ISLAMABAD: Some of the US’ biggest businesses have scaled back their diversity initiatives, years after pushing for more inclusive policies.
The policies were rigorously implemented in the wake of protests that followed the police killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans in 2020.
Meta and Amazon are the latest in line to align their policies with conservative ambitions for the future of the US business landscape.
US tech billionaires such as Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg have announced tens of millions for US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
So far, prominent corporations like Walmart, Ford, John Deere and Harley-Davidson have winded down their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in recent months.
According to Al Jazeera, conservative groups have long denounced the programmes and threatened to sue companies over them.
They were emboldened by a US Supreme Court ruling in 2023 that struck down affirmative action in university admissions decisions.
Affirmative action – also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries’ laws and policies – refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organisation seeking to benefit marginalised groups.
What is DEI?
DEI refers to practices and policies intended to support people who come from varying backgrounds and give them the resources they need to thrive in the workplace.
According to Meta’s official website, DEI efforts allow companies to bring people from varied backgrounds and experiences together to create technologies that break down language barriers, make better business decisions and connect communities around the world.
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They also enable them to integrate different perspectives and create technologies that reflect the needs of billions of people across the globe.
US reliance on foreign workers
Businesses in the US depend heavily on a highly skilled immigrant workforce.
According to the official website of the American Immigration Council, foreign-born scientists and engineers fuel US innovation and job creation.
A December 2008 study released by the Harvard Business School found that immigrants comprise nearly half of all scientists and engineers in the United States who have a doctorate and accounted for 67 per cent of the increase in the US science and engineering workforce between 1995 and 2006.
According to the study, the H-1B visa programme for highly skilled foreign professionals “has played an important role in US innovation patterns” over the past 15 years.
This is evidenced by the fact that the number of inventions, as measured by patents, has increased when H-1B caps are higher due to “the direct contributions of immigrant inventors.”
A 2009 study from the Technology Policy Institute found that, in the absence of H-1B and green-card limitations from 2003-2007, foreign graduates of US universities in science, technology, engineering, and math fields would have raised the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by about $13.6 billion in 2008, and contributed $2.7 to $3.6 billion in taxes.
What do the changes mean?
The implications of scaling back the initiatives are yet to be seen but some of them can be easily predicted.
Companies winding down DEI efforts risk alienating highly skilled individuals, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds.
The pullback from DEI could send a message internationally that US corporations are deprioritising social progress, potentially diminishing their appeal to diverse global talent pools.
They can limit professional opportunities for historically underrepresented groups, such as women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities.
