We’ve Known It for Years: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs Don’t Work
Corporate America needn’t have waited for Trump or the Supreme Court: The business case for ditching DEI has been sitting in plain sight for years.
In January, the world’s second-largest restaurant chain, McDonald’s, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, both joined the long list of multinational corporations that have announced they are discontinuing their formal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. It’s a trend that also includes such household names as Amazon, Walmart, Molson Coors, Ford Motor Co., John Deere, Lowe’s, Harley-Davidson, Toyota Motor Corp, and, as of this week, the U.S. federal government: Donald Trump’s administration has ordered all federal workers staffed in DEI roles to be placed on paid leave.
In explaining its move, McDonald’s cited the “shifting legal landscape”—specifically, a June 2023 US Supreme Court decision that struck down race-based affirmative-action programs in college admissions as unconstitutional. In its memo to employees, Meta likewise cited Supreme Court jurisprudence, as well as the fact that “the term ‘DEI’ has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.”
Raquel Rosario Sánchez
While Trump’s name doesn’t appear in these memos, the president’s previous comments likely played a role in corporate decision-making. This week’s anti-DEI executive order was no surprise, as Trump had pledged to “eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the entire federal government”; and his most vocal conservative supporters typically attack DEI as being inspired by “woke” or even Marxist principles—an affront to the merit-based ethos.
