Diversity Trainings are a Joke

Before I have anyone coming at my neck for being "racist", I'm not against diversity in the workplace. I'm not even necessarily against having certain programs in place to add to diversity in the workplace. What I am referring to, is the nonsensical diversity trainings that my bank has been doing and I'm sure a lot of other banks have been doing. At best, they are a complete waste of time, at worst they are a circle jerk of implicitly acting like the workplace and white males are inherently racist. As an example, these programs go over "microaggressions" i.e. you're not allowed to call minorities "articulate" anymore. What the fuck? I have plenty of friends who are minorities and not one of them would ever take offense to that. When I have a fuck ton of work to do, I shouldn't have to take time out of my day to attend these ludicrous circus acts called diversity where everyone sits around and acts like there is some form of systemic racism going on. 

 

I think you make a valid point as to the time commitment to many of these training's - I'd suspect we've spent at least a dozen, if not a full day's worth of hours on it over the past few months through various workshops, speakers, internal meetings, etc. 

Some of it I think is very valuable - specifically those that work to get you out of your comfort zone or expand your own world view. I do think that everyone should challenge their own closely held opinions, beliefs and views on a semi regular basis. Even if you don't agree with much of the programming, it's valuable to understand various perspectives. 

Where I draw the line is when the C-suite is on a call pillorying themselves in what is effectively a self immolation over their privilege, etc. That's just counter productive in my opinion. Most reasonable people understand that there are many significant, real challenges within our society around inequality and race specifically. What often frustrates me is that these sessions can become more of a therapy session vs. a place where we can think through and/or solve some of the issues. Or, the worst iterations, are where they become a 'if you aren't with us, you are against us' which I've never found compelling and can backfire by pushing people away from a cause. 

 

Lol I agree. I would argue this forum has a bigger diversity boner than the average population so be ready for the monkey shits. 

Is this a joke?  This forum is filled with anonymous trolls constantly posting about how diversity hiring is a scam and is totally unfair and how Wall Street is filled with minorities who wouldn't be there except for affirmative action in hiring.

 

Ozymandia

Lol I agree. I would argue this forum has a bigger diversity boner than the average population so be ready for the monkey shits. 

Is this a joke?  This forum is filled with anonymous trolls constantly posting about how diversity hiring is a scam and is totally unfair and how Wall Street is filled with minorities who wouldn't be there except for affirmative action in hiring.

Sadly, I do not think it is a joke.  

 
Analyst 1 in IB - Gen

Before I have anyone coming at my neck for being "racist", I'm not against diversity in the workplace. I'm not even necessarily against having certain programs in place to add to diversity in the workplace. What I am referring to, is the nonsensical diversity trainings that my bank has been doing and I'm sure a lot of other banks have been doing. At best, they are a complete waste of time, at worst they are a circle jerk of implicitly acting like the workplace and white males are inherently racist.

First off, I would argue that anyone paying attention in those things can genuinely learn something, even something minor.  Second, they're not for you, it's a form of corporate insurance so that when the bigoted asshole at your company does do something "racist" or sexist, the company can point to their diversity programs as proof that this was an isolated incident.  Fire drills are useless, too, but no one really complains about those.

As an example, these programs go over "microaggressions" i.e. you're not allowed to call minorities "articulate" anymore. What the fuck? I have plenty of friends who are minorities and not one of them would ever take offense to that. When I have a fuck ton of work to do, I shouldn't have to take time out of my day to attend these ludicrous circus acts called diversity where everyone sits around and acts like there is some form of systemic racism going on. 

Well... there is systemic racism going on, so I'm not sure what you're getting at.  It exists, it's pretty easy to prove that out, so maybe that's not a great argument to be making.

Second, no one is saying that you can't call a minority "articulate".  You either weren't paying attention or didn't really grasp the point.  Which is that you can call someone articulate, or call someone articulate despite their background.  Saying to a black person "you're surprisingly articulate" is a lot different than saying to them "you're articulate."  One of those is a compliment and one is a backhanded compliment.  If you can't see the difference than perhaps the diversity training will be more useful for you than you think.

 

I agree with all of your points.  No one here complains about continuing education but they still have to do it.   Didn't you get the memo?  The evil liberals rule the world of finance and try to virtue signal every chance they get.  

