Amazon.
Last week, McDonald’s scaled back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Now Amazon and Meta are doing the same, the latest U.S. companies to re-evaluate their policies days before Donald Trump becomes the nation’s next president—and conservative opposition to such initiatives grows louder.
Last Friday, Meta—which owns Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp—said it will no longer consider DEI policies before hiring, training, or choosing suppliers. Meta’s DEI reversal came just days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company would stop censoring speech on its social media platforms. Both Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have recently met with Trump as part of an ongoing effort to smooth relationships between the Republican president and the tech industry. Meta vice president of human resources Janelle Gale reportedly announced the DEI moves in an internal employee memo, attributing the policy revisions to the changing “legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the United States.”
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Meanwhile, Amazon—the nation’s second-largest employer behind Walmart—is halting some of its DEI programs, but it is not eliminating them. In a memo to employees, Candi Castleberry, a senior human resources executive, said last month that Amazon was “winding down outdated programs and materials” as part of a review of hundreds of DEI initiatives. Amazon’s “Our Positions” webpage recently eliminated specific sections titled “Equity for Black people”; “Diversity, equity, and inclusion”; and “LGBTQ+ rights.”
Meta and Amazon are the latest big employers to shift their tactics in the wake of the 2023 Supreme Court ruling and a conservative backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. While Meta seems to be stopping all work in the DEI space, Amazon is not. “We believe this is important work,” said Castleberry, “so we’ll keep investing in programs that help us reflect those audiences, help employees grow, thrive, and connect, and we remain dedicated to delivering inclusive experiences for customers, employees, and communities around the world. Rather than have individual groups build programs, we are focusing on programs with proven outcomes—and we aim to foster a more truly inclusive culture. … We remain dedicated to delivering inclusive experiences for customers, employees, and communities around the world.”
Last year, Walmart, Boeing, Ford, John Deere, and Harley-Davidson all rolled back their DEI initiatives. Walmart’s announcement last month followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees.
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————————————————————In contrast to many of these companies, Apple’s board of directors recently shot down a request asking the company to abolish its DEI programs, policies, department, and goals. Costco has also forcefully rejected a shareholder proposal earlier this month that challenged its DEI policies. The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) had filed a proposal that asked Costco to end its DEI initiatives because they are discriminatory and open the company up to financial and legal risks. But Costco’s board is urging shareholders to vote against the NCPPR proposal and has publicly stated its commitment to its DEI programs. The vote at Costco’s annual meeting next week will help determine whether Costco will join Walmart, McDonald’s, and the other major companies that have taken a stance against DEI initiatives.
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From: BenefitsPRO
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Lynn Cavanaugh
Lynn Varacalli Cavanaugh is Senior Editor, Retirement at BenefitsPRO. Prior, she was editor-in-chief of the What's New in Benefits & Compensation newsletter. She has worked for major firms in the employee benefits space, Vanguard and Willis Towers Watson, as well as top media companies, including Condé Nast and American Media.
