In the Trump Era, Companies Are Revamping DEI Initiatives Instead of Abandoning Them

Following Google abandoning its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring ambitions in February, CEO Sundar Pichai discussed the issue with employees at a company-wide meeting.

“We are committed to fostering a workforce that reflects the diverse global landscape we serve,” Pichai stated, according to audio acquired by CNBC. “As a global business, we recognize that serving our users effectively requires a workforce that embodies this diversity, and we will maintain our commitment to that goal.”

“However, we must also adhere to local laws,” added Pichai.

One significant adjustment made by Google was the change of Melonie Parker’s title from chief diversity officer to vice president of Googler engagement as of February.

The alterations to Google’s DEI approach mirror broader shifts within American companies following the election of President Donald Trump and his early actions during his second term.

Over the last decade, Silicon Valley and various industries leveraged DEI initiatives to eliminate bias in hiring, foster workplace fairness, and elevate the careers of women and people of color—groups that have long faced neglect.

What originally started as a term to level the playing field has now become contentious.

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Harvard University’s affirmative action admission practices, an outcome that affected corporate hiring strategies. One of his first moves after taking office again was President Trump signing an executive order in January to terminate government DEI programs, placing officials in charge of such initiatives on leave.

The order mandates that “all departments and agencies take decisive actions to eliminate private sector DEI discrimination, including civil compliance investigations.” According to a Bloomberg report from February, the administration has targeted nearly 50 companies it believes violated its anti-DEI regulations.

Among the initial targets is the Walt Disney Company. The Federal Communications Commission notified the company on Friday that it would initiate an investigation into the media conglomerate’s DEI initiatives.

Trump has indicated he is ready to criticize DEI policies in light of human tragedies.

Referring to a midair collision between an American Airlines regional aircraft and a Black Hawk military helicopter in Washington this January, Trump blamed the Biden administration’s DEI policies for the incident, despite presenting no evidence. He suggested that DEI “could have been” a contributing factor to the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001.

“When the president attributes a plane crash to DEI, it’s no surprise that companies would hesitate to be associated with it, regardless of how they define it in-house,” Emerson remarked.

Despite the contentious nature of DEI, many organizations are not abandoning their initiatives but rather rebranding them. Numerous companies are continuing DEI efforts while employing alternative phrases or integrating them into less charged terminologies, such as “learning” or “hiring.”

Since 2014, Joelle Emerson has provided consulting services to numerous clients focused on workplace performance and diversity and inclusion strategies, but last year, she decided to change the terminology associated with her digital platform Paradigm.

Previously, Paradigm promoted itself as assisting clients in “leveraging the power of diversity and inclusion to foster a culture where everyone can excel,” but its current messaging emphasizes creating “an inclusive, high-performance culture where everyone can thrive.”

Paradigm integrated DEI terminology in 2020, following the nationwide protests ignited by George Floyd’s death.

“We started to incorporate that terminology extensively on our websites to ensure that companies searching for ‘DEI’ could locate us,” Emerson explained to CNBC. “However, as backlash emerged post-election, we scaled back the acronym’s usage because I felt it no longer accurately described our work.”

Devika Brij, who carries out similar work through her consulting firm, Brij The Gap, discussed her efforts to differentiate her services in a February newsletter titled “Tailored Career and Leadership Development Isn’t DEI.” For firms like Brij’s, re-branding is crucial to their future; she mentioned that some clients have reduced their DEI budgets by as much as 90% since 2023.

Consulting firms are not the only ones redefining DEI.

In March, JPMorgan announced it would replace “equity” with “opportunity” in a rebranding of its DEI initiative. Last November, Walmart declared it would move from DEI to branding its efforts as “Walmart for everyone.” According to Paradigm, there was a 22% drop in the usage of terms like “DEI” and “diversity” among Fortune 100 companies, paired with a 59% uptick in terms like “belonging” between 2023 and 2024.

According to Emerson, 2023 was a pivotal year for DEI in Silicon Valley.

This was when Google started reducing its workforce responsible for recruiting underrepresented individuals, as reported by CNBC. The company also let go of DEI leaders under Parker’s purview.

Amazon restructured its DEI group in 2023, consolidating global teams under one banner named “Inclusive Experiences & Technology.” A spokesperson for the company indicated that the new name better reflects the nature of its mission while affirming Amazon’s dedication to building a diverse and inclusive workforce.

As part of that transformation, Candi Castleberry’s title changed from “VP of Global Diversity Equity and Inclusion” to “VP of Inclusive Experiences & Technology.”

The retraction of DEI initiatives in the tech industry quickened in 2025.

Google, holding cloud-computing contracts with federal entities, revealed in February that it would cease its aspirational hiring goals due to Trump’s executive orders. Initially, Google had aimed to enhance the representation of underrepresented groups in leadership roles by 30% and more than double the number of Black non-senior employees by 2025.

“Our principles are steadfast, but we must adapt to legal guidelines as they evolve,” Pichai communicated to employees during the February all-hands meeting.

Pichai and Parker responded to inquiries from staff regarding how the company’s DEI efforts would be adjusted in light of Trump’s recent executive orders.

“As a federal contractor, we are diligently reviewing all our programs and initiatives,” Parker stated. “Regarding training, we will be discontinuing, halting, or sunsetting several of our DEI-focused training programs.”

A representative for Google did not specify which DEI initiatives had been discontinued.

Pichai reassured employees that Google would persist in backing its employee resource groups, which are employee-led networks focusing on specific demographic or affinity groups, such as “Women@Google” and “Black Googler Network.”

These remarks were made prior to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission releasing guidance in March that identified ERGs as potentially violating Trump’s executive order if they exhibit exclusionary practices. The company spokesperson stated that Google’s ERGs are accessible to all employees and do not restrict any protected groups.

