As Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery says in his book “American Whitelash,” white Americans have historically reacted to racial progress in a “three steps forward, two steps back way”—and this time, the scapegoat is corporate DEI policy.
Companies claim that rolling back DEI programs are about “ensuring our executive incentives are tied to business performance” (Molson Coors); are related to the evolving “external and legal environment related to political and social issues” (Ford Motor Co.) and are based on “many years of data” (Target).
Those claims are highly suspect, coming on the heels of tantrums thrown by an unpredictable and openly racist Presidential administration. But what is clear is that by rolling back DEI, these businesses are taking an ill-advised gamble on long-term success—over a decade of research demonstrates that sticking to DEI policies is better for bottom lines, workers, and buyers. While CEOs and corporate leadership may reap short-term rewards from bowing to pressure from anti-DEI spokespeople, it’s everyday Americans who are paying the price for their greed and cowardice.
Withdrawing DEI Commitments Is a Spineless Act
In 2024, right wing critics generated transphobic outrage to Budweiser’s partnership with transgender celebrity Dylan Mulvaney. Budweiser responded with lukewarm platitudes about bringing people together over American beer and eventually lost $1.4 billion in sales for parent company Anheuser-Busch. Other companies with conservative consumer bases like Harley-Davidson, Tractor Supply, and Ford Motor Co. feared similar backlash and ended any commitments they’d previously made to address diversity, equity, and inclusion issues.
The current political landscape is increasingly hostile to LGBTQIA+ people, Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, the economically disadvantaged, disabled people, and immigrants. Major U.S. companies caving to right wing harassment for actions as simple as partnering with a young trans woman for a single online ad spot doesn’t just put profits at risk, it puts whole communities—many of whom contribute considerably to the very profits these companies are so eager to protect—in even more vulnerable positions. It’s impossible to separate Anheuser-Busch’s refusal to clearly condemn the harassment Mulvaney was subjected to from the onslaught of state and federal laws targeting trans people from accessing basic health care, legal protections, and general participation in public life as their full, authentic selves.
Similarly, Walmart made bold promises to rectify decades of inequitable corporate practices after the murder of George Floyd and subsequent mass public protests in 2020. After a mere four years, Walmart executives changed their minds on progressive corporate policies last November, including stopping its initiative to increase supplier diversity; halting participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index measuring workplace inclusion of LGBTQIA+ employees; and ending racial equity training programs for staff. The ending of those policies will negatively impact Walmart’s workers and the communities those stores serve far more than its corporate leadership. It will also harm the marginalized-owned and operated small businesses that relied on those initiatives to bring their goods to a wider audience in a market that’s already stacked in favor of multinational conglomerates.
According to Walmart’s 2024 Annual Belonging, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Report, people of color make up over 50% of its hourly U.S. workforce, with Black and Latino workers at roughly 20% each, but only 26% of Walmart officers (senior and executive leadership) are people of color, with Black and Asian officers at just under 10% each. Meanwhile, studies show that while being one of the largest employers in the U.S., Walmart offers some of the lowest pay and contributes to high area unemployment, often by putting smaller, local competitors out of business.
Walmart also cut off donations to its philanthropic arm, the Center for Racial Equity, established in 2020 and dedicated to addressing the root causes of inequality for African Americans by offering grants to 501(c)3 nonprofits working on these issues. Walmart’s 2024 Annual Belonging, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Report stated that “the Center for Racial Equity has invested more than $80 million” in nonprofits that work to “create equitable outcomes for Black and African American communities.” Those funds have helped nonprofits like Code the Dream provide support for people in tech apprenticeships, and Unlock Potential provide career opportunities for young people ages 16 to 24 at risk of incarceration.
This swift corporate U-turn shows how tenuous corporate DEI commitments can be when they’re made without conviction, especially if leadership believes that doing the opposite will protect their bottom line. And repealing DEI policies doesn’t just put a company’s long-term stability at risk, doing so also harms the very communities those corporations claim to care about.
DEI Commitments Create Long-Term Success
In early 2025, both Apple and Costco refused to humor attempts to abolish their DEI programs and commitments, asserting their DEI policies have been, and continue to be, good for business.
