What firms are sticking to their DEI goals?

Hey, y’all,

Do you work in corporate America? If so, did your company mint a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program at some point in the wake of the murder of George Floyd? 

If yes, then I have a crucial third question for you — does it still exist? 

Many major corporations that at one time seemed to hold promise for change have dropped their DEI programs altogether in the past few years.

Walmart. McDonalds. Lowe’s. Ford. Coors. Boeing. Jack Daniels. Harley-Davidson. John Deere. Leadership boards throughout these industries rolled back DEI progress in some shape or form in 2024, Forbes reports. 

However, many large companies stood firmly by DEI.

Costco, for example, in response to a proposal to cut its DEI initiatives from the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, did not budge. Nor did it change its tune when, following its rejection of the proposal, MAGA backlash called for a boycott, according to Fast Company.

“Our Board has considered this proposal and believes that our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary,” Costco’s board responded. 

In an ideal world, this steadfast display of commitment would be expected after a corporate promise — but given the current climate, it stands out and was refreshing for many to see.

“If you crumble when your values are tested, they weren’t values, they were marketing campaigns. Well done, Costco!” Nadine Smith, a civil rights activist, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Plus, Costco is by no means alone. Scores of corporations still maintain DEI programs, contrary to the high-profile abandonments, according to analysis from Teneo, a public relations consultancy. 

In its report, “The State of Sustainability in 2024: DEI Will Survive,” Teneo revealed that 43% of companies still have quantitative, time-bound DEI goals, and 80% of those goals have not changed since 2023. It also found that the vast majority of companies have targeted programs for diverse talent and suppliers, Forbes reported.

Seramount, a talent services firm that works with more than 600 clients and over half of the Fortune 100 companies, conducted a similar study. It found that 80% of its clients are staying the course on DEI, and 10% are doubling down, the agency reported. 

“That leaves only 10% scaling back — largely companies that never viewed DEI as a business imperative to begin with,” it wrote in a blog post. 

This majority of companies are not just maintaining DEI for its ideals, as conservative agitators like Robby Starbuck, who first called for the Costco boycott, would like the general public to believe. In reality, DEI also makes good business sense and has been shown to boost employee engagement and productivity, and subsequently a company’s bottom line, Retail Dive explains. 

As for the few that are jumping ship, some point to Walmart as an example of exactly the kind of PR-motivated DEI that is crumbling to make room for buddying up to the incoming administration. The company has announced that it will terminate certain parts of its DEI work, including its philanthropic endeavor, the Center for Racial Equity, according to Capital B. 

It’s true that conservative lobbyists have applied pressure on these companies to drop the initiatives since day one. It’s true that the Supreme Court is leaning further and further against the principles of DEI, having already struck down affirmative action. 

And it’s true that President-elect Donald Trump and his administration have been fanning the anti-DEI flames all along, as TANTV documented last summer. He is likely to start his term with fresh attacks on anything and everything DEI, from executive orders to stacking the courts once again, according to the Harvard Business Review. 

Still, fingers cannot be pointed anywhere except these companies. They are the ones in need of accountability, no matter what kind of political pressures they face. Some had begun to translate their promises into action, while others remained performatively in-name-only. Either way, backing down now shows that those in power never really meant it, and will choose the tide’s direction over what’s best for their employees and recruits.

It’s a telling sign of our times, one with parallels to the harmful acquiescence of the Reconstruction era between North and South that wrote Black Americans out of the equation and laid the foundation for Jim Crow, Capital B explains.

The Congressional Black Caucus has tried to assist Fortune 500 companies find accountability, most recently in a report filed last fall that identifies practices and impacts that can help make an organization more equitable, Black Voice News reports. 

The report’s key categories included leadership accountability, data disaggregation, board diversity, and pay equity, while its recommendations ranged from consistent performance standards and metrics, cross-industry knowledge sharing, and healthy dialogue with corporate leaders. 

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus has also sought such accountability in a letter sent last February to the nation’s 100 largest corporations, urging them to stick to their DEI commitments, according to AsAmNews.

Now, you might be wondering, if all of these companies turned their backs this easily on their DEI programs, isn’t it good they were exposed, and good riddance? 

That sentiment is valid. Yet there is a counterargument that a flawed program is better than no program at all, if only for the reason that it is a place to start. From there, all the reckoning and evolving that is still necessary for many corporations to experience is possible — if they just keep the door open.

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