AIBU to think that corporate political correctness is just virtue signalling?

[WhoStoleMyCheese]

Was in a 'balanced, gender diverse' team, with plenty of support for attending diversity events etc but given no support w.r.t career. Several moves later ended up in a white male dominated team and having been actively given more responsibility by my boss am now in line for a promotion. I am not white and the only woman in the team.
AIBU to think that those who make a fuss about 'diversity' are lazy managers?
My boss saw that I had potential and took a chance on me despite my background not entirely fitting the role. Same as he would have with a man. He spent a lot of time with me (and the rest of the team), managing us based on our individual strengths.
The teams which have a big emphasis on diversity are full of managers who keep coming up with 'side projects' to keep people busy but no real interest in their employees' career goals.
Thoughts?

or maybe you went from a shit company to a good one?

@ghostyslovesheets it was the same company

AIBU to think that those who make a fuss about 'diversity' are lazy managers?

Of course YABU for making such sweeping statements.

Congrats! You've used the right buzzwords (pc and virtue signalling) which will get you the 'right' response on MN.

You really can't tar everyone with the same brush - SOME are really trying to do what they think is right (but can't get everything right, can they?) and SOME are just following the current trend while not truly caring about it.

You're saying you think your very limited personal experiences within one company are capable of being meaningfully extrapolated as a representative sample of the entire population of employees and employers?

@HypocrisyDoubleStandardsMess the 'right' response? I expected people to disagree.
Just to be clear I'm not against the concept of diversity. However because this has been put in as a performance objective it incentivises lots of people to hold 'events' such as talks etc which they then get all team members to attend so they can put it down as an achievement.
Studies already show that prejudice is insidious . Choosing a man for potential but a woman for performance, talking over women in meetings, etc. Also a lot of complaints here about managers being inflexible, etc etc.
The management overhead required to a) manage individuals based on their strengths and b) ensure that the quality of communication etc is maintained regardless of flexible working patterns means that it cannot be done with a very 'hands-off' manager.
The managers who do the above have a high chance of attracting - and keeping high performing women (my team was an example because it is my personal experience and there are only 6 of us) but there are plenty of others with significantly more women, in traditionally 'male-dominated' roles. It is the people who are confident in their ability to manage who are willing to take a risk on those who are 'not like them'.
The managers who want to check off the diversity box just organise some events and can pretend that they've done their bit.
The more emphasis put on line managers taking the effort to actively manage their employees the better. Rather than just line managing in name.
There is no need to punish teams that do not meet a quota or hold any events as 'not diverse', but there SHOULD be a call out for managers that do not spend quality time with their direct reports!

It sounds like your problem is not with the diversity activities but with poor management. Unless you think the diversity initiatives are preventing good management, they really have nothing to do with each other. You'd still have crappy teams and managers, and no diversity events.

I think it’s more of a management issue/management personality as PP said.
I’ve been in a similar situation, it even sounds like we could work in the same place...
From my experience, the overtly diversity focussed mangers tend not to be all about getting the job done and delivering results so they make a big deal out of things like diversity instead.
The good people manager who isn’t so interested isn’t necessarily anti-diversity, they focus on who and what is required to deliver. The team may look white-dominated but perhaps that’s the pool they’ve had to pick from until diversity initiatives have opened up the pool. Maybe this manager has taken on board D&I but doesn’t need to shout about it or has a fair and objective approach to things anyway.

Like most things, there’s those who jump on bandwagons and those who absorb what changes need to happen.

Hope your role isn't stats based because that sample is pretty crap.

@hangryeyes exactly! Most big companies are similar in terms of the diversity bandwagon (from speaking to people)

@PickAChew @user1174147897if I had rock solid statistics I would’ve written an academic essay , not asked an Internet forum.
Why don’t you give your opinion on your own experience instead of attacking me? Or post some stats of your own? Somethings like ‘no cheese you are wrong because in my experience etc’ would be far more useful than attacking my opinion but presenting none of your own.

@Pukkatea that’s a good point - where I work we run on very small teams so managers don’t have a lot of time not spent on deliverables. Instead of spending it on the staff they spend it on these events. I suppose the solution is to incentivise the former or have better management ...

Corporations can never truly be on the side of progress. Ultimately their loyalty is to the bottom line and this will always override morality. So in that sense yes it is "virtue signalling" much as I hate that phrase.

It doesn't mean that diversity initiatives, greener policies or general corporate social responsibility is worthless though. It's a good thing that companies feel that they need to have those things in order to maintain their bottom line. As consumers and workers we can train companies to do those things. It's like getting a dog to behave well because it wants a treat - not because it wants to sit and be quiet.

But this also means that if you care about social progress, corporate initiatives can NEVER be allowed to lead the fight.