Companies are increasingly pulling back from DEI initiatives
Image: LSIA
This week, tractor giant John Deere announced plans to eliminate some of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, joining a growing number of companies that have taken similar steps in recent months.
A few examples:
- Microsoft eliminated an internal team focused on DEI earlier this month due to “changing business needs,” per a new Business Insider report.
- Last month, Tractor Supply announced it was significantly cutting back on its DEI programs and carbon emission goals, including eliminating all DEI roles at the company.
- Several other large tech companies – including Google, Meta, Snap, and Zoom – have also gotten rid of some or all of their DEI roles over the past year.
Overall, 35% of professionals who started in DE&I roles in 2020 across a range of industries have left the field altogether, according to employment data provider Live Data Technologies.
The arguments: Critics of DEI initiatives, including Elon Musk, podcast host Robby Starbuck, and many GOP lawmakers, argue they incorrectly seek to achieve equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity. They also contend such programs violate discrimination laws by granting exclusive opportunities and funds to racial or ethnic minority groups.
- Proponents of DEI initiatives, including Mark Cuban and many Democratic lawmakers, argue that maintaining a diverse workforce is a key part of attracting and retaining workers, and typically improves an organization’s performance by driving more innovation, helping to avoid group-think, and better serving a diverse customer base.
Looking ahead… DEI initiatives could soon receive a rebrand in the corporate world. SHRM, America’s top organization for HR professionals, announced last week that it wants employers to drop “equity” from their DEI efforts and instead focus on a new abbreviation: I&D, or inclusion and diversity (in that order).
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Sprinkles from the Left
- Some commentators argue that while businesses have plenty of reasons to keep quiet about their DEI efforts, they should remain vocal about their efforts to push back against false accusations that DEI programs aren’t beneficial for companies.
- Others contend that conservatives have settled on DEI as a scapegoat for their false beliefs that America’s changing demographics threaten its culture, and that diversity comes at the expense of white people.
- “Corporate America Should Amp Up the Volume on DEI” –Beth Kowitt, Bloomberg
- “Meet Dr. DEI, the new personification of old right-wing grievances” –Theodore R. Johnson, WaPo
- “This Is the Actual Danger Posed by D.E.I.” –David French, NY Times
Sprinkles from the Right
- Some commentators argue that DEI is a new label for old affirmative action policies that were rightly rejected by much of society and belatedly reined in by the courts as discrimination, with DEI policies purporting to right previous wrongs but only fostering more injustice.
- Others contend that so many on the Left have fully bought into the false argument that private companies have a social responsibility to correct an invisible problem, and companies are right to push back on the prevalence of DEI initiatives.
- “Pushing back at creeping ‘DEI’” –Denver Gazette Editorial Board
- “Conservatives are starting to win against DEI” –Ben Rothove, Washington Examiner
- “A Lesson in DEI Failure From Britain” –WSJ Editorial Board
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