Survey Says: Most High-Level Business Executives Believe DEI Initiatives Are Necessary To Avoid Legal Risk
Source: Jackson State University / Getty
Since taking office in January, President Trump has made eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all facets of American life one of his key goals. While he's been relatively successful in getting colleges and universities to bend the knee, it's been a more complicated situation when it comes to American businesses. A recent survey has potentially revealed the reason for that, as many business leaders believe removing DEI initiatives opens them up to legal risk.
According to Fortune, a joint survey of 1,000 C-suite executives revealed that 83 percent believe DEI initiatives are necessary for their company's well-being. Another 68 percent believed removing them would open them up to potential discrimination lawsuits. The survey also interviewed 2,500 employees and found that 76 percent of respondents would stay at a company that maintained its DEI initiatives, and 43 percent would leave a company if they pulled back. The survey was conducted by Catalyst, a non-profit focused on women's inclusion in the workplace, and NYU School of Law's Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Source: Screenshot / Pollack, A., Glasgow, D., Van Bommel, T., Joseph, C., & Yoshino, K. (2025). Risks of retreat: The enduring inclusion imperative. Catalyst & Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
'Opting out of DEI is not a neutral act—it's a choice with consequences,' Christina Joseph, project director of the Advancing DEI Initiative at the Meltzer Center, told Fortune. 'That's because these programs help root out harmful policies that especially affect marginalized groups. This report reminds us that without those safeguards, organizations face more, not less, legal exposure.'
This survey only proves what we've already seen: the average person either supports or, at the very least, isn't actively opposed to DEI initiatives. In fact, another recent poll shows that companies that keep their DEI initiatives are viewed more favorably by the public. The only people upset about DEI are people who can't compete on an even playing field, or keeping it a buck, are just straight up racist.
To some degree, it makes sense why we're seeing universities withdraw from their DEI initiatives. Many of them depend on federal funds to survive, so while they may not necessarily agree with the pullback, they don't really have a choice. Especially considering that the Department of Education (DOE) has been explicitly weaponized to go after any university it believes is trying to provide equitable opportunities for Black, brown, and LGBTQ students. Source:
To be clear, I'm not advocating or being an apologist for these moves; I simply understand why they're happening.
Conversely, it doesn't make much sense for businesses to engage in this pullback as they don't depend on federal funds, and it's unclear what, if any, legal action the Trump administration could take against a company for continuing DEI initiatives. Apple announced that they would continue their DEI initiatives, and all the president did was angrily post about it on Truth Social.
I'm not a legal scholar, but thankfully, Catalyst's poll also included corporate lawyers. A vast majority, 88 percent to be precise, believed that DEI initiatives were essential to avoiding legal risk. So it seems like companies have more to lose by pulling back from DEI than continuing forward.
We've seen the opposing approach to DEI initiatives play out in the marketplace this year. Target has been the, uh, target of several boycotts this year as a result of withdrawing from their DEI initiatives as soon as they thought it was politically expedient. This has resulted in foot traffic being down in the stores and the company reporting a drop in first-quarter sales. Target's woes are so pronounced that several companies have started listing consumer boycotts as a potential financial risk in investor reports.
On the other end of the equation is Costco, which has stood firm on its commitments to DEI and actually beat its sales expectations for the first quarter. Whether it comes to employees, executives, lawyers, or consumers, it appears the majority are in agreement: DEI works for everybody.
Now, if only someone could get that message through to the weirdos running the country right now.