“Given the current legal environment, we are evaluating our DEI initiatives and implementing adjustments as necessary,” asserted the Google representative in a statement.

The contentiousness surrounding DEI became evident at this year’s South by Southwest conference in Austin. Initially, Google and Oracle were scheduled to present a panel dubbed “Successful Workplaces: Balancing Growth and Well-Being.”

“Participants will gain actionable insights to align business success with a vibrant workplace culture,” read an early summary of the panel.

Oracle withdrew from the panel in February. Later that month, the organizers notified participating companies of a potential shift in the panel’s focus toward DEI issues in the workplace.

“The Trump administration’s aggressive stance on DEI underscored the timeliness of this discussion,” remarked panel organizer Luis Gramajo, founder of the nonprofit Sunday Afternoon Foundation, which assisted in organizing that specific SXSW panel.

The Google panelist ultimately pulled out in March after the panel’s title was officially revised to “Post-DEI Workplace: Tech Companies Managing Through Turmoil.”

“We conducted numerous prep calls, altered the title at least eight times, and witnessed individuals retreating from the panel due to concerns surrounding the topic,” stated Chelsea Toler, a SXSW panelist and co-founder of Austin-based startup Logictry.

Google was informed of the title change in late February, with the company representative mentioning that the new subject matter fell outside the employee’s scope of expertise.

“We lost several panelists, as this vital conversation has become extraordinarily sensitive, which is rather astonishing,” commented Diana Ransom, executive editor at Inc. Magazine and moderator of the panel, during the event.

Gramajo expressed understanding toward the companies and panelists that opted out.

“Everyone is navigating an incredibly intricate and uncertain landscape where the guidelines remain ambiguous,” he said.

Amazon has also scaled back its DEI initiatives.

The company notified employees in December that it was pausing several DEI programs as part of a broader review of these initiatives. Additionally, the references to inclusion and diversity were removed from its annual report while sections titled “Equity for Black People” and “LGBTQ+ rights” were eliminated from the website.

CEO Andy Jassy described the reduction of DEI initiatives as being connected to Amazon’s ongoing cost-cutting strategies.

“Much like many other companies, especially after George Floyd’s death, we had numerous programs in this area due to our decentralized structure,” Jassy informed employees earlier this month, as reported by CNBC. “We had about 300 different programs.”

According to Jassy, the evaluation of DEI initiatives started “a couple of years ago.” He added, “We recognized that some weren’t providing enough value for us to continue investing resources in them, so we streamlined those, while concentrating our efforts on programs that demonstrated a meaningful impact.”

It remains unclear which specific programs Amazon has discontinued or which ones have been bolstered.

“The acronym DEI is quite ineffective,” stated Aubrey Blanche-Serrallano, vice president of equitable operations at Culture Amp, a human resources platform. “Diversity holds significant worth and importance, but this specific acronym obscures a lot of the discourse we’re having.”

Despite the backlash against DEI in the political realm, recent research indicates continued favorability for such initiatives, both among workers and corporations. A 2023 Pew Research survey revealed that 86% of employees had a neutral to positive view regarding the enhancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Paradigm also conducted a study last year, which found that 73% of firms incorporated diversity, equity, and inclusion within their company ethos, consistent with 2023 findings.

“The prevailing sentiment does not align with much of the data I’m analyzing,” remarked Blanche-Serrallano.

Interviews with experts revealed that they had not lost any clients as a consequence of the DEI backlash. In fact, they expressed optimism that organizations would be compelled to reflect thoughtfully on their strategies and eliminate the “performative” elements of DEI that did not yield tangible outcomes.

Experts highlighted that a notable example of performative conduct was companies expressing support for social movements via social media actions, such as the 2020 Blackout Tuesday, without substantive subsequent actions. Another illustration involves the addition of chief diversity officers without granting them the necessary decision-making authority or budgetary resources.

Current changes include a departure from traditional diversity reports that monitored hiring across different genders and ethnicities, shifting toward tracking promotion and attrition rates, as stated by Emerson.

There are also adjustments in how candidates apply for certain programs. For instance, rather than merely indicating their ethnicity for internships targeting specific backgrounds, candidates may now be asked to write essays about their experiences, she noted.

Some experts are assisting their clients in assessing the potential risks associated with continuing DEI initiatives under different designations.

“We’re navigating a considerable legal gray area right now,” Blanche-Serrallano remarked. “Ultimately, companies wish to invest in their employees rather than expend resources on legal disputes.”

Organizations must assess the balance between regulatory compliance risks and the possibility of public backlash against the costs of intensifying DEI commitments, as explained by Y-Vonne Hutchinson, founder of ReadySet, a firm dedicated to helping clients build adaptable organizations.

“Many of these companies cater to a more diverse customer base,” she emphasized. “They need to consider what will ensure their profitability, as viable businesses must cater to a global audience.”

ReadySet has developed a “DEI Risk Assessment Tool” that evaluates DEI risks spanning five dimensions: Legal compliance, reputation, financial impact, cultural relevance, and workforce operations.

By modifying the terminology used, companies can safeguard their efforts from misinterpretation, according to Emerson, who recommends more precise articulation of objectives within her firm, Paradigm.

“We ought to be more clear in the language we employ,” she advised.

Conversely, some experts advocate for continuing to emphasize DEI. This perspective was evident at the Post-DEI panel during SXSW, where panelists contended that it is important to maintain the term.

“DEI signifies that everyone deserves a fair and equitable chance to succeed,” expressed Fran Harris, an entrepreneur based in Austin. “It is crucial that we consistently remind people of what DEI represents – it entails creating equal opportunities, fundamentally.”

Attendees were encouraged not to allow fear to silence their voices.

“In this country, when we cease using our voice due to fear, we have lost,” stated Logictry’s Toler.