DITCHING DEI? Diversity Departments Shuttered Due to Economic Uncertainty; Report

According to a Daily Caller report, businesses are shutting down DEI initiatives amid economic uncertainty; “The total percentage of American organizations with a DEI budget dropped 4 percentage points, from 58% in 2022 to 54% in 2023,” DCNF reports.

“The number of organizations with a DEI strategy fell 9 points in that same time frame.”

From The Daily Caller:

DEI initiatives in the workplace gained huge traction following the death of George Floyd, which encouraged companies to divert resources to the practice, but now “external forces,” including tightening economic conditions as well as public and judicial pressure, are pushing back on those efforts.

“After two years of unprecedented investment sparked by 2020’s racial justice movement, this year, global momentum around DEI slowed,” according to the report from Paradigm. “There are a number of headwinds contributing to this shift: the first is economic uncertainty that not only led to reduced spending across the board, it also firmly shifted the power balance back to employers.”

“Over the past several months, we’ve heard from a number of HR leaders who are de-emphasizing data and analytics as a part of their DEI efforts, in response to the changing legal landscape and increased scrutiny on DEI efforts,” according to the report from Paradigm.

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It's been a tough year for the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) industry, which seeks to reshape… pic.twitter.com/2hYk78cn6h

— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) November 26, 2023