Box-ticking exercise | Wells Fargo accused of interviewing diverse candidates AFTER the roles were filled

Wells Fargo has been accused of interviewing diverse candidates for positions that had already been filled, in a bid to boost their D&I statistics.

As reports the New York Times, former wealth management executive Joe Bruno alleges that the firm would frequently interview a candidate from an ethnic minority, to boost the company’s D&I data.

The firm was one of many that had pledged an increased commitment to diversity and inclusion initiatives in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Part of Wells Fargo’s plans was a formal policy that mandated at least one “diverse” candidate would have to be interviewed for any job vacancy paying more than $100,000 a year.

However, Bruno adds that often, the position being interviewed for had already been offered to someone else – rendering the pledge to diversity a simple box-ticking exercise.