Why class bias may be sabotaging your DEI efforts

Published 4 Min Read

An Asian man and a Black woman listen excitedly to their colleague who is sitting at the head of a conference table; just his shoulder is in view.
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DEI efforts are often concentrated on biases surrounding gender, race and sexual identity, pushing other lines of discrimination to the side — but employers may be missing an essential piece of what creates inequity in their workplace: Class.

Class can be defined by various factors, namely one’s income, education, status, family and social network. While an employee’s class shouldn’t matter in the workplace, that sentiment doesn’t stop classism from being part of an organization’s hierarchy, underlines Shane Lloyd, chief diversity officer at Baker Tilly, an advisory, tax and assurance firm.

Deanna Cuadra
Senior Reporter

Deanna Cuadra is a senior reporter at Employee Benefit News. Her work covers healthcare, U.S. policy and reform, challenges faced by women and parents in the workplace and innovation in work culture … Read full bio


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