Push Back on “Lowering the Bar” Concerns, and Other Actions for Allies

Each week, Karen Catlin shares five simple actions to create a more inclusive workplace and be a better ally.

1. Push back on “lowering the bar” concerns

After reading my newsletter about challenging zero-sum thinking, a subscriber sent me an email: “The zero-sum mindset is also closely associated with the ‘we hire the best candidate — the one with the right skills regardless of gender, etc.’ argument, which tends to embed the unconscious bias that hiring someone from a marginalized community means hiring someone less qualified.” Which, of course, isn’t true.

Unfortunately, we’re seeing this destructive mindset in the news lately. As reported by NBC, “right-wing influencers, politicians and media outlets have repeatedly attacked efforts by airlines to find more job applicants who are women or nonwhite, programs that are known within big corporations as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.”

Here’s one example from the article: After a wheel fell off a jet on a runway, a well-known white businessman facetiously suggested that diversity efforts were to blame. “I’m sure this has nothing to do with mandated Diversity Equity and Inclusion practices in the airline industry!”

NBC pointed out that many criticisms are based on misunderstandings or false narratives about DEI programs. They quoted Jessica Muench, chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at United, “We are talking more about fishing for talent in new ponds.” In other words, they aren’t trying to hire people who aren’t qualified.

Comments about “lowering the bar” to attract and hire marginalized talent are not new. Joelle Emerson, founder of diversity and inclusion consultancy organization Paradigm, wrote several years ago:

“The concern about ‘lowering the bar’ stems from an incorrect (and biased) belief that a company has a high bar designed to hire the best people, and the reason it hasn’t hired more diverse people is that they aren’t able to meet that bar. In fact, in many cases it’s the opposite: companies have a poorly designed hiring bar that fails to adequately evaluate highly qualified, and often diverse, candidates.”

I love what Carla Ann Harris, a managing director at Morgan Stanley, recently tweeted: “As a leader, you must make sure your team understands that diverse means different, NOT less qualified.”

Let’s all look for opportunities to push back on “lowering the bar” concerns and affirm that diversifying a workforce doesn’t mean hiring less competent people. By contrast, it means hiring the right people to meet your business needs.

Share this action on LinkedIn, on Instagram, or on Threads.

2. Sing her praises

Speaking of Carla Ann Harris, here’s a story from my newsletter archives.

In her TEDWomen talk, Harris explored meritocracy, or more accurately, the myth thereof. Instead of assuming that hard work will be recognized and rewarded, she urged women to seek a sponsor. Someone who will speak your name when you’re not in the room. Someone who’s invited to decision-making meetings and is willing to spend some of their hard-earned social capital advocating on your behalf. Someone who has your back.

​​Journalist Sherrell Dorsey has echoed this sentiment: “My best opportunities have come at the hands of white males referring to the quality and impact of my work in rooms I have never stepped into.” CNBC

Of course, to be an effective sponsor, we need to know coworkers from marginalized groups so we can speak about them when they’re not around. Once we do, we can praise the quality and impact of their work and enthusiastically describe their potential.

We can open career doors and other opportunities that otherwise might be sealed off.

3. Avoid saying “lady”

Last week, a client told me she’s been the only woman on a team. At the start of their meetings, someone would say, “Welcome, guys and lady.” While she appreciated their attempt to be inclusive, she felt singled out, that she was different from everyone else.

It would have been better to say “Welcome team” or “Welcome everyone.”

I also told my client I don’t appreciate hearing “lady” in the workplace. Here’s what I wrote in my book Better Allies:

The word “lady” can come across as patronizing for a number of reasons. It can make modern women feel as though they’re being reminded of a time when women were quieter, gentler, and more “well-behaved.” The derivative “ladylike” also hearkens back to less equitable times when women behaved in a certain demure way, and it reinforces the false gender binary. Finally, “lady” has become a condescending prefix to jobs or activities that are associated with male culture: lady cop, lady umpire, lady politician.

Even though you may hear women calling each other “ladies” or even “gals” or “girls,” I recommend that allies say “women.” It’s more respectful. It’s also a way to lift people instead of putting them down.

4. Make jobs easy to apply for

Mildon, a diversity and inclusion consulting group, recently published a disability inclusion and accessibility report. It’s a guide for making your organization more accessible and disability-inclusive. While it covers many aspects of the employee lifecycle, I especially appreciate the recommendations around the hiring process.

Specifically, Mildon urges us to “Remove friction — make jobs easy to apply for.” Here’s how:

• Ensure your career pages and online application process are accessible. (They provide a list of things to look for and how to conduct an accessibility audit.)
• State that you will make adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition.
• On the application form, provide a text field that asks, “What can we do to help you thrive in this interview?” (Mildon points out that this question is helpful for disabled candidates and for other candidates with particular circumstances like parental/caring responsibilities, mental health concerns, or religious observances.)

Now it’s your turn. Review your job page and application process. Are there opportunities to remove friction for candidates with disabilities? For everyone?

5. Encourage someone to negotiate

My friend Bie Aweh recently shared an article in The Washington Post on her career path. (It was published in 2022, but I missed it then.)

At the time, Aweh was an HR Business Partner at DoorDash. She wrote,

“When I first accepted my offer to join this company, I didn’t negotiate. I was just so happy to be ‘in.’ My [soon-to-be] boss actually called me and made me negotiate. Little did I know she was equally invested in making sure women of color like myself are paid equitably.”

If your organization is open to candidates negotiating their job offers, and you spot someone who isn’t doing so, share your insider knowledge. Consider encouraging them to negotiate, like Aweh’s manager.

* Addendum

Last week, I provided resources for supporting coworkers during Ramadan. A newsletter subscriber told me that at least one other religious group is fasting in March: members of the Bahá’í faith.

To learn more, I recommend reading this fact sheet on the Bahá’í Calendar from The Pluralism Project at Harvard University.

That’s all for this week. I wish you strength and safety as we all move forward.

— Karen Catlin (she/her), author of the Better Allies® book series

Copyright © 2024 Karen Catlin. All rights reserved.

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