More companies are quietly rebranding DEI efforts

Goldman Sachs is abandoning its diversity, equity, and inclusion criteria for its board of directors, Reuters reported this week. It's the latest move away from DEI by a corporate giant as conservative activist groups and the Trump administration target diversity goals.

Studies suggest that workplaces that include more women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people from other marginalized groups are more productive, innovative, and profitable.

A lot of the high-profile announcements and DEI rollbacks are “kind of lightning rod, headline-generating activity,” said Carliss Chatman at SMU Dedman School of Law.

So instead of listening to what companies say, watch what they do, said Atinuke Adediran, an associate professor of law at Fordham and author of “Disclosureland: How Corporate Words Constrain Racial Progress.” Some are indeed backing away from diversity efforts, but in other cases, “companies are replacing words like ‘equity’ with ‘belonging,’ ‘inclusion,’ etc.,” she said.

Companies are making these moves because they’re afraid that the federal government will retaliate against them if they don’t.

That threat “introduces direct costs that I think scares a lot of companies from being vocal, and scares a lot of shareholders from being vocal,” said Mae McDonnell, an associate professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Some shareholders have pressed companies to abandon diversity initiatives, but others see value in them.

Even in this environment, pro-DEI shareholders “can have conversations behind closed doors with board leaders,” McDonnell said.

Companies that are trying to navigate these waters have a lot of conflicting forces to take into consideration, per Jon Solorzano of Vinson & Elkins, who consults firms on DEI issues.

“At the end of the day, these are people who are making these decisions. They still do think that long-term, caring about your workforce being representative of your customer base or what have you is still accretive to long-term shareholder value,” he said. “You're trying to avoid being kind of targeted by the federal government, but at the same time, you're also not trying to be boycotted by your core customer base or consumer base. And there have been some pretty high-profile companies that have been targeted both on the left and the right.”

And that, he said, puts companies in an impossible position.

More diversity, equity, and inclusion coverage

• From February 2025: Attacks against corporate DEI policies are legally weak — and companies like Costco know it

• From September 2024: Big Tech’s pivot away from diversity efforts

• From August 2024: What happened to corporate DEI efforts?

• From October 2023: Legal challenges could have chilling effect on workplace diversity efforts

• From June 2020: Why diversity and inclusion programs often fall short