Hollow Actions and Hypocrisy:

How George Floyd’s Murder Created Profits for Online Training Organizations

After the murder of George Floyd, the number of job postings for jobs related to diversity and inclusion increased dramatically in the United States (Stansell & Zhao, 2020). These diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) employees are often people of color (McKinney, 2021; Ward, 2021) and are entrusted with implementing diversity training. According to Bezrukova, Jehn, and Spell (2008), “diversity training is defined as a distinct set of programs aimed at facilitating positive intergroup interactions, reducing prejudice discrimination, and enhancing the skills, knowledge, and motivation of people to interact with diverse others” (p.212). In addition to the increase of diversity and inclusion jobs, “companies are [also] trying to hire more racially and ethnically diverse talent across entire hierarchies” (Trentmann, 2021).

Employers have increased the racial bias and other DEI training dramatically after George Floyd’s death, but the resources are often not equitable when compared to other training (Norwood, 2021) and DEI employees often cite a lack of meaningful institutional support (Cutter & Weber, 2020). Buttner and Lowe (2017) found that the perceptions of pay inequity can significantly affect workplace culture and employee retention (p.621). At a time in which employers are seeking to diversify their workforce, employee turnover can hamper efforts significantly.

And not all corporations and organizations went on what Bloomberg’s Jeff Green called a “hiring spree” regarding diversity (Green, 2021). Many organizations outsourced their diversity training. Norwood (2021) found that “some organizations ask trainers to change the content of their presentations in order to avoid making their majority-white staff or membership feel uncomfortable.” This may be related to the fact that corporate and organizational leaders themselves are still predominantly white males (Jones, Fraser, & Zhang, 2021). As of November 2021, for example, there are only four Black CEOs on the Fortune 500 list (Gura, 2021).

Outsourcing diversity training to qualified consultants can be effective if the trainers are empowered by the organization. Ngounou and Gutiérrez (2019) noted the value of in-person, interracial teams for facilitating diversity programs. However, online courses are potentially less effective. Chang, Milkman, Gromet, Rebele, Massey, Duckworth, and Grant (2019a, 2019b) found that online diversity training programs may increase acknowledgment of gender and racial bias, but there was no evidence of behavioral change among non-marginalized populations. The authors suggest that a “multipronged diversity and inclusion program” (2019a) that is “regularly collecting and reviewing data” (2019a) would be more successful than “short one-off diversity trainings” (2019b). Norwood (2021) similarly noted that “simply becoming aware of a bias does not change behavior.” Worse, Brannon, Carter, Murdock-Perriera, and Higginbotham (2018) found that diversity training can spur a backlash leading to the opposite of the desired results because:

Institutions are not culturally neutral settings; they are often designed exclusively with ideas, practices, and products associated with dominant groups. Thus, diversity efforts that explicitly include individuals, ideas, practices, and products associated with marginalized groups necessarily change the status quo. (p.82)

Brignall and Van Valey (2017) noted that it is imperative that any discussion on diversity also includes white identity and privilege (p.119).

While diversity training has been a multi-billion dollar industry for decades (Anand & Winters, 2008), questions of quality control and profiteering at the cost of social justice have emerged. For example, one such online training company located in Tampa Bay, Florida, states that it “promote(s) social awareness and serve as a resource for individuals who want to learn more and make their organizations and communities a better place.” It also states:

We take Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) practices very seriously and we’re excited to release a new series of courses on a wide range of DE&I topics, that are customized for the industries we serve. Not all organizations are the same, so our library was designed to provide flexibility to meet the needs of your organization and learners.

In terms of quality control, however, this vendor is not accredited by any educational or professional organization regarding diversity training, sociology, human resources, or related fields.

Furthermore, this vendor is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau. Its executive team top-level executives are white males, and the company is owned by an equity firm whose top leadership is also comprised of white males. This dangerously reinforces the work of Cutter and Weber (2020) as well as the perceptions of pay inequity as studied by Buttner and Lowe (2017). In the sensitivity and discrimination training module, one of the two instructors has a non-terminal degree in an unrelated field and some of the course material is borrowed from the free website HelpGuide.org. The course fees charged by the vendor are an investment in an equity firm, not the institutions that pay the fees.

