Walmart Cuts DEI Programs, Following Ford, Lowe’s, and Others

Walmart has announced something of a pivot concerning its previous commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, AP News reported.

The move perhaps arrives due to a confluence of factors: a 2023 Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action being applied to college admissions, a victory conservative groups have leveraged to file lawsuits against corporations for similar policies, per the AP; public pressures applied by prominent conservative activist Robby Starbuck, who frequently posts about topics related to DEI on X; and an overall change of heart, according to Walmart itself.

The company said it wants to focus now on fostering a “sense of belonging,” which it described as meaning “to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone.”

What DEI Policies Will Walmart Be Curtailing?

Firstly, Walmart has indicated that it will not consider race or gender as factors when awarding supplier contracts. While the company indicated it had not previously used any formal quota system when selecting suppliers in the past, it was clear that it would not be considering race or gender (positively or negatively) in the future.

The blue-and-yellow brand also won’t be renewing a $100 million racial equity center, according to the AP, nor will it continue participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s index measuring inclusion efforts pertaining to LGBTQ+ workers.

As CNN detailed, Walmart has also stated it is ending racial equity training programs for staff. The company will also no longer use the term “Latinx” in official communications, nor the term “DEI.”

Furthermore, the company said it would improve monitoring of third-party items sold on its marketplace to ensure they don’t feature sexual or transgender products aimed at minors — Walmart specifically mentioned chest binders aimed at youth engaged in a gender change — per the AP.

Finally, the retailer signaled it would be scrutinizing its funding of Pride events, again to make sure its funds are not associated with sexual content that may be inappropriate for minors. As an example, Walmart said it wanted to ensure that a family pavilion would not be placed next to a drag show at Pride events.

Political Responses From Both Sides of the Issue

With the AP laying at least some of the credit for the move at the feet of Starbuck — noting that Ford, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, and Tractor Supply had all been targeted by the activist, and later backed away from DEI policies — the actual outcome of Walmart’s move is as yet unclear.

For his part, Starbuck took to X to run a victory lap over the news.

“Our campaigns are now so effective that we’re getting the biggest companies on earth to change their policies without me even posting a story outlining their woke policies. Companies can clearly see that America wants normalcy back. The era of wokeness is dying right in front of our eyes. The landscape of corporate America is quickly shifting to sanity and neutrality. We are now the trend, not the anomaly,” he wrote.

Not everyone viewed the change as positive, however.

In an interview with CNN, Shaun Harper, a professor of education and business at the University of Southern California and founder and executive director of its Race and Equity Center, gave a somewhat ominous prediction.

“The DEI infrastructure in most corporations was already flimsy even before Trump,” Harper said. “Trump’s election gives business leaders who were never committed to an easy out.”

Pointing to studies that indicated DEI policies, when enacted, had improved both employee retention and employee motivation, the professor noted that he expects diversity in company workforces will be diminished — as will worker motivation and talent retention efforts.

“Employees are going to insist and demand employers do something,” Harper said. “Those employers are going to be woefully underprepared to respond.”