By While several major companies and organizations are eliminating or scaling back diversity programs under conservative pressure and amid a push to exorcise them from the federal government, some others, including Delta Airlines and the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, say they’re standing firm in the shifting political winds.
“DEI is not something that’s going to stop at Delta Airlines,” said Eric Hendricks, Delta’s director of pilot outreach, adding that the airline still has recruiting and training events for marginalized groups scheduled throughout the year.
“We’re pressing on,” Hendricks said.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, which incorporated DEI policies to the front office in 2019, is also keeping the initiatives intact.
“It is just how we go about things,” said Kevin Clayton, the Cavs’ executive vice president, chief equity and impact officer. “We believe that everybody in our organization, every person in our community, is part of our diversity, equity and inclusion story. So it’s not about any one group. This work is about humanity. We know that our platform is one that can uplift our community — everyone in our community.”
Sacha Thompson, a Maryland-based inclusive workplace consultant, said the pushback against DEI did not come as a surprise. “For one, Trump said what he would do. But also, anytime there’s progress in this country, there’s always going to be some level of regression or pushback,” she said.
But Thompson predicted many of these companies will hold onto these programs because “there is a business imperative to keeping them,” as well as a moral imperative.
“It’s the right thing to do,” said Fatimah Gilliam, who heads the New York-based DEI consulting firm Azara Group. “These companies understand the business case and the value of DEI,” which she said ranges from boosting innovation, retention and profitability, to reducing employee turnover.
Many companies, she noted, “have a diverse customer base, and they have a diverse employee base,” as well, and executives “understand that aspect, too.”
Less than five years after corporations across the country made implemented policies to bolster diversity and equity following the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020, many of them have quietly — or loudly — scaled back their efforts. The list includes Walmart, Ford, McDonald’s and Target, among many others that have announced revisions since President Donald Trump won re-election.
Anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck and other conservatives have helped heap public pressure on major consumer brands, often using social media to single out companies that have stood by diversity and inclusion programs. Trump’s executive order, two days after his inauguration, to end DEI in the federal government has put wind in the sails of efforts to dismantle DEI initiatives in the private sector, even though his move doesn’t directly affect those companies. Many of them, eyeing these developments, are now feeling the pressure and may acquiesce, DEI experts say.
That’s especially true for businesses that have not blended diversity initiatives into their culture yet, Thompson said. If DEI has been “part of the organization’s DNA,” she said, there’s a better chance it would remain that way. “When it is separate and apart, it’s easier to cut off.”
Research has shown that companies with diversity and equity platforms perform better financially than those that do not. A 2023 McKinsey study showed, for example, that companies with women on executive teams had a 39% higher likelihood of profitability. And that can be a driving factor of why leaders from companies like Costco, JPMorgan, Apple and others have said they will continue diversity efforts — even when they have signaled openness to working with the Trump White House on other fronts.
“When these companies that have kept it look at their data and say, ‘We’re not stopping these programs,’ it says to me that they are seeing a result that is tied to their bottom line,” Thompson said. “And there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Conservatives have the political upper hand, including control of all three branches of the federal government, so it takes “courageous leadership” for companies to stick with DEI, said Anthony P. Howard, who has worked in human resources for more than 20 years, including at two Fortune 500 companies.
Standing up to preserve DEI initiatives increases the level of loyalty and commitment to that company, he said, “because now they’re standing out among the crowd and against something that doesn’t support equal opportunities.”
Tana M. Session, a veteran diversity and inclusion leader in California, said private organizations like Delta and the Cavaliers are positioning themselves for the future.
“They are able to let that be their compass and not be dissuaded or discouraged by the noise,” Session said. “They are standing 10 toes down, holding to the middle ground, and they will see the benefits on the back end.”
Gilliam, from Azara Group, said she has heard from corporate leaders who are fearful of potential repercussions and could waver on keeping DEI. But those sticking with it have “invested a lot of time, effort and money into building up their infrastructure, as well.”
National Urban League president Marc Morial promised a fight on this front earlier this month.
“We stand against any effort by anyone through any method to reverse the gains made over the last 70 years,” Morial said in a roundtable about DEI with more than a dozen organizations, thought leaders and attorneys. “And we stand against efforts by this administration to repel, to undercut or undermine the hard work of many generations of Americans through what we call unlawful, extra-constitutional and ill-advised acts.”
Some companies, like Target, could feel the wrath of consumers — especially people of color who may favor other stores for rolling back its DEI program.
“What they’re going to see is their consumers making a quick pivot to buying directly from the vendors, especially the vendors of color and women,” Session said. Target, in particular, made efforts to feature products by Black- and Latino-owned businesses on its shelves, and for years has carried LGBTQ Pride-related merchandise. “So not so much a boycott but taking our consumerism in a different direction. The game is changing and how companies are impacted will change, too.”
