Amazon to halt some of its DEI programs: Internal memo

Amazon is halting some of its diversity and inclusion initiatives, joining a growing list of large corporations that have announced similar moves in the face of growing public and legal scrutiny.

In an internal memo last month to staffers obtained by CNBC, Candi Castleberry, Amazon’s VP for inclusive experiences and technology, said the company was in the process of “reducing outdated programs and materials” as and part of a wider review of hundreds of initiatives.

“Rather than individual groups building programs, we focus on programs with proven results — and we also aim to foster a more truly inclusive culture,” Castleberry wrote in the Dec. 16 memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg.

Castleberry’s memo does not say which programs the company is dropping as a result of its review. The company typically releases annual data on the racial and gender makeup of its workforce, and it also operates Black, LGBTQ+, Indigenous and veterans. employee resource groupsamong others.

By 2020, Amazon has set a goal to double the number of Black employees in vice president and director roles. He announced the same goal in 2021 and also promised to hire 30% more Black employees for product manager, engineer and other corporate roles.

Halfway through Friday made a similar retreat from its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The social media company said it is ending its approach of considering qualified candidates from underrepresented groups for open roles and its equity and inclusion training programs. The decision drew a backlash from Meta employees, including one staffer who wrote: “If you don’t have your principles when things get difficult, they’re not values. They’re hobbies.”

Other companies included McDonald’s, Walmart and Ford have too made changes to its DEI initiatives in recent months. Rising conservative reaction and the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in 2023 has spurred many corporations to change or discontinue their DEI programs.

Amazon, which is the nation’s second largest private employer behind Walmart, has also recently made changes to its “Our seats” web page, which sets out the company’s position on a variety of political issues. Previously, there were separate sections dedicated to “Equity for Blacks”, “Diversity, equity and inclusion” and “LGBTQ+ rights”, according to the records from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

The current web page has simplified these sections into a single paragraph. The section says that Amazon believes in creating a diverse and inclusive company and that unfair treatment of anyone is unacceptable. The information first reported the changes.

Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel told CNBC in a statement: “We update this page from time to time to make sure it reflects updates we’ve made to various programs and positions.”

Read the full memo from Amazon’s Castleberry:

team,

As we head towards the end of the year, I want to give you another update on the work we’ve been doing around representation and inclusion.

As a large global company operating in various countries and industries, we serve hundreds of millions of customers from a range of globally diverse backgrounds and communities. To serve you effectively, we need millions of employees and partners who reflect our customers and communities. We strive to be representative of those customers and build an inclusive culture for all.

In recent years we have taken a new approach, reviewing hundreds of programs across the company, using science to assess their effectiveness, impact and ROI – identifying those we believe should continue. Each of these addresses a specific disparity, and is designed to end when that disparity is eliminated. In parallel, we are working to unify groups of employees together under one umbrella, and build programs that are open to all. Rather than having individual groups build programs, we focus on programs with proven results – and we also aim to foster a more truly inclusive culture. You can read more about it on our Together on the Amazon page from A to Z.

This approach – where we move away from programs that were separate from our existing processes, and instead integrate our work into existing processes so that they become durable – is the evolution to “built” and “born inclusive”, instead of “pushed”. ” As part of this evolution, we have removed outdated programs and materials, and we aim to complete that at the end of 2024. We also know that there will always be individuals or teams that continue to do things with good intentions that do not align with the our approach throughout the company, and we may not always see those right away, but we will continue.

We will continue to share ongoing updates, and we appreciate your hard work in driving this progress. We believe this is important work, so we will continue to invest in programs that help us reflect those audiences, help employees grow, thrive and connect, and remain dedicated to providing inclusive experiences for customers, employees and communities. in the world.

#InThisTogether,

Candi