Why corporate diversity statements are backfiring

Don’t Call Me Resilient

We’ve all heard the buzzwords: Equity, diversity, inclusion.

For some, these terms evoke social change but for others, they conjure empty promises on a glossy corporate brochure or a workplace’s ineffective policy statement at the bottom of a job listing.

In 2020, when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, worldwide protests against anti-Black police brutality and racism prompted corporations across the world to rush to address anti-Black racism with statements of solidarity and, in many cases, affirmations of their commitment to anti-racism in the workplace.

But University of Toronto Professor Sonia Kang says that without action plans to back up those ideas, those statements can actually lead to greater blocks to success for racialized employees and job seekers.

Join us and listen to Don't Call Me Resilient as we speak with Prof. Kang to discuss tokenism and how institutions uphold institutional racism. Kang is a Canada Research Chair in Identity, Diversity and Inclusion and host of the podcast For the Love of Work.

From performative allyship in the workplace to resume whitening practices in job applications to the grey area between being a diversity hire or the first racialized employee, explore the many facets of tokenism and how we can challenge and reshape the institutional practices that keep racialized employees from succeeding in the workplace.

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Transcript

The unedited version of the transcript is available here.