Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Target is ending its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, becoming the first major US company to do so since President Donald Trump took office.
The retailer will stop publicly sharing the DEI goals it has reported for more than a decade and conclude career-building programmes for Black employees “as planned” in 2025 among other changes, it said on Friday.
Target joins a growing number of US companies including Meta, Walmart and McDonald’s in retreating from work on racial and gender equity amid mounting pressure from Trump and other conservatives.
The president has said programmes that seek to reduce discrimination against minority groups in the workforce are “illegal”, and signed several executive orders during his first week in office aimed at restricting such initiatives within the federal government and at companies with federal contracts.
Target said it was “implementing changes with the goal of driving growth and staying in step with the evolving external landscape”.
Many US companies had begun or expanded their diversity work after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a police officer in Minneapolis, where Target is headquartered, sparked widespread protests.
Target in June 2020 announced $10mn in funding for social justice initiatives, saying at the time that it “stands with Black families, communities and team members”. It later committed to increasing the number of products it stocked from Black-owned brands.
A page previously titled “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” on Target’s website directed users on Friday to a page called “Belonging at the Bullseye”, its new strategy for inclusion, according to the Internet Archive.
Target is one of the largest retailers in the US, with nearly 2,000 stores, more than 400,000 employees and revenues that top $100bn.
Friday’s announcement comes nearly two years after customers boycotted the retailer to express anger at its annual merchandise collection celebrating LGBT+ people during Pride Month.
The company says it will rename its “Supplier Diversity” team to “Supplier Engagement”, and join other groups in withdrawing from a high-profile workplace ranking survey by the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT+ advocacy group.
Other groups have reaffirmed their focus on DEI. Costco shareholders rejected a proposal on Thursday that would have required the company to disclose any legal risks associated with continuing its diversity initiatives.