 

financeabc

The evil liberals rule the world of finance and try to virtue signal every chance they get.  

Yes, us liberals, so all-powerful and all-knowing that we've taken over the entire world and are imposing our own priorities on it, if only those gosh-darn teen sleuths in their mom's basement hadn't seen through the facade, and been too clever to avoid all our retaliation!

 

You're comment about my articulate point is wrong. They literally told us we cant call someone articulate. And the whole notion of "systemic racism" is misguided and overblown

 

You're comment about my articulate point is wrong. They literally told us we cant call someone articulate. And the whole notion of "systemic racism" is misguided and overblown

Three years ago the United States Sentencing Commission published a report that found that black people receive sentences 19.1% more harsh than white people, controlling for criminal records as well as possible, etc.  Your position is untenable in the face of that single data point, let alone the myriad other forms of evidence, anecdotal or not, that float around.  If the justice system, the one place where there should be no partiality at all, is that badly biased, that should speak volumes to what occurs in other facets of life.

If I told you that you should receive, say, 19% less pay on the basis of your appearance, I guarantee you you would not think it an "overblown" issue.  You'd be screaming bloody murder.  Hell, half of this entire site is dedicated to people comparing pay stubs so they can figure out if they'd make an extra 3% take home pay by lateraling to another bank.

EDIT: Also, given your willful ignorance and obvious desire to do as little research that would contradict your deeply held notions of being wrong by black people, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you either deliberately misinterpreted what your "diversity trainer" said to you about using the term "articulate" or just didn't hear it properly.  Given the tone of your posts and your arguments, my guess is you weren't listening very closely.  This is just another small grievance you've created so you can latch on to it and feel the momentary satisfaction of being unjustly victimized.

 

"Systematic racism is a myth" - Thomas Sowell

You probably have plenty of black friends, right?

The entire point of systemic racism is that one person's experience or opinion doesn't contradict the overarching narrative.  As I said in my other post above (or maybe below depending on formatting), the US "justice" system proscribes punishments 20% more harsh on black people.  Right off the bat, that is a data point that cannot be gainsaid or refuted.  It and it alone is proof enough that systemic bigotry exists in American society and government - in the branch of our society which is described, literally, as meant to be blind.  And it isn't.

Because our conservative friends in the GOP and their allies in the police unions won't let us study things like murder-by-cop in a regimented manner, we can only guess at what goes on there, but contextually and with anecdotal evidence we see every day, it probably wouldn't be surprising.

 

"Systematic racism is a myth" - Thomas Sowell

TBH, Thomas Sowell doesn't do a good job of dispelling this "myth" that systemic racism exists. He both acknowledges cultural gaps that stem from southern culture that grossly mistreated and underserved minority communities for centuries--even in several decades after 1865--while also denying that there is some issue that needs to be addressed today, simply by cherrypicking some anecdotal evidence of success by individuals. On an individual level, yes, there are winners/losers. But we all know there are plenty of buried undercurrents in this culture.

 

Thankfully, we haven't had to do them. My old team was only half white male and adding in a US born quota would have moved that noticeably. (surprisingly many off the boat Irish) We were the crack team though.  Everybody wanted to be on it. We still had to do AML trainings, despite not knowing who held our ETFs.

My favorite BS training came from an old employer though. We had an "Anti-workplace-violence training." 45 minutes in they said "Committing suicide in the workplace is an act of workplace violence." I couldn't help myself and my hand shot up and I asked: "What are the standard disciplinary actions applied against a worker who commits suicide in the workplace?"  The trainers were definitely NOT pleased.

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

Phat

Lol that was a hilarious question.

I managed to do it with a straight face too.  God, I hated that job.

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

I've quit attending our diversity trainings. It started off as one in July I think. And then one nearly every single week, each charged with the most left-wing rhetoric. I just quit attending. Haven't been bothered about it yet. I don't like my job enough to care if I get fired for it. If my boss says something, I'll rationally but firmly give my opinion that I think our diversity trainings are immoral garbage and if that costs me my job so be it. I've got plenty of side income. Frankly, I'd consider being fired a blessing to release me from my golden handcuffs. 

