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Ford becomes the latest company to scale back its diversity and inclusion policies:
Ford is changing some of its diversity and inclusion policies, joining a growing list of companies altering their approaches amid a changing legal and political environment and online pressure from the right.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said in an email to employees Wednesday that the company has changed some of its policies in the past year. It has shifted its employee resource groups' focus and ended participation in external culture surveys by the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group. In 2017, Ford boasted about its recognition from the organization as one of the best places to work for LGBTQ equality.
Right-wing activist Robby Starbuck posted a copy of the email on X and took credit, saying he had told the automaker he was looking into their policies. (Ford confirmed the accuracy of the email to CNN.)
"We are mindful that our employees and customers hold a wide range of beliefs," Farley wrote in the email. "The external and legal environment related to political and social issues continues to evolve."
Farley said that Ford remains committed to creating an "inclusive workspace and building a team that leverages diverse perspectives, backgrounds and thinking styles."
Ford joins Harley-Davidson, Tractor Supply Co., John Deere and other companies in revising or pulling back on their diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI), support for gay Pride marches and LGBTQ events, strategies to slow climate change and other social policies.
Some companies have backtracked more than Ford. Tractor Supply, for example, announced in June that it will withdraw its carbon emission reduction goals and eliminate jobs and goals focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. It will also stop sponsoring LGBTQ+ Pride festivals and voting campaigns
Starbuck, a former Hollywood music video director turned conservative activist, has claimed credit for these moves. But business experts have told CNN that Starbuck's activism alone does not fully explain these decisions, and some companies' commitments to diversity and inclusion were thin to start.
The Human Rights Campaign criticized Ford's announcement, saying the company was "abandoning inclusive employees policies and support" and "cowering" to Starbuck.
"Ford Motor Company's shortsighted decisions will have long-term consequences," Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a news release Wednesday. "Ford Motor Company is abandoning its financial duty to recruit and keep top talent from across the full talent pool. In making their purchasing decisions, consumers should take note that Ford Motor Company has abandoned its commitment to our communities."
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday September 03, @03:21PM
The problem is eternal growth isn't sustainable either. Eventually you'll run out of customers. Or well not everyone wants to be a customer of the product you sell. This isn't about the product in itself, this is just marketing in that regard.
They don't like the image or ideals or the product you want to sell. If you look at say Harley Davidsson, who is their core customer? You can just look at the images in on their website. It's not people in PRIDE-parades. They want to sell bikes to "Men", they want to sell some image of freedom, modern cowboys, bikers or whatever it is they are trying to associate their bike with. It is for a lack of better terms middle aged men with biker fantasies and to much money. That really shouldn't have anything to do with DEI or Diversity or PRIDE or whatever. But they decided to jump on that bandwagon and it has clearly backfired cause their previous audience couldn't be taken for granted and they didn't like the DEI message.
So if they had continued down that path with the imaginary customer that like those things they wouldn't have sold a lot of bikes anymore. But by catering to them they are, or would have, destroying part of the market that used to or are their core audience. Cause those people don't want to ride a dyke-bike or be associated with it. If HD had started to sell large amount of pink bikes catering to women or whatnot a lot of their core audience would start buying Indian or some other brand.
The current backlash about DEI is that they, or companies in general, drank the coolaid are trying to sell other values that are clashing with some peoples believes and ideas so they want no part of it and I guess they are tired about being quiet and just swallowing. You can't have all the cake. It's one bite or the other.