A large majority of the progress made within the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement has been widely positive and advancing the workforce towards a more equitable and inclusive culture. The summer of 2020 sparked new conversations within organizations and a solid push to more inclusive cultures by creating dialogue and listening sessions so employees can express their viewpoints. More and more departments are having equity conversations within their teams. But there are always two sides to a story, and minority leaders are beginning to feel emotionally drained sincethe rise of DEI in 2020. This article follows a black engineer and his experience as his company began to have increased dialogue sessions after the death of George Floyd. He noticed that he was getting pulled into different DEI-related events, not because he is a resident expert in DEI but simply because of his race. Suddenly, he noticed that his coworkers aren’t seeing him as just the engineer that does excellent work, but also the black guy. He had become his coworker “Resident DEI Counselor,” and he is constantly forced to think and talk about race. This emotional strain has led him to begin looking for other employment opportunities (Akubuiro, 2021).

This hyper-focus on minorities and their different identities has been happening to all types of minorities, not just racial differences. It is creating additional stress and emotional tax on minority employees. I personally have seen this where I have been pulled into various work conversations not just because I am the HR guy but more specifically due to identifying as gay. In today’s climate, minorities in these work environments don’t have the ability to switch off the DEI conversations because surrounding coworkers have become hyper-aware of diversity equity and inclusion. They always want the resident expert opinion from the minority employees. Organizations should have conversations with minority leaders to determine if a role with some DEI capacity is even of interest to them. This is because not every minority wants to be involved with DEI work or knows what should be done as a DEI leader just because of their lived experiences. (Asare, 2021) DEI roles include extensive education, and the additional life experience is simply icing on the cake. DEI practitioners are driving the company culture closer to inclusivity which is hard work that many BIPOC leaders voluntarily chose not to become involved with. This could be because their current work demands would not be able to sustain additional work, have no interest, or know that others within the organization may serve the role better than they can.