The pendulum swings. Late last week, Meta announced it will end several diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, after a similar announcement made by McDonald’s the week before. Taken together, they may mark the beginning of the end of one of the most rapid phenomenons in business.
The 2020 death of George Floyd by police was a watershed moment for corporate DEI. His death instigated a commitments-rush by Corporate America and much of the Western world. Policies such as employer-mandated diversity training, resource groups for underrepresented minorities and commitments to equity in hiring, became more commonplace. The pendulum—with tailwinds from the previous decade of progressive politics—swang hard and fast.
Evidence of better workplace practices, better products and services, and even a better bottomline, abounded. I, myself, moderated numerous HotTopics panel debates with C-suite leaders who found out the hard way that a more inclusive workplace pays.
It was also controversial: the legality of these new directives were questioned and the political response included labels such as “woke”. Eventually, an inflationary economy helped stoked an anti-woke agenda, globally; the US Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, ruled race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
It was the moment the pendulum paused at its highest amplitude—that is, the top of its swing—and has raced back down ever since.
Since last June, farm equipment manufacturer John Deere, Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniel’s manufacturer Brown-Forman, Ford, Lowe’s, Molson Coors, Boeing and Walmart have all dropped or are scaling back DEI commitments. And late next month, Apple shareholders will vote on a proposal to scrap the phone maker’s DEI programmes, citing “litigation, reputational and financial risks”.
That history is a series of pendulum swings is almost an aside. The question is what causes the swings—and knowing why, what to make of it as leaders.
Much like ESG, DEI is either collateral damage as businesses refocus on growth in a challenging, competitive market, or actively targeted by competing socio-political mindsets. The upcoming re-election of President Elect Trump combines both these points, as it happens. We can expect the pendulum to continue in its swing as Musk and his peers continue to rattle the incumbent international stage.
Something to watch, however: 2025 is also predicted to see a swell of so-called employee activism.
According to social impact platform Engage for Good, 83 percent of millennials consider it important for their employers to align with their own beliefs and values, while 9 in 10 Gen Z team members expect their workplace to act on social and environmental issues. This, as three-quarters of Gen Z workers evaluate a potential employer’s community engagement and social impact before agreeing to go to work there. These groups could be stoked to make their voices better heard.
Caught between multiple forces is nothing new for the C-suite. Think regulators vs sales teams vs competitors vs charities across industry circles. But caught between forces across society is still novel. The DEI backlash is part of a wider story, or greater pendulum swing, and executives on all sides of the debate would do well to remember a swing always finds its amplitude—eventually.
