"Backlash Is Real": DEI Exodus Gains Steam Across Corporate America

Have we reached peak DEI stupidity? 

Yes, we are well past the peak. As we explained in early March, "Both the DEI and ESG gravy trains on Wall Street are finally coming to an unceremonious end." 

The unraveling of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" initiatives was seen on the state level, as Red states rushed to ban DEI programs in 2023. Google, Facebook, and other tech companies slashed DEI staff by late last year. Early this year, universities began rolling back diversity programs, while Harvard President Claudine Gay was demoted. 

DEI was doomed to fail, and corporations have been quickly scrambling to abandon mindless and profitless diversity programs with Marxist roots. The latest earnings call data shows that "DEI" mentions have collapsed from their peak in 2021, according to Axios, citing data from AlphaSense. 

In January, Johnny Taylor, president of the Society for Human Resource Management, told Axios that corporate executives are fed up with DEI. 

"The backlash is real. And I mean, in ways that I've actually never seen it before," Taylor said, adding, "CEOs are literally putting the brakes on this DE&I work that was running strong" since George Floyd's murder in early 2020. 

Kevin Clayton, senior vice president and head of social impact and equity for the Cleveland Cavaliers, said the chief diversity officer role was all the rage across corporate America after Floyd's murder. He said companies filled these positions "out of gilt," and hiring wasn't the best. 

Boeing has figured out this the hard way... 

Axios noted, "Some businesses are cutting back funding, trimming DEI staff — and even considering pulling back on things like employee resource groups comprised of workers of various races, ethnicities or interests." 

The pushback on DEI is finding momentum across corporations and universities. Subha Barry, former head of diversity at Merrill Lynch, told Bloomberg last month: "We're past the peak."

"The seemingly small changes — lawyerly tweaks, executives call them — are starting to add up to something big: the end of a watershed era for diversity in the U.S. workplace, and the start of a new, uncertain one," per Bloomberg.

If it's DEI or ESG, the blowback phase is well underway. Companies are running away from these diverse and green programs because, simply, they don't make money.