the New York Times revealed the testimony of a former employee of the US bank Wells Fargo who denounced the practice of fake interviews. Some managers received “several candidates” for already promised positions. A way to make people believe in diversity efforts within the company.
Diversity and inclusiveness are prominent themes in today’s workplace, especially in the United States. More and more companies are adopting policies to diversify their employees. Or at least in appearance, for some of them.
the New York Times just revealed that the Wells Fargo bank interviewed “several candidates”including women and African Americans, when the positions had already been promised to others.
According to Joe Bruno, a former director of the wealth management division at Wells Fargo, interviewed by the US media, and six other employees, “Fake interviews have been conducted for many types of positions”† For the bank, these interviews seemed to be a way of getting people to believe in effort rather than:“hire more women or non-white people”†
Joe Bruno confirms in the columns of New York Times were dismissed in August 2021 for denouncing these practices to the hierarchy.
“Washing diversity”
Since the death of Georges Floyd, following his arrest by several police officers, and the great fire of the Black Lives Matter movement, companies, including Wells Fargo, have announced measures against diversity in their ranks. Recruitment campaigns, appointment of diversity officers, internal audits… Faced with the emergence of this new policy, how do you know whether these announcements are genuine or part of “diversity washing”? For example, as of 2020, official Wells Fargo policy requires so-called candidates “diversified” are interviewed for positions that pay more than $100,000 per year.
For example, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have analyzed several rankings of the best companies in diversity, one of the best known is that of Forbes† By comparing the list with Forbes with a ranking of Fortune Also on the topic of diversity, they found that only five companies made the top 50 of both lists. “The fact that there is so little overlap suggests that these diversity and inclusion measures are far from objective and that these rankings were designed primarily as public relations efforts”they conclude.
Is Wells Fargo’s hiring policy an integral part of a ‘diversity wash’? The bank defends itself against the New York Times say she was aware of these recruiting guidelines “informal” That “dated from an earlier era”†
(ETX Daily Up)