As Trump Pushes Back & Companies Retreat, What Next for DEI?

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) isn’t a new concept, but the term and some practices coming under fire in the US has brought it to global headlines. 

Dozens of the world’s biggest companies – including Meta, Target, Disney, Google and Deloitte – have backed away from DEI or changed their policies.

But is this really the end for DEI?

A brief history of DEI in the US

DEI has its roots in the social justice movements of the 1950s and 1960s.

Anti-discrimination legislation began to be passed in the 60s, including the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

The words diversity and equity came into use in the 80s and some organisations began training programmes to support compliance with anti-discrimination legislation. 

These terms spread further through businesses in the 90s and 00s. 

In 2020, after the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, the Black Lives Matter movement gained mainstream momentum and firms including Google, Prada Group and Nike appointed Chief Diversity Officers. 

In 2021, the S&P 100 added more than 300,000 jobs and 94% of them went to people of colour according to Bloomberg. 

However, critics then began to argue that DEI efforts were anti-meritocratic and some states began to pass laws against diverse hiring programmes. 

US President Donald Trump signed executive orders after his 2025 inauguration, aimed at stopping DEI programmes in the US Government and its federal contractors. 

“Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”, one executive order is titled. 

It revokes a variety of laws that promoted diversity and inclusion within the government and orders a plan to be made to deter large organisations from having DEI programmes “that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences”.

A second order, titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”, says that government DEI plans “demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination”. 

Companies that have moved away from DEI

Google decided to scrap its goals of hiring more employees from underrepresented groups and review its DEI programmes. 

"We're committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities," a Google spokesperson told BBC News.

"We've updated our [annual investor report] language to reflect this and, as a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic."

The Walt Disney Company removed mentions of two key DEI programmes in its 10-K filing for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2024. 

However, the filing still acknowledges more than 100 employee groups that represent diverse communities within its global workforce.

Deloitte announced an end to its DEI programmes and annual report alongside instructing staff working on contracts for the government to remove pronouns from their email signatures. 

However, its UK office will remain “committed to our diversity goals” and “will continue to report annually on our progress on inclusion”, according to The Telegraph. 

Has DEI been rebranded?

Warner Bros. Discovery is renaming its DEI programmes to “inclusion” according to reports from multiple outlets. 

Citigroup is renaming its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Talent Management team to “Talent Management and Engagement” and Bank of America has replaced the word “diversity” with “talent” and “opportunity” in an annual report according to Bloomberg. 

McDonald’s announced it will rename its diversity team to “Global Inclusion Team”, saying that “this name change is more fitting for McDonald’s in light of our inclusion value and better aligns with this team’s work.”

Meta’s Vice President of People, Janelle Gale, announced on the company’s internal communications forum that it plans to end a number of DEI programmes.

However, the statement also says: “At Meta, we have a principle of serving everyone. This can be achieved through cognitively diverse teams, with differences in knowledge, skills, political views, backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. 

“Such teams are better at innovating, solving complex problems and identifying new opportunities which ultimately helps us deliver on our ambition to build products that serve everyone.”

While DEI programmes may have been abandoned in name, many of these initiatives fill the same or very similar purposes. 

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