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The concept of merit, excellence and intelligence — which is gaining traction in certain industries — can detract from the critical efforts employers are making with diversity, equity and inclusion, says Cerys Goodall, chief operating officer of Vetster.
“MEI is an ideal — it sounds great, but DEI is the practice and we need to make sure it’s an equal playing field first. I think what’s most concerning about MEI is that it’s based on a logical fallacy we’re then building on. So people are building their recruiting, promotions, people operations on sand, really. Ideally, DEI leads to MEI, but we’re not there yet. We can’t skip the steps in between.”
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The concept of MEI is subjective, says Jason Murray, president and managing partner at BIPOC Executive Search, noting whoever’s in a decision-making role gets to decide what merit, excellence and intelligence look like.
“Systems . . . have often catered to particular communities or voices or histories, so people may come in with a particular view on what they’re expecting to hear or see and then deem someone to have merit, excellence or the intelligence they feel is required. So equity-deserving groups [may be overlooked] which can become a real problem.”
Some of the most significant impacts of MEI can be felt by women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics industries, which are still very much dominated by white males, says Goodall.
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“MEI will naturally select people who have had more opportunity and that doesn’t necessarily mean employers will get the best representation for [their] company. We see consistently women are more likely to take a break to have children or care for ageing parents, so they’re more likely to be passed over. . . . This also extends to people of colour [and] of different religions — to anyone who hasn’t had the same opportunities.”
If employers invite other voices to the table or give them an opportunity to gain access to particular roles, it allows the company to thrive, says Murray, adding DEI will always be important because workplaces need to strive for equal opportunities and equal representation.
Latching on to MEI may make people feel justified in their decisions, but it also results in homogeneous thinking, notes Goodall. “When we look at the source of where some of this conversation is happening, it gives leaders a path to not do the difficult work and think more broadly in terms of who they need in their company and how they’re shaping the future. I think leaders need to live in the friction and do better, rather than latching on to a catch phrase.”