlighting the discriminations against the coalminers in the area. The news outlets started giving him primetime coverage, and he was soon the President of the country.
I mean. WHAT THE FUCK!
I don’t think I could have described the whole scenario better.
People like to throw around numbers, here are few numbers for them:
POPULATION BREAKDOWN BY RACE
US LABOR FORCE BREAKDOWN
A LOOK AT MALE vs FEMALE DATA IN COMPUTER SCIENCES
So essentially, despite the fact that the country labor force gets a relatively much lower influx of the kind of demographics these companies are allegedly discriminating against, these demos are being mistreated and not being given their fair share — as displayed by the data within their organisations. Does anyone else see how insane that sounds?
I think I’ll stop now before I burst a nerve! :-p
