We Hire Diverse People To Make Then Like Us

Companies hire diverse talent but then put pressure on that same talent to become homogenous

As soon as I obtained my university degree, I set out to find my first job. For context, it is important to know that I am a black woman and I live in Geneva, Switzerland. There is a lot of systemic racism here, and it makes it hard for black and brown people to find employment. I have an English sounding name so I was often shortlisted for jobs, but once I got to the interview, the recruiters always seemed surprised to see that I was black.

One CEO told me that she thought I was the right fit for the job, but the only problem was that I was black and she wasn’t sure her clients would want to work with me. She asked if she could consult with them before hiring me. Fortunately, they approved and I spent several years as the chief editor of her publishing company.

When the company went under, I found myself on the job market once again, but I had learned my lesson: I decided to only approach large multinational companies for employment. I saw that these outfits ran much-publicized diversity and inclusion programs. For me, that meant that I no longer had to go through a humiliating vetting process simply because I was black. Ever since deciding to approach larger more diverse organizations, I have not looked back.

Many corporations understand the business case for diversity and inclusion (D&I) and hire talent regardless of ethnic origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and so forth. I was fortunate to work in these organizations and this helped me build a fulfilling career while at the same time making a meaningful contribution to society.

But while I am grateful to companies for these D&I initiatives, I have come to the conclusion that while they hire you for the diversity that you bring, once you set foot in their quarters, they try to homogenize you or simply put, they try to make you look and think like everyone else. Let me explain.

I am from Sierra Leone, a small country in West Africa. We were 5 siblings raised by a single mother. My family and I moved to Switzerland when I was 9. There, as one of few black kids in my school, I faced bullying and racism. It was difficult to focus on my lessons because I worried about getting beat up every day. To summarize, I would say that I have faced strong adversity in my life. That in turn has helped me build resilience and perseverance. I know how it feels to be in a place where no one believes in you, where no one values you, and where people want to destroy you.

Given this background, I view and experience the world differently from say for example a white man who has always been first all his life, who has always been adored. I am different from someone who was always given opportunities. Someone who has lived a full life of privilege and privilege only.

While we are all human beings, I firmly believe that having to row against the tide, being a minority both ethnically and gender-wise have played an important role in forging my character. When I come to work for company X, I bring all of that with me — all of those life experiences, those moments of adversity, those times of winning despite having so many of the odds stacked against me.

When a company looks to hire me, for me it means that they welcome that diversity of experience and most importantly, of thought. They see the value in it and how it favorably impacts their bottom line — they do not seek to silence that diversity of thought. But in the end, that is exactly what they do — consciously and unconsciously, they mute me.

I’ve written about my experiences in the corporate world — my bosses commenting on why I wear my hair in braids or why I wear vibrant makeup or colorful clothing. When they say this, they are implicitly asking me why can’t I be like everyone else — or in the subtext, like every other white person.

I am asked to speak up and comment, but when I do, my feedback is hardly ever listened to. Time and time again, I observe that the note taker in sessions does not record my feedback. Apparently, because my ideas are too innovative, too different from the rest of the group or they don’t fit the consensus. And this is where I ask myself: so why have you hired me if you systematically suppress my diverse inputs and thoughts?

For example, if I am working on a public health program to bring health services to women in remote villages in sub-Saharan Africa, as an African woman myself, I can more easily understand and put myself in these women’s shoes and shape a program that is more likely to be adopted by them. If we are going to invest millions of dollars in building that program, shouldn’t we put all chances on our side to make it work? Shouldn’t we rely on the diverse voices in the team to build the most robust and successful program possible?

I have seen this happen time and time again: diversity leading to homogeneity, and this causes blind spots. One of the most prominent examples of this in recent history are the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US. A ton of intelligence officers thought that an attack on America was impossible. They were all homogenous, all clones in their ways of evaluating the intelligence they received. We all saw what happened as a result.

Another example is the Boeing 737 max. The company didn't see the need to train pilots on a new update they had installed to stabilize the aircraft. This resulted in 2 plane crashes and hundreds of lives lost. Again the homogeneity in thinking of Boeing’s executives was the reason behind these tragic incidents.

In conclusion, I would add that when companies decide that they want to hire more diverse talent, they need to ensure that the organization’s culture will foster and preserve these diverse perspectives. It doesn't make any sense to hire different people with different skill sets from different backgrounds to make them all identical at the end of the day.

There is a strong business imperative for companies to be diverse. There are endless sources of data that show that diverse companies are a lot more profitable than homogenous ones. So when companies engage in D&I, they need to constantly nurture it and make sure it is not lost. This will also help companies retain their talent. Diverse voices need to feel that they are valued and that they are bringing something to the organization. If they feel muzzled, or if they feel the weight of homogeneity pressuring them, they will leave.

Thanks for reading my perspective.