Goldman Sachs and Deloitte have become the newest large companies that reduce the policy of diversity, equity and inclusion (dei), while the American political pressure arises, in particular under the influence of the anti-dei attitude of Donald Trump.
Goldman Sachs has dropped his requirement that companies who want to go to public have at least one board member from an under -represented background. Introduced in 2020, the policy was designed to encourage a greater diversity in business leadership. However, the investment bank mentioned legal developments, including the removal of a Nasdaq requirement for companies to disclose the diversity data of the board of directors, as a reason for its decision.
In the meantime, the American division of Deloitte has assigned employees who work on US government contracts to remove pronouns from e -mail signs and it is the dei program closing. According to an internal e -mail sent to 15,000 employees in its government and public services practice, the relocation corresponds to “emerging customer practices and requirements for the government.” Deloitte also announced plans to abolish his annual diversity report.
The changes reflect a growing trend at private companies that respond to conservative guided control of dei initiatives. The recent executive orders of Trump rejected the dei policy within the federal government, whereby staff are now obliged to report colleagues who continue to promote diversity measures. Although these guidelines do not extend to private companies, Trump has insisted on the office of the American attorney -general to explore ways to apply them more broadly.
Institutional shareholders’ services (ISS), which advises large investors on Corporate Governance, has also adjusted its approach. From 25 February it will no longer recommend voting against American companies that are not achieved to achieve gender or ethnic diversity goals at management level, and acknowledges that companies re-assess their obligations in the light of shifting government policy.
This trend has already influenced large companies. Google recently left its dedication to increasing the recruitment of historically under-represented groups, while Meta and Amazon have also announced diversity programs announced during recruitment, training and supplier selection.
The return against dei efforts has been intensified since the Black Lives Matter protests, with right-wing figures-including Elon Musk-Die without proof that diversity policy contributed to failures in emergency reactions to recent disasters.
Because companies in the private sector are increasingly bending for external pressure, the future of business diversity initiatives seems uncertain.