Resellers are “halting” DEI and culture initiatives and moving increasingly to hiring policies centred on hitting numbers, a recruiter has claimed.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Robertson Sumner CEO Marc Sumner said he last week spoke to five resellers or MSPs who are binning incentives, initiatives and programmes around DEI or culture.
“I spoke to five different firms who are literally dropping incentives or DEI programmes,” he said.
“It all went out the window in Q1, with people now focusing purely on numbers. If you’re not doing the numbers, then you’re gone.
“Culture is taking a back seat. And when I say culture, I’m talking about DEI initiatives, or investing in new talent or graduates – it’s all gone out the window.”
Softcat – the UK’s largest reseller – last month told IT Channel Oxygen it is doubling down on DEI despite high-profile rowbacks from US tech firms.
Sumner said he is now seeing DEI retrenchments among UK channel partners who lack Softcat’s scale, namely those ranked between 25th and 250th in the Oxygen 250.
He chalked this up to the tough business climate, rather than politics.
“The performance wasn’t there at the back end of Q4,” he said.
“They’re now saying, ‘Marc, we’re just focused purely on numbers – if they can do a number, we’re interested, but if not, we’re not interested’. We’re almost going into a bit of a hire-and-fire culture.”
The US political climate is also playing a role in the trend, Sean O’Shea, founder of consultancy Craft Your Culture claimed, however.
While some partners such as Softcat and Crayon have taken a public stand on DEI, there is growing evidence that others – including some of those with US parents – are pushing back, O’Shea said.
“I talk to lots of different organisations in [the reseller space] and there’s a spectrum of different responses to what’s happening in the US,” he said.
“I’m observing a tension where the US are enforcing policies like ‘you must no longer use the term DEI internally ‘ – the tension being that the UK subsidiary doesn’t align with the US rhetoric.”
O’Shea, who has in the past worked at Microsoft and headed up a Microsoft partner, claimed initiatives like DEI are “not nice to haves” for any partner wishing to grow long term.
“My passion is growth, and the biggest lever you can pull for that is culture,” he said.
Sumner agreed, saying he is “tinged with sadness” about the prospect of firms in the UK industry rowing back on DEI.
“Personally I think it’s short sighted. These programmes are being scrapped behind closed doors. People have made some real short-term decisions,” he said.
Zoe Chatley, Founder and CEO of The Channel Recruiter, said any backsliding on DEI would be “a huge step backwards”.
“The industry has made huge strides forward to improve DEI and the benefits of being a more inclusive organisation, and the impact it can have on culture is so positive,” she said.
“Removing DEI initiative and taking this stance will damage a companies employer brand and quite possible their reputation. Why undo all the good work?
“Following the US is not what should be done.”