SEE ALSO:
DEI's Economic Impact: What The Data Reveals
Poll Shows Companies Maintaing DEI Intiatives Have Better Reputations
SEE ALSO
Survey Says: Most High-Level Business Executives Believe DEI Initiatives Are Necessary To Avoid Legal Risk was originally published on newsone.com
Black America Web Featured Video
CLOSE
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
14 minutes ago
- The Hill
Cuban diplomat defends foreign medical missions under pressure from US
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A senior Cuban diplomat has accused the Trump administration of trying to discredit the thousands of Cuban doctors working around the world and deprive the country of an important source of income. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, who was at U.N. headquarters this week for a debate on sanctions, told The Associated Press that the U.S. is putting pressure on other countries and financial institutions to break their ties with Cuba. Cossio said over the decades Cuba has sent more than 100,000 doctors to more than 70 countries to provide much needed medical care. More than 22,000 doctors are now working in more than 50 countries, according to the government. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described the program as 'forced labor.' He announced visa restrictions in late February on Cuban and foreign government officials involved in Cuba's medical missions. In June, the Trump administration imposed visa restrictions on several unidentified officials from Central America for their involvement with the Cuban program. And in a letter obtained by AP last week, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asked the 34 members of the Organization of American States for details of any agreements with Cuba for medical missions. It specifically requested information on whether the medical workers have labor and union rights, and about any labor complaints. The commission, an independent body of the OAS, which is heavily funded by the United States, said it would analyze the data and make recommendations, 'given the persistence of reports of rights violations.' The State Department said Tuesday it was pleased its action 'has prompted meaningful discussion of this exploitative labor export program after years of denial.' It said the U.S. will not stop raising these issues until Cuba curtails the 'forced labor' of its own citizens. Cossio defended the program in an interview on Monday. He said all Cuban doctors working abroad receive their regular salary, plus 'a dignified stipend.' Starting about 15 years ago, he said, Cuba began receiving compensation from wealthier countries for providing the doctors. That money covers the stipends, with the rest going to finance Cuba's public health system, he said. Cossio accused the United States of trying to discredit the medical missions, first by saying that Cuba was not sending doctors but agents to 'subvert' these counties. He said the U.S. then accused Cuba of human trafficking and put pressure on the countries that have agreements with Cuba to refuse any future medical missions. He said the U.S. wanted to stop the praise Cuba has received for sending doctors to many poor and developing countries and to deprive Cuba of a 'legitimate source of income.' Cossio said Cuba would not break its agreements. Cossio also criticized the Trump administration for reversing a U.S. policy of welcoming Cubans into the country. The administration has started cracking down on Cubans who have entered the U.S. since October 2022 on two-year permits to live and work, a Biden administration program known as humanitarian parole. President Donald Trump this month also announced additional restrictions on visitors from Cuba, among other countries. The restrictions have come as a shock to the 2.4 million Cuban-Americans. They strongly backed the Republican president in both elections and have long enjoyed a place of privilege in the U.S. immigration system.
Engadget
15 minutes ago
- Engadget
Donald Trump will delay a looming TikTok ban for a third time
President Donald Trump will, once again, give TikTok a temporary reprieve as it faces another deadline to sell itself or face a ban in the United States. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Tuesday that Trump will sign another executive order to extend the deadline. The latest extension — this time for 90 days — is now the third time Trump has punted on a looming TikTok ban since he took office in January . 'As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark," Leavitt said in a statement reported by CNN . "This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.' US officials are presumably still negotiating terms of a potential deal that would allow TikTok to remain operational in the United States, though there's been little news on that front since the last extension in April. A number of potential buyers are interested in acquiring TikTok's US business, but officials in China would need to sign off on any agreement. In April, several reports suggested that a deal would likely involve the company's existing US investors rolling over their stakes into a new entity. Those talks were derailed by Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports.
USA Today
16 minutes ago
- USA Today
Primary lessons: Trump rules, Dems are revved. NYC's melee is next.
