'Diversity and Inclusion' in corporate Australia is fucked... in case you're not familiar with the space or the issues within it, let me juxtapose the actual concepts with what most organisations understand it to be by way of highlighting the problem with it.

'Diversity in the workplace' is about understanding that diversity within gender, race, culture, class, sexuality, education, disability brings with it a wider range of insights, experiences, perspectives, and opportunities, and that this is a good thing*.

*You might be thinking that it's obviously a good thing, but you'd be forgetting this is a society with several centuries of pretending that rich privately educated straight cis-gendered white dudes are best placed to rule the world... making it much less obvious than you'd like.

The impact of this several centuries old system that is still in operation can is felt in hiring practices, recruitment and retention, workplace culture, career progression - pretty much every aspect of an organisation.

So 'diversity in the workplace' is, by default, also about eradicating (or more often than not in practice - counterbalancing) privilege and bias within organisational policies, practices, and decision-making.

That's 'Diversity' in a organisational context.

Inclusivity is about making sure everybody who isn't a rich privately educated straight cis-gendered white dude isn't made to suffer because of the fact... eg 'an inclusive workplace' - one that isn't racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist or otherwise bigoted.

This is mostly achieved via policy and training - an anti-racism policy and anti-racism training, for example, or more likely a RAP and 'cultural awareness/competency/safety training' - because white ppl hate the word 'racism' almost as much as everyone else hates actual racism.

Accessibility is also a big part of inclusivity because, as just one example, it's hard to be inclusive of someone in a wheelchair if your workplace isn't wheelchair accessible.

So it's also about physical changes to an organisation that make it more accessible for everyone.

That's the premise for Diversity and Inclusion, and it's important for them to go together because if you want diversity then you need to be inclusive.

It makes perfect sense in theory.

In practice though, many orgs don't want the proposed benefit of diversity, often because they straight up have no understanding whatsoever of the proposed benefit of diversity. They just know that this is way the wind is blowing so they figure they should jump on board.

Let's be very clear on that point too. If the wind wasn't blowing in this direction then a shit tonne of orgs would not give two fucks about diversity and inclusion in any way, shape or form. These things only exist because people fought hard to get them.

And because so many orgs, the vast majority, don't understand why this matters they assume that it doesn't, and engage with it only as far as it let's them feel good about themselves and tick the box so they can get on with the 'real work' of whatever it is they do to make money.

They also feel that everything that they do in this area is an act of charity that they should be rewarded for - either with social capital cookies (RAP launches, soft news stories, human rights awards etc) or with actual money (government grants, tenders, or awards).

They also feel that their magnanimous gestures provides them comprehensive insurance for their organisation and staff against any bigoted things they might say or do, allowing them to completely dismiss anyone who questions their inclusivity and diversity credentials.

In this environment, Diversity means a recruitment policy, a Harmony Day tea, & a RAP; and Inclusion means meeting the minimum lawful standards for staff with a disability, but only after a prolonged battle, & providing a problematic list of inappropriate terminology for staff.

So when I hear a company talk about their 'Diversity and Inclusion' team/policy/practices I want it to mean "We are the ppl making our org less bigoted" but it usually just means "Ask us about race or disability, but know that we aren't equipped or empowered to effect change."

It also means that for such workplaces 'Diversity & Inclusion' go well together because they think that is the PC code for 'non-white ppl & ppl with a disability' and it's a red-flag to know that they see this as a logical default pairing to form an organisational unit around.