Employment and discrimination law specialists have been telling their corporate clients for the past two years it\u2019s possible to minimize their chance of getting hit with a discrimination lawsuit without abandoning diversity, equity and inclusion commitments by replacing their hard hiring goals with something aspirational.<\/p>\n
\u201cA program that tries to establish a fixed goal \u2014 a quota \u2014 for minority hiring or minority contracting is going to be much more vulnerable than a plan that doesn\u2019t use numerical targets,\u201d Samir Deger-Sen, a Latham & Watkins partner, said in 2023, shortly after the Supreme Court shot down university race-conscious admissions policies as discriminatory. Even though the decision was about college admissions, critics say it helped pave the way for discrimination actions against DEI programs in business.<\/p>\n
That advice hasn\u2019t been lost on Meta, it seems.<\/p>\n
In early January, the tech giant said it was disbanding its DEI team and scrapping its diverse slate approach to hiring, which requires hiring managers to include as many underrepresented candidates for jobs as possible.<\/p>\n
The goal, at the time the approach was created about a decade ago, was to \u201chard wire\u201d diversity into the company\u2019s culture. \u201cThe more people you interview who don\u2019t look or think like you, the more likely you are to hire someone from a diverse background,\u201d Maxine Williams, the company\u2019s then-global director of diversity, said at the time.<\/p>\n
Williams pointed to a report showing the company in 2017, the first year after the diverse slate approach was launched, had increased the share of Hispanics in its workforce from 4% to 5%, African Americans from 2% to 3% and women in technical roles from 17% to 19%.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have a long way to go,\u201d the company said in the report, \u201cbut we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive company \u2014 no matter how long it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Meta is taking the position that formal DEI programs can be a hindrance to diversity efforts. In a 10-K filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the change in its diversity programs is part of an effort to reduce bias in its hiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain committed to having a skilled, inclusive and diverse workforce with a broad range of knowledge, skills, political views, backgrounds, and perspectives because we believe cognitive diversity fuels innovation,\u201d the company said in the filing. \u201cTo aid in this effort, we have taken steps to reduce bias in our people processes and tooling, including our hiring processes and performance management systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those steps include the changes to its diversity programs announced in early January.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn hiring, we will continue to source candidates from different backgrounds, but we will stop using the Diverse Slate Approach,\u201d Janelle Gale, Meta\u2019s HR chief, said in an internal communication Jan. 10 that announced the changes. The internal memo was published by CNBC. \u201cThis practice has always been subject to public debate and is currently being challenged. We believe there are other ways to build an industry leading workforce and leverage teams made up of world-class people from all types of backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Replacing a formal DEI program with aspirational language about the benefits of diversity tracks the playbook attorneys have been suggesting to their clients. In a post published on the law firm\u2019s website last year, Fisher Phillips attorneys recommended companies offer resources and education to help strive for diversity in their workforce but not to play a numbers game.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuotas have always been unlawful for private employers under Title VII and DEI programs should not replace merit-based selection processes,\u201d the attorneys said. \u201cWhile DEI programs can be mistaken as developing quotas, they should not be seen as such if executed properly. Part of proper execution includes ensuring that program objectives are carefully messaged in light of recent case law developments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Based on its decision to disband its diversity team and drop its diverse slate approach to hiring, among other things, and replace those formal initiatives with aspirational language, Meta seems to be taking to heart the kind of recommendations attorneys have been offering.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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