This summer we saw the wheels come off the “Social” bus. Nearly a dozen large public companies pulled the plug on their DEI initiatives. This is good news for consumers and for the million workers who had to navigate an increasingly politicized workplace. Many corporate executives began remembering that their job is to create value for shareholders by focusing on their customers and delivering goods and services with excellence, not promoting divisive social ideology.
These large public companies have been facing pressure from activist investors like Robby Starbuck, customers, and elected officials. And they’ve determined what critics have known all along: DEI and other Social initiatives are expendable programs. They don’t add to a company’s bottom line nor improve its efficiency. In fact, these DEI initiatives drain time, money, and other resources. Companies don’t need chief diversity officers, sensitivity training, or quotas to recruit and retain good talent or to treat employees fairly.
In June, Tractor Supply canceled ”an array of corporate diversity and climate efforts,” citing the negative reactions they had been getting from a huge number of their customers. In July, John Deere announced that it would end its DEI initiatives—emphasizing their commitment to customers and to quality recruitment and operations. In August, Ford announced that it would no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual workplace survey. Lowes also announced in August that it would no longer participate in the HRC’s diversity surveys or in LGBTQ+ and other social issue events. In October, Toyota said it will no longer sponsor LGBTQ+ events, instead focusing its philanthropy on “STEM education and workforce readiness.”
Here is a list of large public corporations that dropped their commitments to DEI this summer:
- Tractor Supply (~50,000 employees; market cap: ~$32 billion)
- John Deere (~80,000 employees; market cap: ~$111 billion)
- Ford Motors (~177,000 employees; market cap: ~$44 billion)
- Lowes (~300,000 employees; market cap: ~$160 billion)
- Harley-Davidson (~11,000 employees; market cap: ~$5 billion)
- Brown-Forman Corp. (~ 6000 employees; market cap: ~$23 billion)
- Molson Coors (~16,000 employees; market cap: ~$11 billion)
- Stanley Black & Decker (~50,000 employees; market cap: ~$16 billion)
- Toyota (~380,000 employees; market cap: ~$270 billion)
- Boeing (~170,000 employees; ~$95 billion)
Taken together, these public companies represent over a million workers and nearly a trillion dollars of market value. Although there is some variation in exactly how much these companies have rolled back their DEI policies, they all share one or more of the following characteristics.
- No longer funding or participating in social or cultural “awareness” events
- No longer participating in the HRC’s diversity surveys
- Removing DEI language and priorities in their hiring and recruiting
By Paul Mueller
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