Array
 

real_Skankhunt42

I'll rationally but firmly give my opinion that I think our diversity trainings are immoral garbage 

Immoral?  Based on your conservative, born again christian background, what is immoral about diversity training?

 
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financeabc

real_Skankhunt42

I'll rationally but firmly give my opinion that I think our diversity trainings are immoral garbage 

Immoral?  Based on your conservative, born again christian background, what is immoral about diversity training?

Diversity training isn't immoral. Critical Race Theory is immoral. Singling out white people as uniquely bad is a direct contradiction to my Christian faith as Jesus said that no man is good. Literally making up history and teaching it as true is immoral. 

Also, I'll add that my company is incredibly diverse. White people are a minority at my company. Most senior directors are women and our company president/CEO is black and our division president is a gay woman. Yet they continue to tell us about how they've "failed" in the diversity department. They are literally lying--to themselves, to their employees, to their customers--in pursuit of some wicked ideology that obsessively focuses on race (of course, they follow the popular trends--they were obsessively focused on gender 2 years ago...). It's why my boss can get on my case and on my black co-worker's case and she attributes critiques of her as racist--because she's been indoctrinated to believe that she can't succeed in a white world. It's so despicable what the people in power are doing and have done.

Array
 

real_Skankhunt42

 our diversity trainings are immoral garbage

I agree that most diversity programs are complete crap.

But that is what's so problematic. All the BS left-wing rhetoric mixed with diversity programs completely ruined a totally just cause of promoting equality of opportunity,; by hijacking a good cause and making it look ridiculous. It's just sad.

 

Pretty much every "training" HR could possibly have you do is a joke, diversity seminars are just the newest flavor after workplace violence and harassment fell out of the news cycle talking points.  No one ever changed their behavior after an hour with some random corporate trainer telling them about the blight of "X in the workplace," and no one ever walked away from a session thinking anything besides, "that was a complete waste of my time and now I'm behind on what I needed to get done today."  The only people you'll find on here defending them are the usual suspects, some of whom you can see have already made their contributions. 

"The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly" - Robert A. Wilson | "If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

Like I expected. 

This thread is filled with libtards trying to defend utterly broken diversity programs that fight racism with racism and conservatards denying the existence of racial discrimination that clearly exists.

You both make me sick.

 

You looking over this thread, just pick a side and reee with the rest of us.

Two Sonnets for Fence-Sitters « The Naked Troubadour

"The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly" - Robert A. Wilson | "If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

You think you're on different sides but you're not. Because you're both wrong.

My position has always been the same (Like I've been saying all over WSO hundreds of times).

Systemic racism exists, but it's not what libs think it is. It doesn't just include criminal justice inequality. It also includes Affirmative Action and many of so-called "diversity programs" in the US, because the way those programs are designed are clearly discriminatory (although unintentional) and actually hurts people they intend to help.

That's exactly why I have been saying that we need to reform diversity programs because the ones we have now are just dumb. They are used by liberal shills to shamelessly virtue signal the same way European colonists justified terrible shit they did as "helping people" because "white men's burden".

 

Milton Friedchickenman

Like I expected. 

This thread is filled with libtards trying to defend utterly broken diversity programs

There are literally two people who have expressed liberal views.  

 

Empathy for your colleagues and not doing insensitive shit is called being a professional human being. Basic shit like not making fun of people who eat rice or watermelon.

Diversity training is bullshit and an excuse for folks to preach their virtuous self-morality. 

https://twitter.com/Yascha_Mounk/status/1279231055166345217

 ^ This above post highlights an instance where a white NYC Educator screams at a white/black family gathering b/c one of the parents is white. If this is what diversity training brings and forces more segregation, this politically correct shit can go fuck itself. 

 

Jesus Christ someone give that woman a muzzle, how again exactly are conservatives the racists?  I mostly date non-white women, and if someone started reeing at me like that and I had a bi-racial kid I'd lose my marbles. 

"The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly" - Robert A. Wilson | "If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

Shutting it down is a little extreme but I do think the anonymous garbage needs to go.  Oh wait, I am somehow trying to censor freedom of speech.  If one of the main benefits of this site to be able to network, this anonymous crap makes no sense.  

