Was it just for the PR? That’s what many who care about fairness in the workplace have been asking since Meta, headed by Mark Zuckerberg, announced the scrapping of all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes within the organisation. Days earlier, fast food giant McDonald’s made a similar announcement. Last year, the car manufacturer Ford and Walmart – the largest private employer in the US – also rolled back their diversity programmes.
So what’s going on? For years, and especially after the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020, these huge corporations have been saying that diversity is a good thing – that it keeps them in touch with their consumers and thereby strengthens the business, as well as being the morally right thing to do.
