Stop Overcomplicating DEI; Just Remove the Obstacles
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This piece is part of an ongoing series responding to the wave of DEI rollbacks and resistance. Each article offers thoughtful strategies to help you lead in ways that increase diversity and retention—without harm. Pre-order The Equity Edge now and receive The Equity Edge Instructor Guide FREE—a limited-time offer designed to help you bring these practices into your workplace with care, courage, and clarity.
Lately, the conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has taken a sharp turn. Some companies are scaling back their public commitments. Others are quietly shifting their language. And in some circles, the very idea of DEI has become politicized—dragged into debates that distract from what this work was always meant to be about: removing barriers to opportunity.
So, let’s pause for a second. Let’s strip away the politics, the labels, and the noise. And let’s ask a simple question: What if we just focus on removing barriers?
Most people—regardless of their views on DEI—would agree on a few fundamental workplace principles:
Humans should be able to access opportunities they have the skills for.
There are barriers that prevent equitable access to these opportunities.
Removing unnecessary barriers makes workplaces stronger.
That’s it. Nothing radical. Nothing controversial.
Hiring the best, keeping the best, and creating an environment where the best can thrive is the foundation of every successful company. Yet, so many organizations are still struggling to apply this logic to the way they hire and promote employees. Not because they’re against fairness, but because workplace systems tend to be built for the people who have always had access. And when those systems don’t evolve, they block out highly skilled candidates whether or not we realize it.
How Workplaces Unintentionally Create Barriers
Companies don’t wake up one day and decide, Let’s make it harder for people to succeed here. But over time, outdated hiring and promotion practices build invisible walls that hold people back. Here’s what happens:
Workplaces, like all systems, develop norms and practices over time.
Some of these practices serve businesses well. Others unintentionally create obstacles.
Often, those obstacles affect some people more than others.
An example of this is the outdated requirement for years of experience in job postings, a practice that unintentionally shuts out qualified candidates. Take cybersecurity, one of the fastest-growing fields. Many job listings still require 5+ years of experience for entry-level roles, even though the industry is relatively new and evolving rapidly. According to a 2023 report by ISC2, there’s a global cybersecurity workforce shortage of nearly 4 million professionals, yet hiring managers continue to filter out candidates based on arbitrary experience thresholds instead of actual skills. Because of this, companies struggle to fill critical roles, while capable job seekers, many of whom have gained hands-on skills through certifications, boot camps, or nontraditional paths, never even get a shot.
There are more examples:
Hiring practices that rely too heavily on personal referrals can limit access for those outside certain networks.
Rigid promotion structures might overlook highly qualified employees who didn’t follow a traditional path.
Assumptions about who is a “culture fit” can lead to a team that looks, thinks, and acts the same—leaving out fresh perspectives that drive innovation.
None of this is intentional discrimination. But it does create unfair advantages for some and unnecessary roadblocks for others. And that’s bad for business.
A Practical Approach to Progress
Think about how businesses tackle other problems:
If sales numbers drop, leaders don’t argue over whether they should fix it—they figure out what’s broken and change course.
If customer complaints spike, companies don’t ignore them—they find the issue and fix it.
If turnover skyrockets, HR doesn’t shrug it off—they adjust policies to keep employees engaged.
So why should identifying and removing workplace barriers be any different?
If a hiring or promotion process accidentally shuts out great talent, why wouldn’t we refine it—just like we would with any other business challenge?
This isn’t about blame. It’s about improvement.
The Smartest Companies Are Already Doing This
Some of the biggest, most successful businesses have already figured out that removing barriers makes workplaces fairer, and it does make them stronger.
Skills-Based Hiring Expands the Talent Pool: A 2023 LinkedIn report found that companies that focus on skills instead of degrees expand their talent pool by nearly 10x. Google, IBM, Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla have already removed degree requirements for many roles because they realized college isn’t always the best predictor of success.
Clear Promotion Criteria Build Stronger Leaders: Gap Inc. became the first Fortune 500 company to eliminate its gender pay gap by tackling one of the biggest obstacles to equity: unclear promotion criteria. Instead of relying on vague, subjective evaluations, the company introduced standardized performance metrics for raises and leadership advancement. This removed the guesswork and informal biases that often hold employees back, especially women and professionals from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
This isn’t about meeting quotas or checking boxes. It’s about making sure companies aren’t unintentionally excluding people who could be incredible assets to the team.
A More Productive Conversation
Instead of debating whether DEI is “too much” or “not enough,” let’s ask more effective questions:
Are we attracting the best talent, or are outdated hiring practices keeping great candidates out?
Are we creating environments where all employees can succeed, or just the ones who fit a traditional mold?
Are our policies and systems unintentionally excluding qualified candidates?
Because if we can make small, thoughtful improvements that open doors to more great people, why wouldn’t we?
That’s not political. That’s just smart business.
And that’s what we want to focus on in this conversation: not the noise, not the distractions—just removing barriers so more people can thrive.
What do you think? Are we overcomplicating this? Let’s talk.
If you want to go deeper on how to build a workplace where the best talent thrives, The Equity Edge lays out the exact steps to remove barriers for historically underrepresented employees, increase retention, and make equity a competitive advantage. Don’t forget to pre-order your copy here.
