Why DEI Proficiency Is The New Must-Have HR Skill Set

In the past, HR and diversity overlapped occasionally but largely existed in parallel. During more than 15 years in corporate HR, I had little interaction or collaboration with central diversity teams. The relationship between the two functions had begun to change in some progressive companies, then shifted abruptly following the murder of George Floyd and the beginning of America's racial reckoning in the summer of 2020.

HR professionals can no longer operate based only on the skills that were considered important in the past. HR and diversity can no longer operate in silos if we’re going to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in organizations. 

Why HR Professionals Don’t Possess DEI Skills

HR is made up of many functional areas such as staffing, talent management, performance management, compensation, benefits and data analytics. When I accepted my first job in HR at a large technology company 20 years ago, the path to becoming a senior HR generalist or HR business partner (HRBP) was to build fluency in multiple aspects of HR. Early depth in one or two specialties paved the way to more senior leadership roles. 

Until recently, diversity, equity and inclusion (today called DEI, earlier known simply as diversity) was considered a subset of HR, with diversity leaders reporting to the head of HR. Diversity, however, was largely missing from the list of HR specialties. The result is that generations of HR professionals have built their careers with little or no formal knowledge, training or experience in DEI.  

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Diversity Alone Can Not Save Companies 

At large corporations, diversity was most visible for its role in staffing. Recruiters, whose job it was to increase diversity, would visit historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and attend events focused on underrepresented talent, like The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) where they could recruit women engineers. Unfortunately, other than creating employee resource groups (ERGs) and owning affirmative action plans, the charter of diversity teams too often did not extend to onboarding, development, engagement or retention.

This partly explains why, even after making a multi-year commitment to increasing diversity, large tech companies saw a limited impact. Numbers show a nominal increase in the number of women and an even smaller increase in the numbers of Black employees. According to Randall Tucker, chief diversity officer at Mastercard, “It's not just 'Let's find diverse talent.' It should be you're hiring diverse talent, and at the same time you have the levers to retain that talent. Otherwise you're just wasting a lot of money."

After decades of failure, companies are now being forced to acknowledge the need for well-thought-out plans to develop and retain people, ensure equity and give all employees a sense of belonging.

Expectations Are Changing

CEOs and HR leaders alike are being asked by their teams, customers and shareholders to commit to increasing diversity. They need to not only hire, but retain a diverse workforce and measure diversity at all levels including leadership, executive and board roles. Stakeholders are demanding that companies increase racial and ethnic diversity, resulting in a renewed focus on candidates who are Black, Indigenous and people of color (also described as BIPOC). With mounting pressure, leaders are examining how to increase all types of diversity including but not limited to gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability and neurodiversity.

These new expectations have led to a rise in companies of all sizes prioritizing DEI work and ramping up DEI resources. According to Glassdoor data shared by SHRM, DE&I-related job openings have risen by 55% since June 8, 2020, after falling by 60% when the pandemic erupted in the U.S. in March 2020.  

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