Major companies quietly reduce DEI policies in handbooks, annual reports

Several major companies have quietly changed their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies recently, including corporations like Disney, Boeing, and PepsiCo, with little employee backlash.

The change comes after the Trump administration pressured public schools and other groups to end their diversity-oriented practices. Republicans also called for companies to change their DEI policies last year, citing a Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action in admission to colleges and universities.

Companies like General Motors and PepsiCo., which used to have large sections of their 10-K filings that explained their commitment to DEI, removed any mention of it in their 2024 filings, the New York Post found. Boeing, Comcast, and Lockheed Martin removed mentions of their commitment to DEI this year.

Software company Intel reduced its section of the employee handbook on diversity and inclusion from 456 words to 88 words this year. Other companies have pulled the section altogether.

Executives said they have been surprised at the employee response to depoliticizing the workforce, which has yielded little pushback. 

“We no longer tell people to bring their whole selves to work … in fact, we want the political part of them to stay home,” one executive told the New York Post. “Employers were worried about people leaving because they rolled back those kinds of measures, but people have stayed.”

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.