Primary lessons: Trump rules, Dems are revved. NYC's melee is next. Off-year elections are the tea leaves of U.S. politics, and just as reliable. Still, here are clues from 2025 contests in Virginia and New Jersey. Show Caption Hide Caption Justice Department orders dismissal of New York mayor Adams case Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo telling the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan to dismiss the case against Adams. It's a long stretch to Election Days that matter more, but the season's handful of race offer some political clues. Trump commands the GOP while Democrats are still debating the party's direction. The mayor's race in New York shows how it's easier these days to stage a comeback after scandal. Off-year elections are the tea leaves of American politics, and just as reliable. With votes being counted in Virginia's June 17 primary, the competitors are set for the commonwealth's gubernatorial race: Former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger will face Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. A week earlier, in New Jersey, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli won their parties' nominations for the only other governorship on the ballot in November. It's a long stretch to Election Days that matter more − including next year's midterms when control of the House and the Senate at stake, not to mention the presidential race in 2028. But this season's handful of contests do provide early clues about the mood of the voters and the direction of the nation's politics. Some primary lessons learned so far: 1. Democrats are revved up. In Virginia, Democratic turnout was rising even without much of a reason to vote. That was true earlier this spring, when Democrats turned out in two special House elections in Florida, slashing in half the GOP's margin in solidly red districts. Spanberger was unopposed for the nomination in the marquee gubernatorial race, yet in the run up to the primary more than 196,500 people had cast early ballots as of June 16. That's nearly 60% more than those who voted during the comparable period four years ago, when the race was fierce. (The Democratic nominations for lieutenant governor and attorney general were contested this year.) No state has been more affected by President Donald Trump's efforts to cut the federal government than Virginia, home to more federal workers than any state except California. The firestorm over those firings creates a hurdle for Republicans. So does history. In 11 of the last 12 elections, the candidate who won the Virginia governorship was from the opposition party of the president who had been elected to the White House a year earlier. The purple-state contest is often seen as a way to send a message to the new president about how he's doing. In New York, turnout has also surged in the city's mayoral primary. More than 30,000 voters cast ballots on the first day of voting June 14, nearly double the number who went to the polls on the first day they could four years ago. The overwhelmingly Democratic city holds its primary on June 24. 2. Trump's hold on the GOP is unshaken. In New Jersey's primary on June 10, President Trump wasn't on the ballot, but he was on the minds of GOP voters. That posed a problem for Ciattarelli, viewed as a moderate Republican when he served in the state Assembly. Before his first bid for the gubernatorial nomination in 2017, he called Trump a "charlatan" who was unfit to be president. In his second bid in 2021, he kept his distance. Not this time. Ciattarelli went to Trump's golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, to woo him, then bragged about it. "Tonight, my great honor and pleasure to share time with @POTUS," he posted on social media. with a photo. His courtship worked. "Jack, who after getting to know and understand MAGA, has gone ALL IN, and is now 100% (PLUS!), Trump said in his endorsement on Truth Social. "HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN." That embrace sealed his landslide in the state's GOP primary over conservative radio host Bill Spadea, who had earned Trump's ire by backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in last year's Republican presidential primary. Ciattarelli sailed to victory, winning 68% of the Republican vote. Spadea got 22%. State Senator Jon Bramnick, a moderate who had criticized Trump, claimed just 6%. Today's asset could be tomorrow's problem, of course. Trump lost the Democratic-leaning state to Kamala Harris in 2024 by 6 points, though that was considerably closer than his 16-point loss to Joe Biden in 2020. The morning after this month's primary, Ciattarelli was ready to pivot to appeal to independents and Democrats. "This race is all about New Jersey," he told NBC, though he acknowledged, "My opponent is going to want to talk about Donald Trump every day of the week." 3. Nobody has a hold on the Democratic Party. Don't look for that kind of coherence among Democrats. In New Jersey, the primary results showed a fractured party. Sherrill prevailed with 34% of the vote after a campaign that promised competence and spotlighted her resume as a Navy veteran and former federal prosecutor. But the two most progressive candidates in the primary, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, got a combined total of more votes, at 37%. And the two most moderate contenders, Rep. Josh Gottheimer and former state Senate president Stephen Sweeney, got a fair share, too, at a combined 19%. None of them were touting their ties to Harris or Biden or, for that matter, the national party in general. The debate nationwide over how to rebound from last year's electoral thumping isn't close to being settled yet. New York's mayor's race also illustrates the Democrats' divide, with a centrist frontrunner trying to fight back a leftist challenger. 4. NY, NY? It's a hell of a town. Start with this: New York's Democratic mayor is running for a second term, but not as a Democrat. Eric Adams is running as an independent after convincing the Trump Justice Department to drop federal charges of corruption. Now leading in the Democratic contest is Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment. He denies the accusations and now says he shouldn't have left office. His top challenger is Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, who if elected would be the first Muslim to serve as mayor of America's biggest city. He's been endorsed by two progressive icons, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The messy melee that is New York politics − including an 11-candidate race and a ranked-choice voting system − may be so specific to the city that it provides few lessons for the rest of the country's politics. Except, perhaps, that during the Trump era it may be more possible to stage a comeback in politics after scandal, as evidenced by the campaigns of Cuomo and Adams. The definition of who can hold electoral office may also be expanding. Mamdani's election would break new ground. So will the race in Virginia, now poised to elect its first woman as governor.
