This is a weekly roundup of the latest in HR News.
A look at this week's headlines can be demoralizing for HR professionals dedicated to creating diverse workplaces, where people feel included and helping people secure livelihood and succeed on the job. Rather than get sad, Human Resources leaders must use this news as motivation to march forward, take charge, and inluence businesses to turn things around - to keep diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as a priority, to make layoffs a last resort that is rarely conducted, and to keep helping people find their success.
Read on to learn details of the latest HR news:
Corporate America Slashes DEIB Programs
In the wake of George Floyd's murder at the hands of police in 2020, the world put a spotlight on inequity. This prompted businesses to take action. Customers and employees demanded a response, and many started hiring diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals. But the commitment did not last long, and in some cases it was merely performative, according to new reporting from ABC News.
The report includes data that is surprising because DEI was put on the back burner almost immediately after it seemed to be a priority. Here's the explanation from ABC News:
"Starting in late 2020 - months after the killing of Floyd set off a racial reckoning - a host of companies escalated cuts of DEI professionals, a survey of more than 600 companies from data firm Revelio Labs found.
Last year, the layoffs accelerated significantly, the study found. One in three DEI professionals lost their roles over a one-year period ending in December, the survey said. Over that period, the study added, non-DEI workers experienced a relatively lower attrition rate of 21%."
Read the full story to learn more about why this happened, how affirmative action may negatively impact DEI further, and how politicians and anti-DEIB rhetoric are creating some anti-diversity sentiment.
READ: The HR Guide to DEI
Layoffs at ESPN and Tesla
Although ESPN's layoffs impacted only about 20 people, it gained attention because of who was let go. Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber, Keyshawn Johnson, Jalen Rose and Max Kellerma - on-air personalities celebrated by the public - were among those laid off, according to many reports, including one in USA Today. This is part of the already reported-on plan on Disney to cut jobs for savings. Other on-air personalities have spoken openly with the public about the layoffs.
"ESPN just the other day laid off about 20 members of its on-air talent," said Stephen Smith on "The Stephen A. Smith Show" as reported in USA Today. "Friends of mine, actually, definitely respected colleagues, who have done a phenomenal job and deserved better. But it's not Disney or ESPN that they deserved better from, they deserved better than the times we are living in."
Smith admitted that these layoffs are not over. Indeed, at around the same time, Bloomberg reported that Tesla began conducting layoffs in China. There is little additional information, but it speaks to the fear employees worldwide have of being let go in this post-pandemic and uncertain economy.
Tech Layoffs Impact More Women Than Men
An Axios story gained buzz on social media because it included reporting that showed the tech layoffs, which have been happening continuously since the end of 2022, were impacting women more than men. The tech sector was already notorious for having trouble recruiting and retaining women employees and leaders. Therefore, this news had people sounding alarms when it broke.
"From October 2022 to June 2023, women made up 45% of laid-off tech employees, according to an analysis of 3,404 workers by Layoffs.fyi, shared with Axios. About 55% of laid-off workers were male, the analysis shows. But most industry statistics put the share of male employees in tech at a much higher level, said Roger Lee, the founder of Layoffs.fyi," according to the Axios article.
Jobs Report Shows Slower Employment Growth
The June jobs report showed that the job market has cooled, especially when compared to May.
"The total, while still solid from a historical perspective, marked a considerable drop from May’s downwardly revised total of 306,000 and was the slowest month for job creation since payrolls fell by 268,000 in December 2020. The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage point," according to CNBC.
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