(This story has been updated to fix spelling/typos.)
A national civil rights group is rejecting a growing movement to dismantle workplace diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs, and is urging business leaders to uphold “decades of pro-business decisions” to advance equality in the workplace.
“Several CEOs have recently caved in and announced they are retreating from diversity, equity and inclusion efforts,” the Human Rights Campaign, the NAACP, the National Organization for Women and 17 other groups said in a letter to Fortune 1000 CEOs provided exclusively to USA Today. “These cave-ins weaken their companies and the American economy more broadly. And these short-sighted decisions make the workplace less safe and inclusive for hard-working Americans.”
The letter marks the first time national organizations have come together to fight back against the social media pressure campaign that has led to an unprecedented rollback of DEI efforts at major American companies.
Concessions made by Molson Coors, Harley-Davidson, John Deere, rural retailer Tractor Supply, Jack Daniel’s distillers, Brown-Forman and Stanley Black & Decker range from ceasing participation in external workplace rankings to rolling back diversity goals for employees and suppliers.
The campaign’s creator, Robbie Starbuck, a 35-year-old activist from Tennessee, says he is working to remove divisive social issues and politics from the workplace.
Starbuck began targeting brands popular with conservatives earlier this year, saying they were “out of sync” with their customers. His social media followers chimed in with the movement. Starbuck says conservatives are now “active consumers” who are “not afraid to use their wallets as weapons.”
More recently, Starbucks has expanded its anti-“woke” campaign to more mainstream brands, such as Ford and Lowe’s, which have responded to some of his demands.
“Our campaign has been so successful because we’ve focused on making companies a great place for everyone,” Starbuck said. “The public doesn’t want to hear political opinions from their tool company or their grocery store. All they want is great products and service.”
Civil rights groups have warned CEOs that divesting from DEI investments risks alienating employees and customers.
According to an Edelman survey, 60% of people say that an inclusive workplace culture with well-supported diversity programs is important to attracting and retaining them as employees.
“At a time when the values of diversity, equity and inclusion are challenged by politically motivated anti-corporate forces, corporate CEOs and board members must blatantly defend them,” the civil rights group said. “To be clear, women workers, people of color and workers with disabilities are not making a political statement when they show up to the workplace and demand equal policies, benefits and treatment.”
Spurred by a Supreme Court decision last year that struck down race-based college admissions rules, anti-DEI activists have been targeting corporate America with a flurry of lawsuits.
They are joined by more than a dozen Republican attorneys general who have sent letters to Fortune 500 companies threatening legal action over their DEI policies, as well as Republican lawmakers in several states who have pushed bills to limit DEI efforts in the workplace.
DEI critics argue that women and people of color have been given jobs and promotions at the expense of more qualified and deserving candidates, and that programs that exclude white workers are just as illegal as those that exclude Black workers.
The possibility of backlash and litigation has the private sector on edge: Where once companies bragged about their DEI programs, most now shy away from the topic.
Some Fortune 500 executives, such as JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, have begun to publicly reaffirm their commitment to DEI principles.
“It’s good for business. It’s morally right. We’re doing it very well. We’re successful,” Dimon said of DEI recently at a Council of Institutional Investors conference.
But he said he’s not interested in “othering” from the political right or left. “I’m not ‘woke’ at all,” he said.
DEI programs and policies aim to create a level playing field for all employees. Historically, dominant men have dominated the business world, widening disparities in status, wages, and wealth.
A USA Today analysis of the chief executive officers of 100 publicly traded US companies found that women are outnumbered in senior management roles by a ratio of 5 to 1. For women of color, the gap is five times larger than for white women.
“Companies are in a difficult position right now, under attack and enormous pressure from extremists,” said Eric Bloom, vice president of programs and business advocacy at the Human Rights Campaign.
Starbuck is committed to workplace training and other programs for LGBTQ+ workers.
All eight companies targeted so far by Starbucks have withdrawn from participating in a benchmarking metric used by the Human Rights Campaign to measure how friendly a company’s policies are toward LGBTQ+ people.
“I think it’s clear that the LGBTQ+ community is bearing the brunt of some of the attacks right now, but the decisions these companies are making impact all of our communities,” Bloom said.
That’s why representatives of historically marginalized groups are calling on corporate leaders to “stand up and defend our values,” he said.
Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, said the anti-DEI campaign could roll back progress made since George Floyd died under the knee of a white police officer in May 2020.
A report this week from LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Co. found that the backlash against DEI has led to the first decline in a decade in corporate efforts to add more women to their leadership pipeline.
“This is a moment for leadership,” Graves said. “I applaud the vast majority of companies that are taking their obligations seriously. I urge those who feel threatened by a minority of extremists to think again.”