Is the tide turning on diversity initiatives?

Ford has become the latest major US company to scale back its diversity and inclusion policies, amid a "changing legal and political environment and online pressure from the right", said CNN.

Corporate investment in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives rose sharply in 2020 following the wave of protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd. Management consultancy firm McKinsey estimates that US companies spent an estimated $7.5 billion (£5.7 billion) on DEI-related schemes in that year alone.

Initiatives included pledges to add more minority employees to the workforce, anti-bias training, and the hiring of a record number of chief diversity officers, with some large companies linking executive bonuses to efforts in meeting diversity goals.

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Legal minefield

In 2023 the US Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that ended affirmative action programmes at colleges, finding that factoring racial make-up into admissions amounted to discrimination. 

While the ruling "didn't directly implicate companies" said Bloomberg, it "invigorated" legal activists, who have ramped up the amount of lawsuits targeting corporate hiring practices which they said unfairly favour non-white employees. The Washington Post reported that the decision has "so transformed the legal landscape that some companies are abandoning diversity programmes as a defensive measure even before any litigation is filed".

The debate around diversity has also infiltrated politics, where Republicans have repeatedly labelled Kamala Harris a "DEI" hire, implying she achieved her position as vice president and Democratic presidential nominee solely because of her race and gender.

Enter Robby Starbuck

Leading the charge against DEI programmes is former Hollywood music video director turned conservative activist Robby Starbuck. The 35-year-old's X account boasts more than half a million followers, and his online campaigns have been amplified by prominent right-wing influencers and the likes of Elon Musk.

Starbuck has "channelled energy on the right" to target specific brands "popular with politically conservative customers", such as Harley-Davidson, said CNN. The parent company of Jack Daniel's whiskey, Brown-Forman, also dropped its DEI programmes shortly before Starbuck said he was planning to start a campaign against the brand.

Last month, Starbuck approached US home improvement giant Lowe's, telling the company he planned to spotlight policies such as their employee resource groups and donations to Pride events. The Washington Post reported that the company responded with "preemptive changes", for which Starbuck claimed credit on X.

Then last week, Ford CEO Jim Farley sent an email to employees saying that the company had also changed some of its DEI policies, including ending participation in external culture surveys by the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

While Farley said Ford remained committed to creating an "inclusive workspace and building a team that leverages diverse perspectives, backgrounds and thinking styles", he acknowledged the "external and legal environment related to political and social issues continues to evolve".

While Starbuck is undoubtedly an important force in the anti-DEI pressure movement, his success is exposing the "fragility" of corporate backing for inclusion schemes, said Shaun Harper, professor of education and business at the University of Southern California and founder and executive director of its Race and Equity Center, speaking to CNN.

"If one person can take to Twitter and ultimately inflame a campaign to dismantle DEI in large companies, it means those things were not strong to begin with," he said. "Most companies and the people who lead them were not committed to this in the first place."