Executives at Fortune 500 firms, from JPMorgan Chase to Cigna Healthcare, are assuring investors that they continue to be committed to diversity and inclusion principles even within the face of accelerating attacks on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion).
“It’s good for business; it’s morally right; we’re pretty good at it; we’re successful,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said this week at a Council of Institutional Investors conference in Brooklyn, New York, explaining that it is smart for the financial institution to succeed in out to the black, LGBTQ, Hispanic, disabled and veteran communities.
The statements come as conservative activists denounce plenty of corporate diversity initiatives that they are saying discriminate against white and male employees. Calls to eliminate corporate DEI initiatives increased partly after the Supreme Court’s decision last 12 months to limit advancement of minorities in college admissions.
In the wake of criticism, some firms have downplayed or backed away from certain DEI programs. Companies like Molson Coors Beverage Co., Lowe’s Companies Inc., Ford Motor Co. and Harley-Davidson Inc. attracted attention in recent weeks after rolling back some diversity, equity and inclusion commitments. after printing by conservative social media influencer Robby Starbuck.
Other firms proceed to support DEI programs, but their leaders speak about them in another way, a survey by the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals found. Yet there are still a handful of executives who tell investors in no uncertain terms that an inclusive workforce is important to their company.
Being a “real, true American” doesn’t preclude understanding that embracing diversity is nice for business, Dimon explained.
“I’m not interested in other people pointing fingers,” Dimon said, referring to each conservative and liberal criticism of corporate diversity efforts. “I’m not ‘woke’ at all.”
Language changes
David Cordani, CEO of Cigna Group, told shareholders at the corporate’s annual meeting in April that the healthcare company’s DEI initiatives “advance our business objectives and how we innovate and create solutions for employees and customers.” And ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance told investors on the oil and gas giant’s annual meeting in May that he believes DEI is “aligned with shareholder value and improved financial performance.”
Tim Murphy, chief administrative officer of Mastercard Inc., said at the corporate’s annual meeting of shareholders this summer that the payments company stays “committed to creating a global business environment in which all people are treated equally and fairly and have equal access to opportunities and opportunities for advancement.”
“This helps attract and retain great talent,” Murphy said, also stressing the importance of “diverse perspectives that shape the ideas we bring to life.”
A CEO’s leadership is critical to an organization’s DEI success, in keeping with a Report from June from the Executive Leadership Council, a nonprofit organization that advocates for black executives.
But the best way American business talks about diversity appears to be changing. About a 3rd of the 126 firms surveyed for the Corporate Citizenship Professionals report released in August said they adjusted their language when describing DEI projects this 12 months, and 17 percent said they reduced external communications about diversity initiatives.
However, their core efforts are usually not changing: 83% of firms said their initiatives remained the identical, in keeping with the study.
In some cases, DEI is renamed. The Society for Human Resource Management, the world’s largest HR association, caused a stir in July when the group announced that it the “E” for equity omitted of what it previously called “IE&D” to “address the current deficiencies in DE&I programs that have led to societal backlash and increasing polarization.”
Some firms have even removed According to Bloomberg News, DEI terms similar to “anti-racist” and “unconscious bias” have been faraway from their securities filings this 12 months.
But firms by and huge aren’t letting up on their efforts, said Joanna Colosimo, vp of worker equity and compliance strategy at DCI Consulting. The firms Colosimo advises are examining their workforce data to work out how they hire, promote and fire employees to grasp what policies and practices could possibly be creating barriers.
“There are companies that are dedicated to this area of work, and you might not just find out about it on a flashy website,” she said.
Conservative pressure
A growing group of firms listed DEI as a “risk factor” of their securities filings earlier this 12 months, citing potential business damage in the event that they take too many or too few diversity measures. These firms also emphasized of their filings that DEI is critical to their financial success.
Conservative activists, including former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who runs an advocacy group called America First Legal, have filed discrimination lawsuits and called on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to analyze DEI policies at firms similar to department store chain Macy’s Inc. Some firms, similar to pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., have modified eligibility requirements of their diversity programs after lawsuits.
There’s still a probability that firms which have recently made a powerful commitment to diversity will change their minds, says Scott Shepard, general counsel on the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank that has repeatedly criticized corporate DEI initiatives at recent annual meetings. “Maybe they were serious then, but now they may have changed their minds,” he says.
But the other may be the case. Shareholder groups are Check options to induce firms to reinstate their diversity commitments in business units which have recently backed away from their initiatives.
“The fact that companies are turning their commitments on and off so quickly makes it clear that those commitments weren’t really there to begin with,” said Portia Allen-Kyle, chief counsel for the activist group Color of Change and former senior adviser for equity, policy and stakeholder engagement within the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Civil Rights.
While it is vital to listen to how firms speak about diversity, the actions they take behind the scenes, similar to political spending, are removed from adequately scrutinized, says Allen-Kyle.
“The worst thing that can happen is that people remain silent and give the impression that initiatives like this are not worthwhile,” she said.
