Walmart is changing the course of its DEI policy
Fox News contributor Joe Concha joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss Walmart rolling back its DEI policy, Alec Baldwin claiming Americans are uninformed and the Axios CEO firing back at Elon Musk over the changing media landscape.
FIRST ON FOX: A new report looked at corporate statements, annual reports and other publicly available documents from every Fortune 500 company and found that virtually all companies have met their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) commitments, despite a trend where private companies are abandoning this. commitments under increasing criticism.
Walmart, last week became the latest major company to roll back its DEI commitments. The private sector’s move to move away from such mandates, including race-based hiring practices or other preferential treatment based on a person’s immutable characteristics, has been so strong that it has fueled a cohort of 49 people. Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives to write a letter several weeks ago to the nation’s Fortune 1000 companies, urging them not to give in to pressure to dismantle their DEI obligations. The lawmakers argued that such commitments help ensure a fairer shot at the American Dream for “everyone.”
The effort to ensure that “everyone” gets a fair chance is one of the main reasons Walmart has decided to reverse some of its commitments.
“Our purpose of helping people save money and live better has been at our core since our founding 62 years ago and continues to guide us today,” Joe Pennington, president of Walmart’s global news agency, told Fox News Digital . “We have been on a journey and know we are not perfect, but every decision comes from a desire to foster a sense of belonging, open doors of opportunity for all of our associates, customers and suppliers and be a Walmart for all. ”
While pressure on private companies to abandon their DEI obligations has produced some change, 485 of the nation’s 500 largest companies continue to maintain some form of DEI obligations. according to a new report from the right-wing Heritage Foundation.
Researchers spent weeks sifting through the various documents and communications from all these companies and developed an easy-to-use database so readers can see the commitments for themselves.
Jonthan Butcher, the lead author of the report, told Fox News Digital that he thinks public pressure is highly influential when it comes to getting private companies to abandon what he described as discriminatory DEI commitments. Sources familiar with Walmart’s decision to roll back their DEI policy indicated that public pressure, in addition to customer and employee feedback, was one aspect that spurred some of the company’s changes.
“I think when the pressure is applied one by one … companies realize that when they’re called out, they don’t have any way to defend themselves and say, ‘Well, what we’re really doing is healthy.’ No one tried to say that,” Butcher said. “Instead, they simply backed off. And rightly so.”
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Criticism of DEI requirements in the workplace intensified after last year’s Supreme Court affirmative action ruling, which banned racial preferences in college admissions.
Some of the major companies highlighted in the Butcher report include Nike and UnitedHealth Group.
Nike, for example, turned out to have that a page on his website on “representation and compensation” that claims: “NIKE is focused on workforce representation, starting with women worldwide and racial and ethnic minorities in the United States.” Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group says about this Webpage “People and culture”. that the company strives to provide patients with “culturally relevant care” and “advance a diverse healthcare workforce.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to both Nike and UnithedHealth Group for comment but did not receive a response.
Ultimately, Butcher said he believes Americans are becoming aware of the racially discriminatory elements of DEI practices, noting that the goal of his research is to continue to leverage that momentum.
