Walmart has decided to give up on its $100 million Center for Racial Equity along with other initiatives that promoted company diversity and minority support. The corporation, the largest retailer in the world, joins a growing list of organizations and companies rolling back diversity efforts and commitments.
Walmart plans to curb racial equity training for employees and stop giving priority treatment to suppliers based on race and gender. Up until this point, these diversity boosting efforts helped businesses run by people of color and women thrive, and prevented racial discrimination in the workplace. These changes will also include discontinuing some LGBTQ+ family-friendly products.
The Center for Racial Equity was established in 2020 in response to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, which incentivized many companies to expand programs for racial equity. Doug McMillon announced the program in June 2020 acknowledging the company’s role in perpetuating systemic racism. McMillon made a promise to do better for the company’s Black and African American employees, a message that generated $100 million in funding for the creation of the center, with backing from both Walmart and the Walmart Foundation, according to MediaPost.
Media outlets suggest the move was a result of pressure from Robby Starbuck, a conservative and former Hollywood executive who has railed against DEI in recent years, hoping to “eliminate ‘wokeness,’” according to Forbes.
Just four years after Walmart introduced DEI programming, and following the re-election of Donald Trump for a second presidential term, the retailer and its peers are scraping their DEI initiatives. Other companies taking similar measures include Lowe’s, John Deere, Harley Davidson and Tractor Supply.
Walmart claims they will incorporate inclusion efforts in other ways. “Our purpose, to help people save money and live better, has been at our core since founding 62 years ago and continues to guide us today,” said a statement from the company to Marketing Daily. However, Walmart also withdrew from the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index. The HRC publishes an annual report to benchmark companies on their inclusivity efforts with regard to LGBTQ+ rights. LGBTQ+ and other minority employees at Walmart could suffer from these changes, with less opportunity and less protection against workplace discrimination.
“Commitments to inclusion are directly tied to long-term business growth. Those who abandon these commitments are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders,” RaShawn Hawkins, senior director of HRC’s Workplace Equality Program, told Marketing Daily.
Whether you choose to keep shopping at Walmart or go elsewhere is up to you.
