An increasing number of prominent companies have graduated back or assigned the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives much corporate America Certification following the protests that came with the killing of Minneapolis police from George Floyd, a black man, in 2020.
Typically, DEI policies are intended to embed systemic barriers to promoting groups on the historic margins in some fields or roles. Critics argue that some education, government and business programs are differentiated because they identify participants based on factors such as race, sex and sexual orientation. They have targeted corporate sponsorship, employee -led affinity groups, programs aimed at informing contracts for minority or women's businesses, and goals set up some companies for increasing minority representation in leadership ranks.
Although hiring or promotional decisions based on race or gender are illegal under the title of VII Civil Rights Act 1964 in most circumstances, companies say they do not. Instead, they say they aspire to their workforce over time through policies such as expanding candidates' pools for opening jobs.
Investment company Goldman Sachs confirmed that it was leaking a requirement that forced IPO clients to include women and members of minority groups on their board of directors.
“As a result of legal developments relating to the requirements of Board diversity, we ended our formal board diversity policy,” said a Goldman Sachs spokesman in email at the Associated Press. “We continue to believe that successful boards benefit from various backgrounds and perspectives, and we will encourage them to take this approach.”
Goldman Sachs said he will still have a location service that links his clients to various candidates to serve on their boards.
Google Alphabet's parent company also indicated that things were changing in its annual 10-K report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The report dropped a boilerplate sentence he has used since 2020 stating that the company is “committed to making diversity, equity and inclusion as part of everything we do and to grow a workforce that is representative of the users we are serving. ”
Target
The retailer said changes to his strategy “belonging in the Bullseye” would include bringing Set up to help black workers build meaningful careers, improve the experience of black shoppers and promote Black businesses Following Floyd's death in Minneapolis, where Target has his headquarters.
Target, which is operates nearly 2,000 stores Across the country and employed more than 400,000 people, he said it would also finish the variety, equity and inclusion, or a tei, previously set goals In three -year cycles.
The goals included hiring and promoting more women and members of racial minority groups, and recruiting more diverse suppliers, including businesses owned by people of color, women, LGBTQ+people, former Charings and people with disabilities.
Target will also no longer take part in surveys designed to measure the effectiveness of its actions, including an annual index drawn up by the Human Rights Campaign, LGBTQ+ National Rights Institute. Target also said it would further evaluate corporate partnerships to ensure that they were linked directly to business objectives, but refused to share details.
Meta platforms
Parent -Cwmni Facebook and Instagram said it remove From its diversity program, equity and inclusion, which included policies for hiring, training and selection of vendors.
Like other companies that announced similar changes before Meta, the social media giant said he had been reviewing the program since the July 2023 Supreme Court manages positive action in higher education.
Quoting an internal memo sent to employees, the Axios news website reported that Menlo Park, a California technology giant saying that it would no longer have a team focusing on diversity and inclusion and instead will “focus on how to apply fair and consistent customs Which alleviate biases for everyone, regardless of your background. ”The change means that the company will also end its” variable slate approach “to hire, which included considering a diverse pool of candidates for each open site.
Hamazon
Amazon said it stopped some of his Dei programs, although he did not specify which ones. In a memo on December 16 for employees, Candi Castleberry, Senior Human Resources Executive, said the company has been “winding out old -fashioned programs and materials, and we aim to complete that by the end of 2024.”
“We also know that individuals or teams will always continue to do things with good intentions that do not fit in with our whole company approach, and we may not always see those immediately . But we will stick to it, ”he wrote.
Instead of “having individual groups to build programs,” said Castleberry, Amazon “focuses on programs with proven results – and we also aim to foster a more inclusive culture.”
McDonald's
Four years after launching a campaign for more variety in its ranks, McDonald's He said earlier this month that he was ending some of his diversity habits.
McDonald's said on January 6 that it will retire specific goals for achieving diversity at higher leadership levels. It also intends to end a program that encourages its suppliers to develop diversity training and increase the number of minority group members represented in their own leadership ranks.
McDonald's said it will also delay “external surveys.” The A burger giant Without elaborating, but many other companies have suspended their participation in an annual survey by the HRC.
In Open letter For employees and franchises, the McDonald Senior Leadership Team said it remains committed to inclusion and believes that having a diverse workforce is a competitive advantage.
Step
The world's largest retailer confirmed in November It would not renew a five -year commitment to a racial equity center established in 2020 after the police killed George Floyd, and would stop participating in the HRC's Corporate Equality Index.
Walmart also said it will better monitor its third -party market to ensure that items sold there do not include products aimed at LGBTQ+ minors, including chest binders intended for transgender youth.
In addition, the company will no longer consider race and sex as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts and will not collect demographic data when determining the funding of competence for those grants.
Ford
CEO Jim Farley Femo sent to Automaker employees in August outlining changes to the company's DEI policies, including a decision to stop participating in the HRC Corporate Equality Index.
FordHe wrote, has been looking at his policies for a year. The company does not use hire quotas or ties compensation to a certain variety goals but remains committed to “fostering a safe and inclusive workplace,” said Farley.
“We will continue to put our effort and resources to look after our customers, our team, and our communities against public comments on a number of day polarization issues,” said the Memo.
Lowe's
In August, Lowe's Executive Leadership He said the company had begun to “review” its programs following the Supreme Court Positive Action Award and decided to combine its employee resource groups into one umbrella organization. Previously, the company had “individual groups representing various parts of our contact population.”
The retailer will also no longer participate in the HRC Index, and will stop sponsoring and participating in events, such as festivals and marches, outside their business areas.
Harley-Davidson
In a post on X in August, Harley-Davidson He said the company would review all sponsorships and organizations that it was involved with, and that everyone would have to be approved at the heart of central. He said the company would focus entirely on growing a motorcycle sport and retaining its loyal riding community, as well as supporting first responders, executive military members and former Suns.
The motorcycle manufacturer said he would no longer participate in the workplace equality site designed by the HRC, and that its training sessions would be related to the needs of the business and would be absent from social motivation content.
Harley-Davidson also said it has no hiring quotas and would no longer have supplier diversity spending goals.
Brown
Parent -Jack Daniels also pulled out of participating in the HRC's Corporate Equality Index, among other changes. His email leaders sent employees in August saying that the company launched its diversity and inclusion strategy in 2019, but since then “the world has evolved, our business has changed, and the legal landscape AC externally changed dramatically. ”
The company said it would eliminate its workforce quantitative ambitions and suppliers, ensure that employee incentives and goals were involved in business performance, and review training programs for consistency with a revised strategy.
“Brown-formman continues to foster an inclusive working environment where everyone is welcomed, respected, and can bring their best self to work,” spokesman Elizabeth Conway said in an email.
John Deere
The Farm Equipment Manufacturer He said in July that he would no longer sponsor the “social or cultural awareness” events, and would explore all training materials “to secure the absence of socially induced messages” in accordance with federal and local laws.
Moline, John Deere of Illinois added that “the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification has never been and are not a company policy.” But he noted that he would still “track and move on” the diversity of the company.
Tractor Supply
The retailer In June He said it ended a variety of corporate diversity and climate efforts, a move that came after weeks of conservative backlash on -lein against the rural retailer.
Supply tractor said it would delete all its Dei roles while retiring current Dei goals. The company added that it would “stop sponsoring activities other than business” such as pride holidays or polling campaigns-and no longer presents data for the HRC Index.
Brentwood company Tennessee, which sells products ranging from farming equipment to pet supplies, said it would also withdraw from its carbon emissions goals to “focus on our land and water conservation efforts. “
The National Black Farmers Association The President and CEO of Tractor Supply was called to step down shortly after the company's announcement.
