ReHired-Now What? (c)2025 Wayne D. Lewis, SR.

March 3, 2025

Today's message is brought to you by the letters:

D as in Determined

E as in Engaged

I as in Involved

When Re-Hired Post-DEI What Are Your Concerns?

For the sake of discussion, as you know, DEI polices have been repealed and are therefore no longer a requirement in federal and possibly private hiring. Anyone hired may be or have been terminated with this former policy. To you, I send my best wishes as you prepare for your next move. In some cases, you may have been temporarily terminated. We will see.

Suppose you are re-hired post-DEI fallout? What will be the protocol(s)? Who will advise you? Will it be learn-as-you-go? Or will someone be designated to provide you with what the new expectations will be going forward?

Here are some concerns that you may have that you can discuss with someone who is in charge of your return. This list is only a suggestion, as your list may vary:

1. How are you going to be evaluated? Will the standards be higher, lower, or the same as before?
2. Will your qualifications be downgraded, or will the qualifications for the job that you held for 5, 10, or 20 years or more be adjusted downward or upward?
3. Will the qualifications be totally rewritten without your input?
4. Will you be re-trained for the position that you previously held?
5. Will your prior employee evaluations be scrapped or will they be cumulative?
6. Will people who you used to answer to you now be your supervisor?
7. Will you be asked to take a pay cut?
8. Will your hours be cut, or will you be required to work 5 or more hours per week at the same salary?
9. Will you be eligible for promotions, or will your seniority clock have to be reset?
10. Will you be denied any promotions based on your race or sex?
11. Will your input be invited in the re-shaping of the future of the position you previously held, or the growth of the company?
12. Will there be a changing table in the men's room?
13. Will handicapped ramps be removed?
14. Will handicapped parking still be close to the entryways?
15. Will you still be considered an invaluable employee as you once were?

VALID CONCERNS?

All concerns are valid in the workplace. It is just that some concerns are more valid than others. The real question may be, are the same avenues that were once available before becoming a DEI-termination be available to share your concerns now? You have to be careful. You have been re-hired under new management, so to speak. You don't want to ruin your chances for an acceptance that is potentially tentative at best.

The protections that you allegedly once relied upon to get your job previously may now be gone. What do you have to stand on? Never forget that all jobs (unless prohibited by law), are subject to termination where we all work at the pleasure of our beloved leaders.

The circumstances that resulted in your unexpected termination aren't fully gone. You are going to be watched, perhaps to give you a promotion, a raise, or, both. The expectations may be more stringent, however. The possibility of retermination is no less a possibility than before. Only now, the reasons could vary from legitimate to what mood the management is in on that day.

Why Were You Re-Hired?

Is it possible that you were rehired because you are the very best at what you do? It could be a case where there was no one else who could have possibly taken your place. It was decided without much of a debate. Can you afford to make such an assumption? Yes, you can.

It is not far from reality that you were the best-qualified candidate for more reasons than one. Your original termination was a farce! It was a show, and you should be compensated for time lost, the lost of your corner office, private parking spot, and the mini-fridge that was yours in the first place.

They are bringing you back because they know from the jump that they made a mistake and that you are the ultimate fixer who can make things right. Here are other possible reasons why you have been called back to, dare I say it? "Save the company!"

For example:

1. You were always among the brightest stars wherever you have gone
2. They knew that if they didn't hurry up, you would be snatched up faster than Saquan Barkely of the Eagles or Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever
3. You were always professional, knowledgeable, and helpful
4. You were the first to learn something new when new things were introduced into the workplace
5. You represented your department and your fellow employees at various strategic meetings professionally
6. You were always on time or called in if you were going to be late
7. Never missed work, even when you had a broken arm and had to be carried in from your private parking spot with an assigned valet
8. You asked for help when you didn't know the answer and said as much that you didn't know
9. You were often selected as a team leader by your team.
10. You listened to others' ideas, encouraged them, and contributed to the high retention of your department and the company
11. You provided ideas on how best to get things done, and they got done
12. You have a value that words can never do justice, but it was an unmistakable fact: you had to be called back! Why? Because you are are one of the brightest stars they could ever have.

Now What?

The reason why you may have been re-hired may not be the reason why you keep your job, if at all. From your perspective and that of your immediate supervisor, this is not the same workplace. You may be ready to be as professional as possible as you have always have been, but that did not pay off for you as an alleged DEI-Hire. This time, you may be pensive. You may be distrustful of management and your fellow employees. How will you get your groove back as the outstanding superstar that you always were? (movie reference: How Stella Got Her Groove Back)

Conclusion: The Challenge Before Us

The challenge before all of us, regardless of if we were hired under DEI policies or not, is whether or not we are willing to be judged by our character and not our characterizations? Are we willing to take a risk and resist for the moment to judge each other beyond political ideaologies and get something bigger than ourselves accomplished?

Do we dare to be evaluated for what our strengths are as individuals and not as a class of people where in the long run, where the behavior of one could unfortunately represent the many?

Are we willing to take a chance to work together for the good of the product or service for which we were employed? How difficult can it be to work together for the benefit of the clients and customers that we serve? Would that show some level of weakness? Would it destroy our character to think and act beyond our race, creed, color, sex, or any other reasonably significant difference that we may have?

Right now, the answer appears to be "NO!" We are not strong enough as a society to take a chance that our differences, however slight, may show that in our entirety, we are not one nation under God.

Instead, we will continue to live as we have always done for 250 years. Never mind the saying by Albert Einstein: "Insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different outcome."

It appears that we, as a civilized society, have insanity on lock! We have mastered the art of self-deprivation in order to keep others who are different from us from achieving their goals and dreams. Lord, help us!

Is it possible that we can just get back to work, be promoted, be hired, be fired, or go to lunch together and not look glaringly at the color of each other's skin, our handicaps, or whatever differences we have without our differences being weaponized for political gain? Nah!

The real challenge before us is to remember our individual value. Yes, we all make up our various races, nationalities, and the like, but we are also individuals! Within our races, nationalities, sex, and the like, we are as individual as the sands on the beaches. We don't like to be compared to our fellow sibblings; how do we like it when we are compared to someone because we are religiously alike, or racially alike? We don't, right?

In recognizing our individual value, we don't become pawns in a political landscape that divides us, demoralizes us, or dehumanizes us so that when the smoke clears, we are left lacking for more than what we had in the beginning.

While we bask in the glow of our differences by keeping others from achieving their goals and dreams, what are our political antagonists up to doing? They are sitting, fat and happy! As for us, the well exploited, those of us who have allowed our differences to be weaponized are paying a higher price for eggs, gas at the pump, car parts, milk, and whatever else the very best of life has to offer to us, that we are depriving ourselves.

Idealistic for sure, but it is possible that we can bond together and not want to destroy each other's lives over something that neither of us can change, like the color of our skin, our sex, or who we love. But we can at least give it a try. What do you say? Are you ready to accept the challenge of DEI 2.0? Are you ready to shine as the outstanding person that you are? Asking for a friend.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven." Matthew 5: 16 KJV

#shine

#iamadei

#deia

#dei

#dei2.0

#womenshistorymonth

#iamablackmanwalking