Beyond buzzwords: The real impact of race, gender and DEI at work

Since 2020, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become both a flash point and a controversial term. Critics argue that DEI efforts unfairly advantage unqualified workers, promote division among employees, and lead to a decline in productivity. However, research shows categorically that the reverse is true.

Companies that are diverse in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability are more innovative and see higher revenues than those that are more homogenous. Yet increasing workforce diversity can be a challenge for companies due to longstanding practices that inhibit opportunities for women and people of color.

This brief explores how women of all races and men from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups experience workplace discrimination. This brief also offers insight into how companies can promote diversity and increase their economic standing.

Workplace discrimination

While more than 60 years have passed since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, discrimination remains commonplace in US companies. Employees whose names seem to signal that they are Black are less likely to get interviews when they apply for entry level jobs. Disparities in pay persist with Black women losing out on nearly a million dollars in earnings over the course of their lifetimes.

These issues aren't limited to Black workers. Despite higher levels of educational attainment, Asian Americans are underrepresented in leadership roles, with Asian American women particularly so. Latino/a workers are overrepresented in low-wage, low-status jobs with little opportunity for growth and mobility. Women of all races also continue to experience wage gaps, with white women earning about 83 cents for every dollar that similarly qualified white men make—a gap that worsens with parenthood.

What explains these patterns?

Research shows that these disparities are not the result of a lack of qualifications, skills, or experience, and that workplace discrimination remains a major factor. Sociologist Lincoln Quillian and his colleagues found that discrimination toward Black Americans has not declined since the late 1980s. Black workers are also disproportionately concentrated in low-wage jobs with few opportunities for upward mobility, and those in high-status occupations are frequently excluded from management tracks that could lead to advancement.

Sociologist A. Nicole Kreisberg's research shows that Latino/as face significant hiring discrimination based on perceptions of citizenship and immigration status. Sociologist Margaret Chin documents that the stereotype of Asian American passivity and docility impede their access to management and leadership positions.

What does DEI do?

Many employers have adopted DEI initiatives to try to address these disparities in the workplace, but these policies have not fixed the problems. Sociologists Kate Weisshaar, Koji Chavez, and Tania Cabello-Hutt found that in the tech sector, DEI efforts created opportunities for white women but not workers of color, who remain underrepresented in this field.

Legal scholar and sociologist Lauren Edelman's research revealed that private sector companies were often more concerned with showing compliance with federal regulations than with reducing racial workplace disparities.

However, DEI programming based on evidence and data—rather than what is popular—demonstrates results. Sociologists Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev have shown that employee referral programs, mentoring programs, and skill training are solutions that yield career results for all workers and that can help reduce racial workplace disparities.

Programs like these offer all workers opportunities to benefit from the social and cultural relationships that are the glue of modern workplaces. They democratize career systems that in the past have favored white men and give a wider array of workers chances to thrive and advance in modern companies.

Researchers estimate that ongoing racial and gender inequalities have cost the U.S. more than 25 trillion dollars over the past two decades alone. As companies like Walmart, John Deere, Target, and others pull back from DEI initiatives, it seems unlikely that they will soon make progress on reducing inequalities.

The U.S. economy will continue to pay the cost, and companies and workers will become less equipped to operate in an increasingly diverse society. To change this, it will be incumbent upon workers and companies to rely on the research to find ways to recommit to diversity even amidst political pressure.

Provided by American Sociological Association (ASA)