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As President Trump issues directives to scuttle every federal government initiative that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion, tech giants and other businesses across the Pacific Northwest are charting their own DEI courses.
Costco and Microsoft are being recognized nationally for retaining a public commitment to workforce diversity, with Costco shareholders on Thursday defeating an anti-DEI proposal by a 98% vote.
At the same time, Amazon in December shared with employees that it was “winding down” some of its efforts in diversity and inclusion, but still viewed the work as “important.” Boeing has pulled back even further, reportedly dismantling its DEI team.
Efforts to support more equity in the workforce are under attack by Republicans and activists who characterize it as “reverse discrimination” that is unfair — particularly to white men — and puts race and gender ahead of merit when making employment decisions.
The murder of George Floyd in 2020 sparked DEI initiatives across corporations, but the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action in higher education and the increasing anti-diversity rhetoric from conservative leaders have caused some employers to reverse course.
Companies such as Meta, Target, Walmart, and others that have rolled back their diversity programs said they did so because DEI has become so politically charged. They also cited changes in how the courts are legally viewing DEI, and they say they can support widespread inclusion in their workforce through different programs.
In its memo to employees, Meta — which no longer has a team focused on DEI — said that it would stop using the “diverse slate approach” for hiring.
“This practice has always been subject to public debate and is currently being challenged,” Meta said. “We believe there are other ways to build an industry-leading workforce and leverage teams made up of world-class people from all types of backgrounds to build products that work for everyone.”
Amelia Ransom, who has led workplace diversity efforts at Smartsheet, Avalara and Nordstrom, questioned the initial motivation for businesses who are dropping DEI efforts.
“The companies that have pulled back on DEI, some of them were using DEI as an insurance policy, not a strategic initiative,” Ransom said.
For businesses in the “insurance policy” mindset, inclusion efforts were a shield against the risk of public criticisms that they didn’t support diversity, she said. They weren’t adopted as strategies for attracting talent and boosting a company’s bottom line.
Now, with Trump’s demonizing of DEI, the companies don’t need that coverage, Ransom said — and those programs can even become a liability.
In an effort to “deter DEI programs or principles (whether specifically denominated ‘DEI’ or otherwise) that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences,” Trump issued an executive order directing agencies to identify up to nine large corporations, nonprofits, foundations, associations and/or universities for potential investigations.
The action, which came among a flurry of orders issued on Trump’s first full day in office, doesn’t provide a definition of an “illegal” program. The action has created uncertainty, said Chris Wilkinson, senior counsel for the Perkins Coie law firm.
Private employers are left worrying, he said, “will they make it on the list of nine?”
Costco’s commitment
Costco warehouse. (Bigstock Photo)
Costco, the long-time Seattle-area retail juggernaut that has been growing its e-commerce arm, is standing by its diversity programs.
At its annual shareholders meeting on Thursday, board chairman Hamilton James defended the company’s approach to workplace inclusion, which was challenged by a shareholder proposal spearhead by a conservative think tank.
“Having a heterogeneous employee base that enhances members’ identification with us is important,” James said, adding that workforce diversity helps the company discover “new and unusual items” to offer its customers, which are increasingly diverse themselves.
“Our commitment to inclusion, however, does not and has never included quotas or systematic preferences, nor does it mean compromising merit,” he said. “The demands of our business and our steadfast commitment to serve our members mean that we cannot afford to do anything but hire and promote the most qualified individuals.”
Ransom agreed that including wide-ranging perspectives in the workplace leads to better outcomes for customers. Companies with international operations, she added, need an inclusive culture to recruit employees abroad and optimize their teams’ performances. Limited data show that companies with more diverse corporate boards had a higher return on equity and are less likely to run afoul of regulators.
And while Trump is attacking DEI measures, there are still U.S. laws prohibiting discrimination by employers against job candidates and employees. The 1964 Civil Rights Act, for example, includes Title VII, which prohibits workplace discrimination based on race, religion, gender or national origin.
Additionally, companies with sites in the European Union, for example, need to abide by EU rules around transparency in pay and promotions that can address discrimination.
“That’s not going anywhere,” said Maria Colacurcio, CEO of Syndio, a Seattle startup providing analysis for pay equity. “And we’re seeing a lot of states start to reflect what’s embedded in the EU directive around transparency.”
