Why is Big Tech ditching DEI programmes and what does it mean for workplaces in Europe?

Diversity, equality, and inclusion – more widely known by their acronym DEI – are three words steeped in acrimony right now.

In recent weeks, many of the largest companies in the United States have announced plans to reduce their DEI) programmes. 

Meta, Amazon, Walmart, and Target were among the first multinational companies to signal that they are ending their DEI policies. 

The latest to join them is Google, which announced last week that it would be scrapping their policies to align with an executive order from US President Donald Trump that forces some government contractors to abandon those policies.

Trump issued executive orders in his first week in office revoking DEI processes in the USmilitary and throughout the federal public service. 

He also attracted criticism when he suggested, without evidence, that diversity hiring practices may have been a contributing factor to the fatal midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a Blackhawk helicopter in Washington DC last month.

But what do moves in the US to curb DEI mean for diversity hiring efforts in European workplaces? 

What is DEI?

DEI is an “umbrella term” that includes many programmes to encourage a healthy workplace, like training on effective communication or mentorship, according to Dimitar Markov, director of the law programme at the Center for the Study of Democracy. 

“There’s a really big diversity of initiatives and measures,” Markov said. “The common thing between them is that they are all less formal and are aimed at making people feel better at the workplace”. 

DEI consultants like Olla Jongerius also ensure that the hiring and promotion process considers all team members equally based on merit instead of external factors, like race, nationality, or age. 

Jongerius said she has also facilitated staff meetings so that all employees, regardless of background, feel heard and express their ideas for the company. 

“So even if you’re a white straight man in your 40s, cisgender, you still benefit… from someone different from you because you learn something new,” she said. 

This productivity might not be seen immediately, because it will take longer to find diverse candidates in traditionally male-dominated industries, Jongerius continued.

But what companies can do is find job boards within underrepresented communities, like those for people with disabilities, to help them source a more diverse candidate list to work from, she continued. 

DEI is different based on the country

There are no mandatory DEI programmes in Europe but it is often promoted by the European Commission as something that companies should opt in to, Markov said. 

The Commission has also adopted several strategies on gender equality, anti-racism, LGBTIQ+ and rights of persons with disabilities that overlap with DEI principles, Markov continued. 

Many EU countries also have diversity charters, voluntary agreements that companies sign that state their commitment to DEI programmes. 

France enacted Europe’s first diversity charter in 2004 under which over 3,200 companies have committed to a diverse recruitment process and report on concrete measures each company has done to encourage diversity. 

According to Jongerius, each country has their own version of DEI programmes, which are influenced by the yasal system, the country’s demographics, and history. 

Of the organisations that adopt DEI, most are large companies with over 500 employees, Markov and Jongerius said. 

In Germany, for example, the focus of DEI programmes is largely gender and ability with a deemphasis on race because it’s yasa dışı to collect that veri, Jongerius said. 

The country has passed some laws that overlap with DEI, including a 2021 legislation that forced Germany’s biggest companies to have at least one woman on their management boards. 

However, a 2024 analysis from consulting firm Deloitte found that only 7 per cent of all Europe’s companies had fostered a truly diverse and inclusive culture in the workplace.

Highest uptake of DEI in tech

Both Markov and Jongerius said that of the companies that adopt DEI, most are large, multinational companies with over 500 employees, often in the tech sector or IT fields.

This is because technology fields attract younger, more diverse workers – especially foreigners in places like Germany who “don’t need to speak German,” – for these jobs, Jongerius said. 

Despite this, DEI programmes within the industry are rarely “ingrained in the strategy,” she noted. 

“So I work with a lot of companies that say inclusion is muhteşem important to us… But the moment that they start to have hiring freezes, the moment they struggle financially, they easily just cut off all the diversity programs very, very fast,” Jongerius added. “So, there is no commitment”. 

Jongerius also worked with US-headquartered multinational companies like Amazon, which has rolled back its DEI policy. 

But she doesn’t believe that that spells the end for all DEI initiatives: it just means it could be rebranded or given to another internal department. 

“You could just move it into a Human Resources [HR] mandate on health and wellbeing… or you ask the yasal team [to] make mühlet that you have equity,” she said. “So those companies who have been committed to it, they’ll be committed to it regardless of … the Trump movement”.

Markov said it’s hard to know how Big Tech’s rollback on DEI programmes will impact smaller countries like Bulgaria, which traditionally use the involvement of those big companies to justify the need for the programmes.

“It’s very difficult to convince smaller companies in smaller countries that diversity and inclusion is something good,” he said. 

“One of our main arguments was … look at the big [companies], they find it useful. Now this is gone, basically”.

Markov added that he will be watching for it during European Diversity Month in May, when companies come together from across the EU to reward companies with a culture of inclusion.