Hiring for Diversity Officers Stalls 2 Years After Big Promises

Two years ago, companies made big promises to strengthen workplace diversity and equality. Today the rush to hire people in charge of those efforts has not only stalled but reversed course.

A new LinkedIn report studying more than 500,000 C-suite hirings between 2019 and 2022 found that despite a 168.9% growth in hires for Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers overall in the past four years, the role experienced a 4.5% decline in hires last year. The role was the fastest-growing C-suite position in 2020 and 2021, but the only one of the top-10 growing roles to reverse hiring trends between 2021 and 2022.