If there was one thing we as a culture learned was the diversity is a double edged sword. In the name of “inclusivity”, the admirable goal is to not leave anyone out of the conversation. What tends to happen, however, is that people DO get left out. Sadly, it seems that the lesson James Damore taught was ignored. And as Microsoft is learning, diversity for the sake of diversity is not working well for them.

In August of 2017, James Damore, a engineer for Google, released a memo regarding Google’s push for internal dialogue about staff improvement.  Google simply asked the question of their staff about what can be done to improve the means of hiring and staffing within their own ranks. Mr. Damore decided that he would objectively write based on data and statistics regarding the differences between men and women. He found, simply based on the numbers, that men and women want different things and that those differences should be recognized.  

It is Not Rocket Science

Nothing about it is groundbreaking; it has already been proven. Dr. Jordan Peterson continues to tow that line of thought. Dr. Peterson simply states that when equality of outcome is pushed, gender divides regarding choices are more apparent because the divide is greater. He states that when egalitarianism is pushed, men go for more jobs geared for men and women go for more jobs geared for women.

He says this during one of his interviews on a Scandinavian talk show seen here.  James Damore reported this in his now infamous Google Memo. He stated that men and women simply want different things and that Google should structure their staffing to accommodate this.  When the memo was circulated, James received an unbelievable amount of backlash and was thus subsequently terminated from his employment with Google. Google then was known for its “Ideological Echo Chamber” and revealing that there is in fact a bias with Google.

Revelation

What resulted from this is revealing, in full public view, how Google leans.  More than just a search engine that should simply show results, Google has been shown to curate results. On top of that, any Google based product gives off this ideological bias. We have seen it time and time again due to this echo-chamber. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, tends to favor more left leaning channels while they shadow-ban, bury, and outright suspend channels that lean right.

One example was based on the Social Blade numbers regarding the far-left channel The Young Turks. This show has seen a downturn in subscribers but is placed in the “Trending” list. Comedian and political commentator Steven Crowder has more subscribers and more views, but does not even make it.  People see this and continually voice disdain for Google. No recourse makes it nearly impossible for any channel that has a conservative bent to get the notice they deserve; their numbers are down due to the echo chamber Google puts forward.

Google Not So Diverse

It now appears that Microsoft is also facing some similar internal strife regarding diversity.  According to a business publication known as “Quartz”, it seems that more hiring managers have white males applying for positions. Qualified white and Asian men are not being considered, however. The stated reason for this is that diversity quotas aren’t being met.

Internal message boards indicate the disdain many employees are expressing. They are stating that while the company is pushing to be a more diverse company, it is doing little to make that practice a reality. According to “Quartz”, there are over 175 comments regarding this issue. All of them are complaints about the reality that some positions should not be open to diversity, as certain groups of people cannot do the job well.  You can read the full Quartz article here.

Ditch the Frame

Many Microsoft employees refused to come forward as they do not want to face the same outcome that James Damore did regarding his memo. But Quartz, as well as the publication The Verge, are framing their articles in a negative light. Both articles are stating that these people are both racist and sexist for simply stating the reality that diversity for diversity’s sake is not working. Company heads should take note instead of pushing forward an agenda that does not function well in terms of job positions.  

The reason people are upset is because they allegedly cannot have a certain job due to their race. Quarts and The Verge inherently think that Asians, in this case, are monolithic and their articles are framed in that way. Anyone who contests that is called racist. To suggest that all Asians are the same is clearly not the case, however.

According to a Census report, Indian and Chinese Asians are reported to have Bachelor’s degrees. Cambodians, Vietnamese, and Laotians will not. To state that the way a person looks is grounds for penalizing them for a job is in fact racist. The qualifications of a person are not tied to their heritage, but to hire based on that is proving problematic as companies today try to push more diversity for the sake of diversity.

What the Studies Show

According to the Harvard Business Bureau, when a company dictates what their employees should think and push forward this agenda for diversity, employees tend to push back against it. They do this in order to prove their own autonomy, thereby negating any “diversity training” these employees received.  You can read the data here. All in all, the numbers show that diversity quotas do not work because it inherently discriminates.

In turn, it causes more issues internally and lessens the quality of work. The company believes it is succeeding because the numbers of women and Latinos are met, however. When women decide to take time off for maternity leave, it proves to be an issue because of the time taken from tasks. And most of these women do leave the workforce for the sake of nurturing their families. Meanwhile, men are deciding to stay behind and carry that load. Again, the numbers are available to support these ideas.

Quality > Diversity

The Google memo and the current Microsoft diversity scandal teach us that a company should focus less on external motivators and more on exhibiting quality.  Just because a woman is a woman, does not mean she has all the qualifications needed to complete the task. If a woman has the right qualifications, then she should be hired. If a woman does not have the needed requirements, however, but a man in the hiring pool does, the man should be hired.

That should be pretty self-explanatory! Forced diversity seems to be the bent among the tech giants. Now it is turning out to be problematic for them. More employees are voicing disdain at being forced to agree with something that just does not line up logically. Tech giants are finding out it is affecting the quality of work.