Their claims aren’t coming out of thin air. According to Boston Consulting Group, in research based on data covering 27,000 employees in 16 countries, company leadership that prioritizes DEI can slash attrition risk by 50% and increase employee motivation by nearly 25%. Workers who stick around and want to work reduce hiring and training costs, ultimately saving the company money and increasing innovations.
In fact, anti-DEI campaigners and the companies that cave to their demands are not the majority in the marketplace, they’re the outliers. In an annual survey released in 2024, the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals reported that 83% of respondents said their organization’s commitment to DEI remains consistent. Another 13% said their commitment increased compared to last year. In the State of Sustainability report published by Teneo, 43% of companies continue to maintain and promote DEI goals, and 80% of those goals remain unchanged since 2023; 70% of companies maintain supplier diversity programs; and 67% have programs seeking diverse talent.
While news coverage may uncritically repeat the story that brand name companies are backing out of DEI commitments, the reality is that most companies are standing their ground.
Sticking to DEI also makes sense in the long term as younger generations enter the workforce and become regular buyers. Gen Z will represent 30% of the workforce by 2030, and 28% of that workforce identifies as LGBTQIA+. According to a Human Rights Campaign survey, more than 75% of LGBTQIA+ adults view companies that rollback diversity initiatives dimly, and many of those folks would quit or look for a new job if their employer ceased implementing DEI policies.
The strength of green businesses—or companies that utilize sustainable and socially responsible practices in their workplaces and supply chains—also demonstrate that a commitment to DEI pays dividends and supports local communities.
Gloria Ware, CEO of Get the Bag{GBN}, has been sourcing from Black women-owned businesses across the country for the company’s subscription box service for years. Takoma Silver Spring Co-op{GBN} started an in-house DEI training in 2019 because the company’s board believed it had value for its employees—and general manager Mike Houston agrees.
“It’s been powerful,” Houston says for the Green Business Network blog. “You can’t help but connect these things back to current politics and policies, so, again, historical context is important for understanding the world that we exist in to do business.” (Read more about Takoma Silver Spring Co-op’s efforts on p. 28.)
DEI Is Here to Stay
DEI advocates recognize that the consequences of centuries of racism, wealth inequality, corporate greed, misogyny, and other injustices won’t go away just because we stop talking about them. We want sincere commitment and dedication to change, regardless of political headwinds. And we know the push back we’re seeing now is nothing new. There was plenty of reactionary protest to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which made it illegal for companies to discriminate based on race, gender, national origin, religion, or age in their hiring practices.
Modern DEI programs have their roots in private sector attempts to address areas that federal policy hadn’t yet covered, such as the persistence of discriminatory internal barriers to advancement and preferential treatment in business partnerships and supply chains. There is a direct line connecting the early efforts of employees filing discrimination lawsuits with the EEOC in the 1960s and 1970s and the normalization of companies adopting diversity training into their regular business models to corporate responses to social movements like Black Lives Matter including commitments to address racial inequity in their supply chains and workplaces in 2020.
It’s because DEI policies foster cultures of belonging by acknowledging the harm caused by discriminatory practices and committing to fair and equitable reparative actions that we continue to advocate for them. They are not just viable business strategies—they celebrate both individuality and belonging, and they uphold the American belief in a merit-based achievement system by sharing opportunities with all people. They help to create an environment—both in and out of the workplace—where people can show up as their whole selves, feel safe to share new ideas, and create breakthrough achievements.
By weaponizing racism, misogyny, and other forms of bigotry, anti-DEI campaigners are convincing people to destroy the very policies that all of us have actually benefited from. White women have been the biggest beneficiaries of diversity initiatives. Many veterans benefit from multiple programs halted by President Trump’s executive orders to “end the scourge of DEI in the federal government.” And countless small farmers across the country are in danger of losing their livelihoods thanks to the administration’s sweeping federal funding freezes.
The only ones who benefit from ending DEI programs are those whose hoarded power and wealth are threatened by just practices and equitable policies that recognize real merit. Making DEI practices integral to company policies and goals is setting a solid foundation for long-term success and will better serve not only shareholders, employees, and customers, but also our society and planet.
