SHRM Turns Back The Clock

The backlash has scored a victory.

Earlier this week, the President & CEO of SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management), announced that it was dropping the word “equity” from the work it had been calling “Inclusion, Equity & Diversity” or “IE&D.” 

His brief explanation conceded that “societal backlash” motivated the change. But it went further: it claims, bizarrely, that “DE&I programs, in their current form, simply aren’t working.” (Decades of research show otherwise.)

Then, in a third head-scratcher, it argues that “rather than ignore the problem, we want to confront it head-on”...by taking the word “equity” out of the name. (Not saying something is also called…ignoring it.)

This surrender by an organization with outsized influence in the professional world has caused alarm in the field. I heard about it through a text that said, “This statement has the HR/People Ops industry shaking.”

When I started doing this work almost 20 years ago, it was called “D&I”. SHRM is literally going backward. 

It seems like the “E” for equity was widely adopted only in the last decade. The reasoning has been clear. Most organizations began by pursuing diversity on its own, getting people in and increasing representation of various identities. But the change was shallow. People of color and other marginalized groups weren’t accessing the same opportunities, and they didn’t stay long.

Recognizing that shortcoming, the work was broadened to add “Inclusion”—the thought being that if employees are engaged, feel valued, and have equal access to opportunities, they will be more likely to stay at an organization and contribute their best work.

But that wasn’t enough to effect real change. Not when the structures that cause disparities have existed in society for centuries. We are shaped by the resources we can access throughout our lives. People whose families have been deprived of health care, education, housing, and wealth show up differently than those who have benefited more fairly.

The playing field isn’t level. Inclusion alone doesn’t address this reality. Equity does.

I like the way Dr. Robert Livingston sums it up: “Equity is about treating people differently in ways that make sense.” Accounting for the unique needs of individuals and groups isn’t doing someone a favor. It is a benefit to the organization.

Treating employees equitably provides everyone with the support they need to contribute their skills and perspectives, and removes barriers they face that others don’t. 

The “societal backlash” we’re experiencing now is, in reality, driven by a sustained misinformation campaign to build power for one political movement. All human resources professionals should respond to this critique “head-on,” with evidence, logic, and stories that show how much better off we all are when we center equity.

Not by crossing out the word and turning back the clock.