Performative Activism

Definition

In HR context, diversity initiatives that appear progressive but lack meaningful structural change—looking good without actually fixing anything.

Example Usage

Critics called the company's Juneteenth email campaign performative activism given the lack of diverse leadership.

Origin

General cultural term adapted to workplace contexts in 2020s

Fun Fact

Employees can detect performative activism 78% of the time, and it often damages trust more than doing nothing

Source: Contemporary Workplace Culture

Related Terms

Beginner

Flexible Work

An arrangement that means you can work from anywhere at any time, which actually means you'll work from everywhere at all times. The flexibility is that the company is flexible about how much of your personal life it absorbs.

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

Core Competencies

The specific skills and knowledge that make someone valuable in their role. Not the things you're pretending to be good at on LinkedIn.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

lockout

The reverse Uno card of labor disputes where management barricades the door and tells workers they're not welcome until they accept company terms. Unlike a strike where workers walk out, here the boss literally locks them out—turning the workplace into an exclusive club where employees suddenly aren't on the guest list. It's the industrial relations equivalent of changing the locks on your roommate.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

misconduct

The corporate euphemism for 'bad stuff we can't ignore anymore' that covers everything from expense fraud to harassment to using the company printer for your side hustle. It's what HR calls your behavior when they're building a paper trail for your termination. Comes in various flavors: professional, sexual, and the ever-popular 'gross misconduct' which means you're definitely getting fired.

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

Icebreaker Activities

Team-building exercises designed to help people get to know each other. They break the ice in the sense of creating a thin layer of discomfort that melts slowly.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

Pipeline

An automated sequence of steps that code goes through from development to production, or a visual representation of your company's hopes and dreams flowing through stages of increasing disappointment. When the pipeline breaks, everything stops.

💻 Tech / IT👥 Human Resources

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