This morning Google announced it has scrapped its goal to hire more workers from minority groups and will be reviewing its policies on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
The move by the American multinational is part of a larger row back against DEI initiatives in the US following Trump’s inauguration last month. Meta, McDonald’s and Target are among those that have also abandoned their inclusivity goals.
DEI schemes are sets of measures designed to make people of all backgrounds – regardless of ethnicity, class, sexuality and gender – feel supported and included in the workplace.
“My fear is that it may come into Ireland soon, but I have all the hopes in the world that this country is progressive,” says Mamobo Ogoro, CEO of GORM, an Irish-based intercultural consultancy and award-winning social enterprise.
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Through her work with GORM, Ogoro, a Nigerian-Irish social psychologist, fights to keep diversity and inclusion at the forefront of people’s minds. The enterprise helps organisations in Ireland and around the world develop intercultural leaders and to elevate diverse voices. “I am on a personal mission to unify the world,” she tells The Irish Times Women’s Podcast.
Ogoro who recently became the first Irish recipient of the Echoing Green Fellowship, says overall she’s “not too worried”, about Irish attitudes towards diversity and inclusion. “The majority of people in Ireland, my heart believes that they know that everybody’s worthy of dignity, honour and respect regardless… but I’m really scared for a lot of people in the US right now”.
In this episode, Ogoro talks to Róisín Ingle about growing GORM from an idea into a movement, how she works to bridge the gap between diversity and inclusion and how she’s championing minority voices on her Newstalk Show Younified.
You can listen back to this episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
