Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down race-conscious admissions in higher education, some corporate leaders may be concerned that beyond reducing the already low diversity of their hiring pipelines, the ruling might cause their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and programs to face additional scrutiny and legal challenge.
So long as these guidelines are followed, neither employers nor DEI practitioners need to panic. Removing the word “diversity,” vowing to strip all mentions of race at work, or shutting down race-related affinity groups are harmful overreactions that don’t reflect real legal risks. As it stands, the vast majority of workplace DEI programs arereduce
While using the racial data of individuals to influence a hiring decision would be illegal, aggregating racial data for the overall candidate pool to identify overall race-related disparities is well within reasonable grounds. Collecting demographic data in conjunction with an employee engagement survey might reveal racial gaps in meeting participation deserving a closer look. Collecting demographic data in conjunction with HR data might reveal racial gaps in turnover deserving intervention.