One of President Donald Trump's first executive orders upon returning to office aimed to stomp out federal DEI programs, a pledge he made on the campaign trail. Before Trump's inauguration, industry bellwethers Meta, McDonald's, and Walmart had announced plans to roll back at least some of their diversity, equity, and inclusion work.
Yet, elsewhere in the corporate world, there are still high-profile supporters. Take Jamie Dimon. This week, the JPMorgan CEO defended the bank's DEI work as activist shareholders appear to be targeting the company, among other financial heavyweights, over their DEI programs.
"Bring them on," Dimon told CNBC on Wednesday in reference to the critical investors.
Costco has also shown support for DEI in the days leading up to Trump's return to the Oval Office. Then, on Thursday, the retailer's shareholders overwhelmingly defeated a proposal from the National Center for Public Policy Research that would have required Costco to produce a report on its DEI work — a move the board opposed as being both politically biased and a waste of resources.
Many companies stepped up or talked more about their DEI efforts after the 2020 murder of George Floyd and the racial justice protests that followed.
Yet diversity efforts have been under attack in recent months, first by conservative activists and now by Trump, prompting many companies to reconsider their advocacy for progressive initiatives.
Trump's executive order has the potential to ripple further through the private sector. The president wants federal agencies to identify "the most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners" across public companies and nonprofits for possible civil investigations.
Still, the companies that are sticking by DEI seem unperturbed.
More innovation, smarter decisions
One of the reasons some major companies are doubling down on DEI today is because they say it's good for business.
Dimon, for example, said JPMorgan's efforts to reach out to the Black, Hispanic, LGBTQ+, and veterans groups, among others, were "90% for-profit." He spoke to CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In the company's most recent annual report, issued in April, Dimon wrote that JPMorgan's work around DEI leads to "more innovation, smarter decisions and better financial results" for the company and the economy. A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment further to BI.
At Costco, 98% of shareholders voted against a measure that would have required the retailer to investigate any legal or financial risks tied to the company's DEI work. The results followed a unanimous recommendation by the board urging them to reject the proposal.
The board wrote in December that its commitment to running a business "rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary." Costco did not respond to BI's request for further comment.
About half of US residents are female, while more than 40% consider themselves non-white, according to the nonprofit USAFacts.
Activists are targeting DEI programs
Other companies have made pitches in favor of DEI. Apple has encouraged investors to vote against a shareholder proposal to jettison its DEI programs. In a filing this month, it criticized the petition as one that would constrain Apple's "ability to manage its own ordinary business operations, people and teams, and business strategies."
A Walmart spokesperson told BI that the company remains committed to "creating a culture where everyone can be successful, and ensuring we are a Walmart for everyone."
Meta's vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale, wrote in a memo this month that the parent of Facebook and Instagram would cease to have a team focused on DEI. She also said that the term DEI had "become charged" because it's sometimes seen as a "practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others."
In Target's announcement Friday, Kiera Fernandez, the company's chief community impact and equity officer, wrote that, as a company that sees millions of customers daily, "we understand the importance of staying in step with the evolving external landscape."
Part of that shifting landscape, as Meta's Gale noted in her memo, involves what's legal. That reassessment follows the Supreme Court's 2023 decision ending affirmative action in college admissions. While it's not permissible to practice DEI in a way that becomes discriminatory, the Trump administration's push to weaken DEI could prompt added scrutiny of corporate programs, legal experts told BI.
Meta, McDonald's, and Target didn't respond to BI's requests for further comment. Apple didn't immediately respond to an inquiry sent outside normal business hours.
Even before the White House's pushback, it was already a tough political environment for DEI, which critics often assail for prioritizing gender or ethnicity over merit. In addition, some who sympathize with the aims of DEI programs contend that some of the efforts aren't effective and need to be reimagined.
'A business imperative'
Companies might be convinced to stay the course on DEI because such efforts are often part of a strategy to attract and keep the best workers, Diana Scott, US human capital center leader at The Conference Board, told BI. The Conference Board describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit entity. As part of its work, it operates councils for business leaders in areas including diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
The majority of execs Scott talks with from the large companies that make up the think tank's membership say they plan to continue their DEI work.
"For them, it's a business imperative," she said.
Having a diverse workforce where the focus is on equity — things like fairness in opportunities and in how workers are rewarded — leads to better culture and collaboration, Scott said. That, in turn, drives innovation and better business results.
"People don't view this as a zero-sum game," she said, referring to the views on DEI among many of the business leaders she talks to.
Some DEI efforts haven't been working
That support doesn't mean, however, that there aren't DEI efforts that couldn't be improved, Scott said.
Some researchers agree.
Iris Bohnet, a behavioral economist at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and coauthor of the book "Make Work Fair," told BI that some measures, like diversity training, too often fail to change behaviors that could be influenced by bias, such as decisions on hiring, promotions, or performance appraisals.
"What we have been doing in the past five to 10 years really hasn't been working," she said.
That's one reason to revisit — yet not abandon — DEI, Bohnet said. Focusing on ideas like fairness could create greater buy-in from skeptics, she said.
Many workers support DEI
Another reason some employers are likely to stick with DEI is because employees often support it.
In an August survey of some 1,300 workers and executives at US companies, 58% of respondents told the Conference Board that their organization put an appropriate amount of effort into DEI. About one in five workers said their employer didn't go far enough.
For groups that have historically often faced a tough time on the job, DEI often matters a great deal. About half of women and 56% of Black workers told the Conference Board they wouldn't work for an organization that didn't regard it as important.
"Many of these companies have been practicing DEI for decades," Scott said. "This is not performative for them."
Jennie Glazer, CEO of the think tank Coqual, which focuses on barriers to advancement for underrepresented people in the workplace, told BI that its members, which include big companies like JPMorgan, believe that "inclusive" workplaces are more effective.
"Diverse teams make better decisions and solve problems faster," she said.
That's why she thinks it's unlikely that many companies will ultimately abandon all of their efforts in this area.
"We are going to have a very multicultural workforce, whether or not you invest in DEI," she said.
