Hi! My name is Samantha Powell and this is my Civic Issues Blog. I chose to focus on Diversity in the Workplace.
A little bit about me, I was adopted from Hunan, China when I was 14 months old. I was brought to America, and I have lived in Doylestown, PA ever since. I have very few links to my heritage, just an adoption group that I stay in touch with. It does not seem like much, but it is nice to have a connection to the people who were in the orphanage with me and came over to America with me. As an Asian American woman, I value diversity a lot. I do understand that I have different experiences growing up as an adoptee but growing up I had a decent amount of Asian friends who would expose me to bits of Asian culture. Happy Lunar New Year by the way! When I was younger, I was very sad that I could not speak the language, and I felt a slight disconnect with my heritage, so I was very grateful for these small gestures. It matters a lot to me to meet people who have different voices and perspectives than what I grew up with, and to be exposed to new things, as I grew up in a pretty homologous community. Diversity is definitely the hot word of today, and for good reason.
The first question of the prompt was very interesting: “Are there a certain set of values located in the idea of “the workplace,” or does the workplace acquire values based on who works in it?” When I think of the word workplace, I do not think of a certain set of values. I do think however that the workplace acquires values based on who works in it. The values reflect the employees, and also the employers who have the power and are the face of the company. People may never realize that there are certain issues or perspectives until there is representation. Women, people of color, and people of different sexual orientations face many unique issues, so their visions may be different, but necessary for change and for more people’s voices to be heard. Bigger companies seem to have the welfare of their employees more in mind than smaller companies, but that may be due to many factors such as having more resources and opportunities for their employees.
According to FAANGPath, Google has raving work reviews. Google was honored with the “Best Places to work in Los Angeles 2021” Award, and 80% of their employees rate their work environment positively. They have self-care advantages, pay attention to employees’ happiness, and advocate for flexibility. The article says a lot more about Google, but in summary they really value each employee and what they contribute, even though there are many of them.
They have also been proactive with their drive for diversity, especially in the past decade. According to their Diversity, Equity & Inclusion report, just some of what they have done include publishing their diversity data publicly in 2014, launching a racial justice portfolio in 2015, and making racial equity commitments in 2020 for Google’s Black community. Google takes note of their employees and audience and reacts accordingly, focusing on making more people feel welcome, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Additionally, according to Fortune.com, the top company with the best diversity was Microsoft. It states concerning Microsoft’s diversity, “According to data from 2020, 39.7% of the company’s board was made up of racial and ethnic minorities, and its workforce as a whole was 49.8% racial or ethnic majorities.” However, later in the article the separation between racial diversity and gender diversity was made apparent. Microsoft’s gender diversity was far below their racial diversity stats. When people think of diversity, I think people think of racial diversity before gender diversity. Nonetheless, I think both are required for a “haven for equality”, as well as sexual orientation diversity. But it cannot be forced, just to check off a box. Companies need to first be actively thinking of how to expand their workplace’s diversity, then they need to incorporate initiatives, and then they need to keep the initiatives running smoothly and organically. A successfully diverse workplace is one where everyone feels comfortable and are not gawked at or made an example of, thus creating a “haven”.
Apart from these tech giants, there are other brands where diversity is especially important with regards to their audience. For example, Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez is another company that excels in diversity and makes it look effortless. Many beauty companies look to have diverse ambassadors and products; whether it is Gemma Chan as a L’Oréal ambassador, or Zendaya as a Lancôme ambassador, or having more foundation and concealer colors to match their consumers’ different skin tones, the attention beauty companies have been paying to being more inclusive is noticeable. According to The Courier, Rare Beauty has 48 different foundation and concealer shades, and honorable mention to Fenty for having 50 different shades.
For Rare, as Selena Gomez is the founder, I think her perspective leads to a very unique initiative right off the bat and different workplace values. Their Our Mission page states, “We are on a mission to help everyone celebrate their individuality by redefining what beautiful means. We want to promote self-acceptance and give people the tools they need to feel less alone in the world. Our vision is to create a safe, welcoming space in beauty – and beyond – that supports mental well-being across age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, cultural background, physical or mental ability, and perspective.” Her company addresses all aspects of diversity, and makes it look natural. Her products are even disability-friendly. I think this is becoming more common, or at least people are becoming more aware of it, but it is still a goal that more companies need to actively pay attention to, not just beauty companies.
While makeup may not be the first workplace environment that people may think diversity is needed in, for many young girls it is. Looking at the Rare Beauty products and their shades, all of the models are different ethnicities. Luckily, beauty is becoming more diverse and there has been a focus on expanding the community to include people of all colors.
Between companies being aware of the need for diversity and what follows, I focused on the more progressive companies, but there is no doubt we need to keep pushing forward. These three companies play a big part, as Google and Microsoft are companies whose platforms we use every day, and beauty is a very important area to many women. Rare Beauty is just one of the many brands that have skyrocketed in popularity on Tik Tok, and for good reason. Personally, I do hope to climb to some leadership position in whatever career I may pursue, and I do hope that being an Asian woman does not hurt me. I hope that anyone in any position, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation has the equal chance of making a change in their workplace and having their voice be heard.
https://diversity.google/annual-report/
https://www.rarebeauty.com/pages/about
https://www.thecourieronline.co.uk/rare-beauty-rare-message-rarer-inclusivity/
Hi Sam,
I thought that your selection of the topic “Diversity in the Workforce” was really good, and something that is extremely important. Being an Indian-American, I know for a fact how important it is to gain representation in various fields, especially those where racially or ethnically we are not represented much, or even at all. It was super interesting to know that large tech giants really foster diversity, but is definitely a great step to garner diversity in STEM. However, I found your discussion about diversity in Rare beauty, the makeup company, super interesting. I personally know many non-white girls who struggle with realizing the idea that you do not need to be white in order to be pretty. By adding diversity in such a field that is typically dominated by white females, adding the correct racial diversity will really boost the confidence of girls from all around the world, despite their skin color, all making for a more inclusive and progressive society.