Why the IT industry doesn't believe in the 'anti-DEI' movement

While the current legislative bills opposing diversity and equity efforts are primarily focused on colleges and universities, they threaten DEI support across every sector. And yet, the IT industry considers DEI an essential part of business.

Eighty percent of IT and HR professionals agree that diversity initiatives are crucial for an inclusive IT workplace, according to a recent report from TEKsystems, a global provider of technology, business and talent solutions. And the same goes for leadership: 68% of enterprise decision-makers expect to increase their DEI spending and DEI hiring in 2024.

"IT organizations recognize that they're able to produce better products and offer better services when there are more diverse perspectives contributing to them," says Franklin Reed, TEKsystems' executive director of global inclusion, diversity and equity. "And they recognize that in order to solve that, we've got to attract a diverse employee base."

Read more: DEI isn't dead: How employers can refocus their efforts ahead of the 2024 election

Since 2022, 40 anti-DEI bills have been introduced targeting higher education institutions and practices like mandatory DEI training for employees, required diversity statements in hiring and DEI office programming. Most recently, the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, called Disney's DEI efforts a "racist, sexist discriminatory set of laws" in a leaked memo, after the entertainment company was accused of sidelining white male applicants in favor of applicants from diverse ethnic backgrounds. 

Musk has since escalated his attack on Disney, hinting at the possibility of purchasing the company in order to "de-wokeify" it. 

"The anti-DEI movement is short-sighted," Reed says. "It has been co-opted as a tool to drive the agenda of individuals' political strategy, and it's an easy cop out for staying the course around some really difficult work."

The data shows that IT's continued investment in DEI programs has created more opportunities for underrepresented groups. TEKsystems' survey found that 88% of Black or African American IT employees say DEI programs have made their workplace better, 49% of female IT employees say DEI programs have positively impacted their career development and 41% of IT employees still consider DEI at least very important when considering a new job.

Read more: Women make up just 34% of STEM jobs. Look to college campuses to close the gap

"That's hard data to refute, and it proves that some of the attacks against DEI are just so misguided," Reed says. "People [can] criticize DEI work, or the program's initiatives and strategy — in fact, it's healthy. [The]challenge is that a lot of the criticism comes from individuals who haven't been engaged in the work and they're not actually offering any alternative solutions." 

Reed's advice to organizations is to assess what's working well and do away with what's not. Sometimes that means returning to the basics: Focusing on recruiting and retention efforts, investing in programs and initiatives that give organizations greater access and visibility into what's happening internally and challenging leaders to continue to step up.

"Resetting a broken arm is painful, but living with a broken arm is even more painful," Reed says. "So fixing their DEI efforts might be a little bit painful for companies, but abandoning them doesn't remove the problem, and if the diverse talent coming in doesn't feel like they can do their best work in a workplace, they will be out the door."