Goldman Sachs and Deloitte have become the latest major corporations to scale back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies as US political pressures mount, particularly under the influence of Donald Trump’s anti-DEI stance.
Goldman Sachs has dropped its requirement that companies seeking to go public must have at least one board member from an underrepresented background. Introduced in 2020, the policy was designed to encourage greater diversity in corporate leadership. However, the investment bank cited legal developments, including the removal of a Nasdaq requirement for companies to disclose board diversity data, as the reason for its decision.
Meanwhile, Deloitte’s US division has instructed employees working on American government contracts to remove pronouns from email signatures and is shutting down its DEI programme. According to an internal email sent to 15,000 staff in its government and public services practice, the move aligns with “emerging government client practices and requirements.” Deloitte also announced plans to phase out its annual diversity report.
The changes reflect a growing trend among private companies responding to conservative-led scrutiny of DEI initiatives. Trump’s recent executive orders reversed DEI policies within the federal government, with staff now required to report colleagues who continue to promote diversity measures. While these directives do not extend to private firms, Trump has urged the US attorney general’s office to explore ways to apply them more broadly.
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which advises major investors on corporate governance, has also adjusted its approach. From 25 February, it will no longer recommend voting against US companies failing to meet board-level gender or ethnic diversity targets, acknowledging that businesses are reassessing their commitments in light of shifting government policies.
This trend has already influenced major corporations. Google recently abandoned its commitment to increasing hires from historically underrepresented groups, while Meta and Amazon have also announced rollbacks of diversity programmes across recruitment, training and supplier selection.
The backlash against DEI efforts has intensified since the Black Lives Matter protests, with right-wing figures—including Elon Musk—claiming, without evidence, that diversity policies contributed to failures in emergency responses to recent disasters.
With private sector firms increasingly bowing to external pressure, the future of corporate diversity initiatives appears uncertain.
