DE&I initiatives have become a cost-cutting trend

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) roles are becoming fewer and fewer, especially in the tech sector where they have been at the forefront of layoffs. It’s a disappointing turn for a movement that rose to prominence in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and the subsequent demonstrations for racial justice; the number of DE&I positions rose 55% between June and August of that year, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. However, at the end of 2022, listings for DE&I jobs were down 19% according to hiring resource company Textio.

As of 2023, Amazon, Twitter, and Applebee’s have reduced their DE&I staff at a higher rate than their non-DE&I staff. For example, among Elon Musk’s recent—let’s call them capricious—staffing decisions, Twitter’s DE&I team shrank from 30 employees to a total of two this January, a former employee told AdAge.

“There’s usually some lever that influences them to spend the money and make the leap. It may be investor pressure or employee pressure,” Keely Denenberg, senior client partner at Orange Grove Consulting, a leadership development firm that offers DEI consulting and training services, told CFO Brew. “It could be any number of those things, but there’s usually either something they’re working toward or running away from.”

Denenberg suggests companies eager to gain the most from their DE&I investments consider first goals for those programs. It’s not uncommon for companies to have vague timelines for such initiatives, Denenberg added.

Even with some of these cuts to DE&I roles, it’s not all bad news for diversity in hiring: In 2022, for instance, there was a record number of female CFOs, according to the Crist Kolder 2022 Volatility report. Among women of color CFOs, 61% were in the role for the first time, according to a survey by executive search firm Cowen Partners.—LR