Walmart scales back DEI efforts
In a major shift, Walmart is cutting back many of its programs that had been established for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The move comes among more and more companies rethinking and even scrapping such programs.
The world’s largest retailer confirmed the changes last month. It marks a significant retreat from some bold commitments on DEI. Walmart has brought an end to what had been a five-year commitment to spend $100 million on racial equity following the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
The Walmart decision is just one of the latest corporate backward steps in such initiatives that have been exposed to mounting pressure from conservative activists and lawmakers. The company’s moves were put into effect after a Supreme Court ruling last year that brought affirmative action in college admissions to a close, fostering critics against such policies among the private sector.
Walmart will now pull out of the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index as well. This is the index that monitors the rights of LGBTQ+ employees. The company will also stop prioritizing suppliers depending on their race or gender. Previously, Walmart had concentrated on boosting suppliers from minority, female and veteran backgrounds though its focus on increasing LGBTQ supplier diversity had been fairly pronounced as well, with attention to both lesbian-owned and general LGBTQ suppliers.
In a statement, Walmart said, “We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers, and to be a Walmart for everyone.”
The company emphasized that this change will not in any way compromise its commitment to ensuring equal opportunities for all its employees and customers.
Established in 2020 as a component of Walmart’s DEI strategy, the Center for Racial Equity focused on disparities in education, health and criminal justice outcomes — all of which disproportionately affect Black communities. Nevertheless, the corporation will no longer renew this center’s five-year commitment. This is a signal of retrenchment from programmatic interventions that directly focus on racial equity.
Walmart also said it will enhance visibility within its online marketplace to undertake and ensure that such products are not offered for sale including monitoring chest binders designed for youth undergoing gender transitions to live openly and proudly in Pride event sponsorships that are family friendly in alignment with their new family-friendly criteria.
These moves come as there are increasing political and public pressures against corporate DEI programs. Activist Robby Starbuck, who has been spearheading campaigns against corporate diversity initiatives, took credit for some of the changes at Walmart, claiming that his efforts were instrumental in prompting the retailer’s decision to adjust its approach.
The Walmart decision is part of a wider shift among corporate America. With the likes of Ford, Lowe’s and Target already reducing or reworking their strategies, especially after consumer boycotts and political challenges, the latest move by the retailer comes just after years of ushering in a surge of DEI spending post-racial justice protests. In 2020, for example, such spending by corporations surged to as much as $7.5 billion on efforts ranging from improved hiring and training to employee resource groups supporting racial and gender representation.
As Walmart backs away from some of its DEI pledges, the actual implications for that large workforce that it manages — 1.6 million-plus employees in the U.S. — remain to be seen. Data from the company itself indicate that more than half of its hourly employees and 42% of those in management roles are people of color. Critics have long held that diversity initiatives foster division, arguing that businesses ought to focus on meritocratic approaches to hiring and promoting employees.
Twenty-five-year-old Walmart manager Luisa Miller says while she is restricted in sharing her opinion about the DEI roll back, she would not be surprised in a shift. “I expect for there to be changes when there are available positions,” Miller said.
This cutback at Walmart in some ways aligns itself with a larger political recalibration. As much as the moves by the company might be separately justified, they form part of a grander push by conservatives to get companies to fall in line on policies regarding their diversity programs under a “race-neutral” paradigm. The assault has since gained momentum in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, with a good chance that this will be but the first of many companies to enact similar cuts in the months ahead.
Amid its navigation through all of these, Walmart never loses sight of the single most important aspect of its business: creating for all customers, employees and suppliers a genuine sense of belonging. The meaning of the word “belonging” seems to be changing, however, with the vicissitudes in politics and public opinion.