Fixing the DEI Damage: What Will Stay - And Who Will Go? (Ft. Neil Morrison)

How can employers fix the damage caused by bad DEI? And are DEI professionals part of the solution - or the problem? In the third and final part of our conversation with Neil Morrison, Group HR Director at British water company Severn Trent (which has 10,000 employees), we discuss these questions – and much more:

- How did we get to a place where the people in charge of ‘inclusion’ at work are silencing questions and dissent from colleagues who don't share their beliefs or political agenda?

- Is it ever okay to police people’s language at work – and how should this be done? 

- Were too many Heads of DEI hired for their charisma and big ideas, rather than their good judgement and business experience? Did employers rush to 'look good,' fast – rather than taking time to find someone who could balance the needs of the business with the needs of *all* employees (not just those they happen to agree with)?

- Is DEI even a 'real thing' - or is it (in Neil's words) a 'false concept', grouping a constellation of employer practices aimed at improving inclusion? If it's not a real thing, how can DEI advocates defend it?

- How can HR professionals with doubts about their organisation’s current DEI strategy, direction and leadership raise concerns in a professional way that minimises blow-back against them personally?

- Why isn’t Neil more worried about DEI critics such as Matt Walsh, Piers Morgan and the Free Speech Union, channels like Unherd and SpectatorTV, and podcasters like Andrew Gold and the Triggernometry boys? 

- What will it look like when employers start fixing the damage caused by bad DEI – both externally and internally? What will be quietly shelved, what will be salvaged – and what ‘performative’ practices will businesses be happy to bin?

- If the UK’s DEI industry is set to shrink dramatically, should DEI professionals (including staffers, external consultants, and poor-quality DEI trainers) start considering their career options?

Enjoy the episode...

PS. For more from Neil, don't miss Episodes 6 and 7! We discuss how DEI went off the rails, and who is to blame for the DEI lawsuits...  

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