A list of companies that have backed down on DEI, including Walmart, Ford, and Harley-Davidson
While some companies are moving away from diversity programs, it's something a majority of Americans support, per an April poll.
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- Walmart is pulling back its DEI programs amid backlash from a conservative activist.
- Robby Starbuck has led social media campaigns against companies for their DEI practices.
- Other companies that withdrew or toned down their DEI initiatives include Lowe's and Ford.
Walmart is the latest company to roll back its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives amid backlash following a pressure campaign from a conservative activist.
Many of these campaigns have been led by Robby Starbuck, a prominent conservative activist with a sizable social media following. He argues that these initiatives do not align with the values of companies' largely conservative consumer bases.
The move away from DEI policies is part of an ongoing wave of backlash against diversity programs at American companies. Tech companies such as Microsoft, Meta, and Zoom cut DEI programs this year, Business Insider reported in July, and law firms, including Winston & Strawn, faced lawsuits for affirmative action.
While activists like Starbuck are loudly criticizing companies and other groups, 61% of Americans support DEI practices, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll in April.
The Human Rights Campaign slammed companies' DEI rollbacks in an August statement to BI.
"Decisions to cut DEI initiatives send a clear signal to employees that their employers simply don't care about equality in the workplace. Putting politics ahead of workers and consumers only hurts the same folks that these businesses rely on," wrote Eric Bloem, the nonprofit group's vice president of programs and corporate advocacy.
Here are how some companies have cut their DEI programs.
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In August, Harley-Davidson said on X that it would drop diversity-based spending goals from suppliers, halt socially motivated employee training, and withdraw from an annual LGBTQ acceptance rating by the Human Rights Campaign, Bloomberg reported.
Harley told Bloomberg that the company was "saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community," following Starbuck's calls on X for the company to apologize and change its policies.
Bloem, from the Human Rights Campaign, said in the statement to BI that retreating from DEI hurts employees and customers.
"Harley-Davidson's choice to back away from the Corporate Equality Index is an impulsive decision fueled by fringe right-wing actors and MAGA extremists who believe they can bully their way into dismantling initiatives that help everyone thrive in the workplace," Bloem wrote.
Rick Wilking/Reuters
John Deere has pulled back on its DEI commitments, including no longer participating in cultural awareness events and abolishing the company's pronoun policy, BI reported in July.
While John Deere did not publicly announce the reason for its decision, the shift came following online criticism from Starbuck in a video from X, which garnered over 5 million views in July.
Tractor Supply Co.
Tractor Supply significantly scaled back its DEI programs, including eliminating diversity roles and withdrawing from Pride event sponsorship. The company also announced that it would no longer provide data to the Human Rights Campaign, and it would end its carbon emission goals. This came after Starbuck's criticized the company for promoting what he labeled as "woke" policies, NPR reported in June.
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While Starbuck did not specifically target Polaris, the Harley competitor has reduced its DEI efforts, including removing any mention of the term from its web pages. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company emphasized its intention to abstain from political discussion.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Home improvement retailer Lowe's said that it would scale back its DEI programs in an internal note viewed by Bloomberg.
Per the memo, the company will stop participating in surveys run by the Human Rights Campaign, and it will merge resource groups for minority employees into one umbrella organization, Bloomberg reported on August 27.
Starbuck said on X that he caused Lowe's policy shift. However, a Lowe's spokesperson told Bloomberg that they had already begun making changes prior to Starbuck's involvement.
Lowe's has a consumer base largely consisting of rural baby boomers, according to data from the consumer analytics firm Numerator.. The company was labeled "best place to work for LGBTQ equality" by the Human Rights Campaign in Lowe's 2021 culture, diversity, and inclusion report.
Orlando Gonzales, the senior vice president of programs of research and training at the Human Rights Campaign, told BI in a statement that scaling back from DEI policies would have negative consequences for companies in the long run.
"Companies should not cower to a random guy with zero business experience," Gonzales said, citing Starbuck's removal from the Tennessee GOP ballot in 2022.
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
In an internal email shared with Bloomberg by Starbuck, the carmaker said that it would pull out of certain diversity rankings, such as the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index.
The company also said that it would reorient its employee resource groups to make them accessible to all staff. Ford also pledged to be less involved in political matters and changed some corporate sponsorships.
Ford faced backlash last month after it saw quality issues and vehicle recalls.
Starbuck wrote in a post on X that Ford's withdrawal from DEI initiatives came just as he was investigating Ford's "woke policies."
Meanwhile, the HRC said that Ford "cowered" to Starbuck and that the company had "decades of commitment to inclusion and top ratings on the HRC Corporate Equality Index."
"The Human Rights Campaign could not be more disappointed to see the company shirking its responsibility to its employees, consumers, and shareholders," said HRC president Kelley Robinson in a statement.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Beverage company Molson Coors is scrapping many of its DEI policies and initiatives, CNBC reported Wednesday.
In an internal memo obtained by BI, Molson Coors said it would remove quotas for supplier diversity. These quotas, which encourage sourcing supplies from minority or women-owned businesses, can be "complicated and influenced by factors outside" the company's control.
Additionally, the brewer stated that it will shift company training away from DEI-based programs to focus more on key business objectives.
The company said the decision to scale back, which was in the works since March, was made to ensure that executive compensation is solely based on business performance and does not include "aspirational representation goals," according to the memo.
Molson Coors will also no longer participate in the HRC Equality Index or any other third-party company rankings, reported CNBC. The company has previously received a perfect 100-point score for 19 consecutive years.
The memo added that the driving force behind the change was "the understanding that when all our people know they are welcome, they are more engaged, motivated, and committed to our company's collective success."
Survey results by the HRC published on Tuesday found that more than 75% of adults from the LGBTQ+ community unfavorably view companies that rolled back DEI initiatives.
The HRC's Gonzales said that the LGBTQ+ community holds over $1.4 trillion in spending power in the US and wants to "work for and support companies who support us."
None of the companies responded to BI's requests for comment.
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Walmart will end some of its DEI initiatives, including winding down its nonprofit Center for Racial Equity, which Walmart funded with $100 million in 2020 for five years, and discontinuing programs that assist minority-owned suppliers.
The company will also stop using the phrase DEI in company documents, stop sharing the details of its LGBTQ+ corporate policies with the Human Rights Campaign and stop allowing third-party sellers to list items marketed toward the LGBTQ+ community.
"We are willing to change alongside our associates and customers who represent all of America. We've been on a journey and know we aren't perfect," Walmart said in a statement to BI.
In a post on the social media platform X, conservative activist Robby Starbuck claimed credit for Walmart's policy change, calling it "the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America."
