Downplaying Diversity: Are Employees Seeing DEI in a Different Light?

Some corners of academia have seen diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts come under fire in recent years.

In February 2023, for instance, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a memo mandating that the state’s public institutions stop using DEI practices as part of their hiring processes.

Within weeks, some of the state’s largest universities and colleges were publicly responding, putting a halt to initiatives that promoted diversity, equity and inclusion.

In May 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that banned the state’s public colleges and universities from spending money on DEI programs.

Institutions in those states were compelled by law to curtail their DEI initiatives. Meanwhile, colleges and universities in states like Arkansas and Wisconsin have been forced to defend the purpose of their DEI-related programs and practices to state lawmakers.

Corporate entities have not been issued such edicts. But some big and very well-known brands have decided to dial back their DEI efforts, anyway.

Walmart, for example, recently announced that it was “ending some of its diversity initiatives, removing some LGBTQ-related merchandise from its website and winding down a nonprofit that funded programs for minorities,” CNBC reported.

America’s largest employer joins a growing list of companies, including Coors Molson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply, to take such steps “after feeling the heat from conservative activists,” CNBC’s Melissa Repko wrote.

If recent data from Pew Research Center is any indication, a growing number of American workers feel that stepping back a bit from DEI efforts in the workplace might not be a bad idea.

A survey the Washington, D.C.-based think tank conducted in October found more than half of employees (52%) saying that focusing on increasing DEI at work is “mainly a good thing,” according to Pew.

That number stood at 56% when Pew Research Center conducted a similar poll in February 2023. Meanwhile, the share of workers who say that committing to increasing DEI in the workplace is “a bad thing” has ticked up slightly in that time, going from 16% in 2023 to 21% in the more recent survey. About a quarter (26%) didn’t feel strongly either way.

Pew conducted a separate survey in September of this year, asking Americans how they feel DEI practices have affected the workplace. Overall, more Americans said DEI practices help rather than hurt Black, Hispanic and Asian men and women, as well as White women. More than twice as many respondents (36%) said DEI initiatives hurt White men than those who said it helps them (14%).

Overall, the results of both surveys reveal that the groups of employees who feel most positively about DEI programs have remained consistent, as have the views of those who look at DEI in a more negative light. Feelings among the latter cohort, however, seem to be growing stronger.

“As was the case in 2023, women, Democrats, and Black, Hispanic and Asian workers are among the groups most likely to feel positively about efforts to increase DEI in the workplace,” Rachel Minkin, research associate at Pew, wrote in a summary of the polls’ findings.

“Republicans and men continue to be among the groups of workers most likely to see DEI efforts as a bad thing, and their views have become more negative since last year.”