Mona Sue Weissmark, PhD: Why Diversity Training Doesn't Work

Initiatives like unconscious bias training, recruitment quotas and even diversity awareness training are very common, often quite expensive and time consuming for employees. The question most of us never stop to ask is if any of these programs actually work? According to Mona Sue Weissmark, PhD, author and psychology professor whose work has focused on diversity and the psychological roots of injustice, the answer is no. Not only do current diversity and inclusion efforts not work, but these programs are costly. For example, in 2015 alone, its estimated that Google spent $150 million dollars on diversity initiatives, which included bias training.

A review of the scholarly literature on diversity training programs found that, after 30 years and thousands of workplace diversity intervention programs, these efforts are not effective at outlawing bias. In this episode, Dr. Weissmark will share how businesses can tackle bias in a meaningful way and create work environments that value differences.

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