It’s been a tumultuous year for DE&I practitioners. They’ve seen high turnover and budget cuts, and have been on the receiving end of an onslaught of misinformation surrounding what DE&I is and isn’t.
Several large companies, including Ford, Lowe’s, Toyota, and Molson Coors, have rolled back DE&I efforts since the summer. Many are also cutting ties with workplace accountability indexes and cutting back on employee resource groups.
Following the re-election of former President Donald Trump, the industry is preparing for more potential obstacles. Trump issued an executive order during his first term banning racial sensitivity training at federal agencies and government contractors, and called diversity education “un-American.” He’s since threatened to have the Department of Justice investigate schools with DE&I programs, and fine and tax the endowments of those that do racial equity work, using that money to provide “restitution” to “victims” of the initiatives, the Grio reported.
For his part, Vice President-elect JD Vance introduced a bill over the summer that would ban DE&I programs in the federal government and prevent government contracts from going to groups that deploy DE&I initiatives.
HR Brew asked DE&I leaders on LinkedIn how they believe the next Trump term will impact their jobs and industry. The majority of the more than 40 respondents were uncertain about the future of DE&I, and their ability to pursue such efforts openly.
“Companies will change the language from DE&I to inclusion or belonging to avoid legal risk. They will still keep doing the work quietly,” responded Julie Kratz, CEO of Next Pivot Point, which provides DE&I education and consulting services.
“The worst-case scenario within the workplace will be a shift. Instead of DE&I, you’ll probably see a reorganization of HR into HR+ roles which will include some form of internal stakeholder strategy,” wrote Brandon Wolfe, executive director for campus and alumni group connections at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Wolfe’s title was previously chief diversity officer, but the state’s university system eliminated its DE&I office and budget earlier this year. “We are a global marketplace. DE&I cannot die. It’s too integrated into successful business practices of a rapidly diversifying workforce and marketplace,” he added.
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Brae Johnson, former head of DE&I at ABM Industries, a facilities company, said her position was eliminated the day after the election. She said there were signs something was brewing. “For example, we were directed to stop using the word ‘diversity’ and instead say ‘culture and inclusion.’ It would be in the company’s best interest to continue their DE&I efforts. But as of now, they seem to be potentially abandoning those efforts.”
Others said they expect the anti-DE&I efforts will continue in 2025. “We have seen, over the years, that less focus in the executive branch of government translates into less focus across many corporations,” Melinda Briana Epler, a communications advisor, said. “And what we saw after the 2016 election was a need to focus on rebuilding trust and empathy in the workplace, in a polarizing political landscape. That need is even stronger now. I believe the work will continue, but in many organizations, it will continue to contract and/or focus more on trust, empathy, and psychological safety.”
The potential for a contraction concerns Sarah Everhart, a people analytics analyst. “As an individual, I’m terrified. As an employee, I’m hopeful my company continues to stay the course and doesn’t deviate,” she said. “We can do this if enough companies don’t cave in.”