Syndio’s platform helps businesses comply with the regulations, analyzing pay and promotions to make sure they’re appropriately allocated. “The software is agnostic and does not favor or disfavor any particular group,” she said. “We ensure the absence of bias.”
At the same time, companies including Seattle travel giant Expedia have recently faced legal action for reverse discrimination where white, male plaintiffs allege they lost jobs or promotions to minority candidates who were chosen for their gender, race or ethnicity.
Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Wash. (GeekWire File Photo)
Microsoft: ‘The work is not done‘
Microsoft’s leadership has taken a similar approach to Costco, defending its DEI actions and promoting its diversity and inclusion employee programs.
“By actively seeking diversity and embracing inclusion, we ensure our workforce represents the planet we serve, and that the products we build always meet our customers’ needs,” CEO Satya Nadella wrote in the company’s October 2024 D&I report.
Microsoft declined to offer a comment on Trump’s actions and the company’s DEI efforts going forward.
The tech company in 2020 set five-year leadership employment targets for traditionally underrepresented workers, which it expects to meet. It has a website dedicated to diversity and inclusion with a variety of employee resources. Its lengthy annual D&I report shares trend data on employment demographics, including breakdowns by gender, race and ethnicity, and job titles and classifications.
“The world is counting on Microsoft to apply all we know about diversity and inclusion to realize an AI-enabled future that includes everyone. The work is not done, and we remain committed to push ahead for progress together,” Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, Microsoft’s chief diversity officer, wrote on LinkedIn last year.
Amazon’s headquarters buildings and the Spheres in Seattle’s Denny Triangle neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
A new tone at Amazon
Amazon has changed the language associated with its DEI efforts, and last month shared news with employees that “we’ve been winding down outdated programs and materials, and we’re aiming to complete that by the end of 2024.”
The message came from Candi Castleberry, Amazon’s vice president of Inclusive eXperiences and Technology (IXT), who was previously vice president of Global Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. Castleberry did emphasize that to serve customers worldwide, Amazon needed “millions of employees and partners that reflect our customers and communities. We strive to be representative of those customers and build a culture that’s inclusive for everyone.”
Castleberry explained that Amazon had been reviewing the effectiveness and impact of its different inclusion-related programs and deciding which should continue. “Each one of these addresses a specific disparity, and is designed to end when that disparity is eliminated,” she said. “In parallel, we worked to unify employee groups together under one umbrella, and build programs that are open to all.”
The company does not have a diversity and inclusion webpage, but rather an “Inclusive Experiences and Technology” site that emphasizes workplace advancement resources. It addresses DEI on its issues page, which provides one-paragraph summaries of Amazon’s stance on issues such as climate change, immigration and other timely topics.
Amazon also discloses trends in employee demographics and job roles on its workforce data page.
Both Microsoft and Amazon over time have logged increased percentages for female and racial and ethnic minority employees in some roles.
The diversity and inclusion efforts pursued by leading corporations matter, said Ransom. They can influence the policies at mid-sized companies who are competing for employees.
“They will look to their big brothers and sisters — Amazon, Microsoft, whoever the big brothers and sisters are — to see what they’re doing, to see whether they have to do it,” she said. “Because if they’re trying to attract and retain talent, they have to have some of the offerings that some of the big guys have, or else they’ll never get anybody good.”
‘Long roots’
In addition to legal action such as the case involving Expedia and Trump’s search for corporations to investigate, anti-DEI advocates are waging “name and shame campaigns” against companies promoting diversity and inclusion, said Wilkinson from Perkins Coie.
Some companies have made concessions as a result of these attacks, he said, “but when you look more closely at the changes, you see that the advocates have overstated the real changes,” he said. In many cases, companies haven’t publicly shared what they’re doing in response, he added.
Many businesses in general are switching to phrases that don’t as clearly invoke gender, race and ethnicity, but suggest a better workplace for all.
“I am definitely seeing customers changing their language,” Colacurcio said. “I think customers are moving from the language of ‘diversity, equity, inclusion’ to things like ‘belonging, inclusion.’”
Ransom, who recently retired as vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at Smartsheet, said that leaders who back diversity programs will need to clearly articulate how they help their company succeed.
She said the inclusive efforts stretch back decades and will continue despite adversity.
“If you stick around long enough, all the trends come back,” she said. “There is a long history of companies doing DEI work. So in the short term, I don’t want to see people panic about what is happening, because it does have long roots.”
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