In conclusion, DEI training is most successful when meaningful support is invested in internal staff and programming. Training should be interactive and include follow-ups, not one-and-done videos. Online diversity training is not effective in increasing positive behaviors regarding diversity. Outsourced online diversity training has limited quality control and, worse, it potentially supports the systematic discrimination that the DEI training is meant to reform.

Anand, R., & Winters, M. F. (2008). A retrospective view of corporate diversity training from 1964 to the present. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 7(3), 356–372. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40214554

Bezrukova, K., Jehn, K. A., & Spell, C. S. (2012). Reviewing diversity training: Where we have been and where we should go. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(2), 207–227. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23412323

Brannon, T. N., Carter, E. R., Murdock-Perriera, L. A., & Higginbotham, G. D. (2018). From backlash to inclusion for all: Instituting diversity efforts to maximize benefits across group lines. Social Issues and Policy Review, 12(1), 57–90. https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Backlash-to-Inclusion-for-All-Instituting-Diversity-Efforts-to-Maximize-Benefits-Across-Group-Lines.pdf

Brignall III, T. W., & Van Valey, T. L. (2017). Approaches to diversity education: A critical assessment. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 39, 117–127. http://www.jstor.org/stable/90007875

Buttner, E. H., & Lowe, K. B. (2017). Addressing internal stakeholders’ concerns: the interactive effect of perceived pay equity and diversity climate on turnover intentions. Journal of Business Ethics, 143(3), 621–633. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45022163

Chang, E. H., Milkman, K., Gromet, D. M., Rebele, R. W., Massey, C., Duckworth, A. L., & Grant, A. M. (2019a). Does diversity training work the way it’s supposed to? Harvard Business Review. July 9, 2019. https://hbr.org/2019/07/does-diversity-training-work-the-way-its-supposed-to

Chang, E. H., Milkman, K., Gromet, D. M., Rebele, R. W., Massey, C., Duckworth, A. L., & Grant, A. M. (2019b). The mixed effects of online diversity training. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(16), 7778–7783. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/16/7778

Cutter, C., & Weber, L. (2020). Demand for Chief Diversity Officers is high. So is turnover. Wall Street Journal. July 13, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/demand-for-chief-diversity-officers-is-high-so-is-turnover-11594638000

Green, J. (2021). Office hiring spree. Bloomberg News. March 10, 2021. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-10/corporate-america-hires-chief-diversity-officers-after-george-floyd-killing

Gura, D. (2021). You can still count the number of Black CEOs on one hand. NPR. May 27, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/05/27/1000814249/a-year-after-floyds-death-you-can-still-count-the-number-of-black-ceos-on-one-ha

Jones, C., Fraser, J., & Zhang, D. (2021). Racial justice in the workplace: In-depth look at diversity’s struggle to crack corporate boardrooms. USA Today. July 17, 2021. https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/money/business/2021/07/18/workplace-diversity-struggles-break-into-corporate-boardrooms/7906529002/

McKinney, J. (2021). How 12 Black DEI trailblazers are driving transformation at us corporations after the George Floyd murder. Yahoo News. October 29, 2021. https://www.yahoo.com/now/12-black-dei-trailblazers-driving-124551217.html

Ngounou, G. N. & Gutiérrez, N. B. (2019). The value of interracial facilitation of racial equity training. The Phi Delta Kappan, 100(8), 56–61. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26677396

Norwood, C. (2021). Racial bias trainings surged after George Floyd’s death. A year later, experts are still waiting for ‘bold’ change. PBS News Hour. May 25, 2021. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/racial-bias-trainings-surged-after-george-floyds-death-a-year-later-experts-are-still-waiting-for-bold-change

Stansell, A. & Zhao, D. (2020). Diversity now: How companies and workers are bringing nationwide social justice protests to the workplace. Glassdoor. July 15, 2020. https://www.glassdoor.com/research/diversity-jobs-reviews/

Trentmann, N. (2021). Racially diverse CFOs are in high demand, but challenges persist. Wall Street Journal. May 25, 2021. https://www.wsj.com/articles/racially-diverse-cfos-are-in-high-demand-but-challenges-persist-11621942201.

Ward, M. (2021). DEI trailblazers: 16 diversity executives transforming the workplace in post-George Floyd corporate America. Business Insider. Oct 27, 2021. https://www.businessinsider.com/diversity-executives-transforming-corporate-america-post-george-floyd-2021