New York
CNN
—

Walmart, the largest private employer in the United States, will curb some diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. It is the latest company to backtrack on diversity initiatives despite right-wing pressure, and its decisions will resonate across corporate America.

The company said Monday it is ending racial equity training programs for employees and evaluating programs designed to increase supplier diversity. Walmart has worked in recent years to increase the number of suppliers that are at least 51% owned or operated by a woman, minority, veteran or someone who is LGBTQ.

The company is also reviewing all funding for Pride and other events and monitoring its online marketplace to remove sexual or transgender products marketed to children. Walmart also said it will not renew its Center for Racial Equity, a five-year, $100 million philanthropic commitment the company made in 2020 to address the root causes of the achievement gaps for African Americans in the field of education, healthcare, criminal justice and other areas.

DEI is typically a mix of employee training, resource networking, and hiring practices to encourage the representation of people of different races, genders, classes, and other backgrounds.

It is not clear what impact Walmart’s moves will have on its workforce of 1.6 million employees in the United States. According to the company’s latest data, more than half of hourly employees and 42% of management are people of color. But Walmart’s changes are a sign of a broader pushback from companies touting their diversity programs.

“We are prepared to change together with our associates and customers who represent all of America,” Walmart said in a statement. “We have been on a journey and know we are not perfect, but every decision comes from a sense of connection.”

Activist Robby Starbuck, who has led a pressure campaign against companies for diversity programs, demanded many of the changes and said he had contacted the company about its policies.

“This is the biggest victory yet for our movement,” Starbuck said on social media platform X.

Starbuck, a former Hollywood music video director turned conservative activist, has campaigned online against major corporations’ DEI programs and other progressive initiatives.

Walmart joins Harley-Davidson, Tractor Supply Co., John Deere and other companies in reviewing or withdrawing their DEI programs, support for Pride marches and LGBTQ events, strategies to slow climate change and other social policies .

Many companies have moved away from DEI in the past two years.

In 2020, DEI initiatives increased following a wave of protests for racial justice in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. According to a McKinsey study, companies spent an estimated $7.5 billion that year on DEI-related efforts, such as workforce groups.

But some companies have recently pulled out under legal and political pressure.

Last year, Bud Light’s collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney led to an anti-trans backlash and a months-long boycott of the beer brand. The boycott and the company’s subsequent lukewarm response likely caused as much as $1.4 billion in sales to be lost, according to company parent Anheuser-Busch InBe.

In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities can no longer consider race in granting admissions, a landmark decision that overturns a longstanding precedent that benefited Black and Latino students in higher education. Conservative legal groups have since filed lawsuits against companies’ diversity initiatives, and many companies have begun implementing changes in the wake of the ruling.

Donald Trump’s election victory will likely accelerate many companies’ aversion to formal DEI programs, experts say.

“The DEI infrastructure in most companies was weak even before Trump,” Shaun Harper, professor of education and business at the University of Southern California and founder and executive director of the Race and Equity Center, said in an interview last week with CNN. . “Trump’s election gives business leaders who were never committed to an easy way out.”

Harper expects continued elimination of DEI and Chief Diversity Officer roles within companies, less diversity training for employees, and a decline in the number of people of color and women in companies’ leadership ranks.

However, companies that back away from their diversity commitments can put them at odds with their own employees and harm talent retention strategies. DEI initiatives have been shown to reduce employee turnover and increase employee motivation, according to research from the Boston Consulting Group, based on data from more than 27,000 employees in 16 countries.

“Workers will push and demand that employers do something,” Harper said. “Those employers will be woefully underprepared to respond.”