NEW YORK The discount retailer Target announced on Friday that it would follow competitor Walmart and several other well-known American companies in reducing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that have been criticized by conservative groups and, as of this week, the White House.
The Minneapolis-based retailer stated that one of the changes to its Belonging at the Bullseye strategy would be the termination of a program it had put in place to assist Black workers in establishing fulfilling careers, enhance the shopping experience for Black customers, and support Black-owned businesses in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 police killing.
Target, which employs over 400,000 people and runs around 2,000 stores throughout the country, stated that it already had plans to terminate the race initiative this year. Additionally, the firm announced on Friday that it will wrap up the diversity, equality, and inclusion, or DEI, targets it had previously set in three-year cycles.
The objectives included recruiting more diverse suppliers, such as companies run by women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, veterans, and people with disabilities, as well as increasing the number of women and members of racial minority groups who were hired and promoted.
For a long time, Target has been a strong corporate supporter of Black and LGBTQ+ rights. Target’s chief community impact and equity officer, Kiera Fernandez, wrote in a note to staff members that the DEI rulings mark the next phase of the company’s decades-long effort to establish welcoming workplaces and visitor experiences.
Fernandez wrote in the memo, which Target released on Friday, “This next chapter in our strategy has been shaped by many years of data, insights, listening, and learning.” Additionally, as a shop that serves millions of customers daily, we recognize how critical it is to keep up with the constantly changing external environment both today and in the future.
Without a doubt, in the five years since a large portion of corporate America adopted DEI aims in reaction to the Black Lives Matter protests that followed Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, the civil rights landscape in the United States has experienced a significant upheaval.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling banning affirmative action in college admissions gave conservative organizations the confidence to file lawsuits or threaten to do so against corporate programs such employee resource groups and employment procedures that give preference to historically underrepresented groups.
Several well-known consumer firms, including John Deere, Ford, Harley-Davidson, Walmart, and McDonald’s, have lowered or phased out their DEI pledges in recent months.
This week, President Donald Trump indicated that his administration agrees with conservatives who contend that laws that take into account racial, gender, and sexual orientation variables in an effort to improve minority representation are unconstitutional.
Trump signed an executive order to terminate DEI programs throughout the federal government on his first day in office. In addition to reviewing and revising current employment practices, union contracts, and training policies or programs, the directive calls for the revocation of all DEI mandates, policies, preferences, and actions.
However, some well-known businesses have resisted calls from the public to abandon their diversity initiatives. A proposal for Costco’s shareholders to assess the risks associated with the wholesale club operator’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies was turned down on Thursday.
Preliminary findings released by Costco officials show that over 98% of shares voted against the idea put forth by a Washington-based conservative think organization. The board of directors at Costco had suggested not voting.
The CEO of JPMorgan Bank and the board of directors of Apple have also stated their dedication to maintaining their companies’ DEI initiatives.
Target’s efforts to create a more inclusive workforce before 2020, and the firm was long regarded as a pioneer in the field of LGBTQ+ inclusion, in contrast to some of the companies that are retooling or abandoning their diversity projects.
However, the employee memo released on Friday stated that Target would no longer take part in surveys intended to evaluate the success of its initiatives, such as an annual index created by the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ+ rights group. Target declined to provide specifics but stated that it would further assess corporate collaborations to make sure they are directly related to business objectives.
DEI opponents have sought to persuade companies to cease funding Pride events and to remove their names off the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
For some time now, Target has been trying to avoid a backlash from conservative organizations and customers. Target stated that inclusion is a basic tenet at Target and that it supports transgender employees and customers using the toilet or fitting room that corresponds with their gender identity as transgender rights gained more attention in 2016.
However, Target said that more locations would offer a single-toilet restroom with a lockable door after several consumers threatened to boycott the retailer.
Following online complaints and in-store altercations that the firm claimed endangered the wellbeing of its staff, Target discontinued certain of its Pride Month items in 2023. Last year, the corporation made the decision to stop carrying Pride Month merchandise in all of its U.S. locations.