 

*People don't agree with CRE's libtard logic*

*his solution is to shut the entire site down*

Sounds a lot like what the left is doing to censor conservatives on social media honestly

 

I think Addinator hit the nail on the head here, I'll just add a couple points, hastily written so I'm sure I flubbed something

1. the "articulate" thing - here's the deal, when someone calls me articulate, I take it as a compliment. kinda like when I hear off hand comments about athleticism, why I'm faster than my white friends, etc., and I can usually tell where someone's heart is, so I don't take it negatively. but some people do, so you need to be careful. I think it's always best to err on the side of caution here, so instead of calling someone "articulate" which could remind them of times when they've been told otherwise, give a specific compliment "I really liked your presentation the other day, very well delivered" or "how'd you get so comfortable with public speaking? you're really good!" would be a good way to accomplish your goal of complimenting without it coming off potentially weird.

2. work trainings - bro, nothing new here. they're all dumb as fuck, so suck it up

3. thinking all white people are racist - struck a nerve here. my black relatives are way more prejudiced than my white ones, by a country mile. not all of us believe the white fragility bullshit going around, so don't think you're not helping the cause if you don't believe the weird cluster of beliefs that seems to have gripped the culture today. just shake your head and move on, kinda like I do when someone says "they don't see color" bitch please, you do see color, you just tell yourself that for likes on socials.

what do we do about all of this? well, first thing's first, you're not going to solve the criminal justice system just because your bank hired a nigerian-american or you do some diversity training, you're just not, so here's what I think should be done. I think everyone should learn from others that are different from them. call your colleagues, tell them you care, but you don't know how to help, and you want to know their experience. you may not solve anything, but the interaction will help and you will better understand their perspective with a real conversation versus a twitter war or some pre recorded training. also, I think some of those tests that identify your implicit biases are helpful. like all cognitive biases, we have no control over them, but awareness is the key to awakening, so be aware of what your mom & dad taught you, and keep that in mind. I discovered I slightly prefer black people over white people (https://implicit.harvard.edu/) whereas Malcolm Gladwell, another mixed dude, prefers white people instinctively. that does not make either one of us a bad person, it makes us a product of our environment, however if we're aware of our biases, we can conduct ourselves better in the workplace. it tells me I need to not only spend time with the black recruits during onboarding, I need to lend a hand everywhere I can. realizing how your brain works is the key to better decision making. it works in investing, in relationships, in fitness & nutrition, and in racial matters as well.

and now the real issues - the system, wealth gap, income gap, criminal justice issues, policing issues, and so on and so on. I am not going to volunteer my views on why these things are the way they are, but it is a fact that these things exist. do your research, figure out where you think the root causes are (education, criminal justice system, drug policy, etc.) and figure out where you want to make an impact. do you want to mentor young boys who don't have a father figure? great! do you think it's mostly policy driven? well then vote accordingly, write your representatives, maybe start a petition (tweeting about it and posting on WSO doesn't do shit). do you think it's lack of access to financial education? volunteer to speak at local middle & high schools, there are plenty of programs that do this and it doesn't take much time out of your day. think it's a problem of a lack of good cops? there are websites that outline specific policies to help this issue, donate to them, talk to local cops, ask how you can help, talk to community leaders. 

I do not think the solution to our country's racial issues is everyone reading Ta-Nehisi Coates and feeling bad for being white, you need to have an understanding of the issues(for example, if you do not know what redlining is, you should educate yourself)  however I do not think talking about the problem over and over and over and over again is helpful. if we're really going to heal as a nation, we need to cease stopping the conversation at problem identification. identify that there is an issue, and then move on to what can be done about it. discuss solutions, discuss actions, brainstorm, and finally, INTEGRATE. I cannot tell you how many of my white friends count me as the only black person in their friend group. I don't care if you don't become best friends, but if you really want to see this country change, get out of your comfort zone and mingle, we're really not that different. integration is, I believe, one of the best ways to eliminate racism over time, because once you realize we've all got something in common, you can break down those prejudices.

 

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Never discuss with idiots, first they drag you at their level, then they beat you with experience.
 

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Never discuss with idiots, first they drag you at their level, then they beat you with experience.

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