In the hands of HR, “belonging” becomes an absolute buzzword

Good article here on how the hot new HR buzzword is “belonging,” including this section to give it some heft:

LinkedIn, Nordstrom, HubSpot, DoorDash and other companies all now have executives with job titles such as manager of “diversity, inclusion and belonging” or vice president of “global culture, belonging, and people growth.”

Earlier this year, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School hosted its first lecture panel focused on the topic. Harvard and Yale have also been getting in on the idea, hiring faculty or staff with “belonging” in their titles after launching related task forces or campus-wide initiatives.

Those are some big-name hitters getting into the “belonging” game. If you read down the article, you’ll see quotes about how senior leadership “doesn’t understand” what “belonging” means; in the same quote, the person tries to claim that senior leaders do care — and understand — what words like “diversity” and “inclusion” mean. OK then.

Caring vs. doing something

Wall Street has claimed for over a decade that it cares about diversity. Do most big banks share complete workforce data? Nope.

Tech companies share diversity reports more, but there isn’t much progress.