Ford dials back DEI affiliates, takes a ‘fresh look’ at policies

Ford is the latest company in corporate America to roll back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and break ties with certain DEI organizations.

Why it matters: Amid growing backlash from conservative groups, lawmakers, and critics, some companies are now reconsidering the diversity strategies they adopted after George Floyd's murder and the following protests in the summer of 2020.

Driving the news: According to an internal memo found on X, Ford is taking a “fresh look” at its DEI practices to address “external and legal environment related to political and social issues.”

• Retooling includes withdrawing from the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Corporate Equality Index, a national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices, and benefits for LGBT+ employees.

• CEO Jim Farley wrote in the letter that the company won't participate in other "best places to work" lists. Instead, Ford will foster "an environment where all of us can do our best work anchored in respect and inclusion."

• Harley-Davidson and John Deere have backtracked their commitments to diversity, while Tractor Supply retired DEI targets like hiring quotas and severed ties with the HRC.

Zooming in: The HRC Corporate Equality Index (CEI) used to be the holy grail for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion. 

• Companies are scored on things like non-discrimination policies, benefits for partners and spouses, transgender-inclusive benefits, and LGBT+ community engagement.

• Over 1,380 companies earned scores in the latest CEI, with nearly 600 achieving a perfect 100. 

• This year's perfect scorers include Ford, among tech giants like Apple, Amazon, and Google, and financial institutions like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.

Big picture: Businesses are under pressure from online activists, but HRC representatives say remaining committed to the LGBT+ community is still in their best interest.

• “Hastily abandoning efforts that ensure fair, safe, and inclusive work environments is bad for business and leaves Ford’s employees and millions of LGBTQ+-allied consumers behind,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.

One of the online activists leading the anit-DEI charge is Robby Starbuck, a conservative online influencer who has claimed responsibility for pressuring companies like Lowe's and Ford to abandon their DEI initiatives.

• “This isn’t everything we want but it’s a great start,” he wrote on X. “We’re now forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies without even posting just from fear they have of being the next company that we expose. We will continue to communicate with our sources in companies we expose and report on any that step out of line. I can promise that if we have to do a second report, it will be much more aggressive.”

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