President Trump has made dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion policies a priority for his second administration and many high-profile companies have announced pullbacks in their DEI programs.
But a survey out this week shows a decided split among U.S. corporations as to their DEI intentions: 49% surveyed after Trumps inauguration Jan. 20 said they are not considering new or further DEI rollbacks, while only 8% say they are “seriously” considering changes.
Sixty percent of executives surveyed say they are waiting for further details on the new administration’s priorities—including enforcement mechanisms—before making any modifications, according to the survey from Littler Mendelson P.C., one of the largest global employment and labor law practice devoted exclusively to representing management with offices in 28 countries.
In fact, Littler’s pre-inauguration survey found that the majority of organizations (76%) maintained or even increased their DEI commitments and activity levels over the past year.
“This new paradigm in Washington, D.C., presents business leaders with the formidable challenge of balancing the shifting political landscape—and pressure from vocal inclusion, equity and diversity critics—with employee expectations and existing inclusion, equity and diversity commitments,” an executive summary of the survey results posted on the law firm’s website says.
While many companies do not appear to be abandoning their DEI programs overnight, they are very aware of the threats. Approximately half of survey respondents (55%) are more worried post-inauguration about the risk of DEI-related lawsuits, government enforcement actions and shareholder proposals. Fears are even more widespread among federal contractors and public companies that are highly visible targets for regulators.
Even if their own companies have no plans to do so, 53% of executives surveyed post-inauguration say that anti-DEI policies and/or rhetoric under the Trump administration will likely lead organizations to decrease their DEI commitments over the next year—up from 38% who said the same pre-inauguration.
Littler surveyed nearly 350 C-suite executives from across the U.S., both before the inauguration and after, to gauge how businesses have adapted their programs since its first IE&D C-Suite Survey Report published in January 2024. The respondents represented a diverse range of industries and company sizes, including CEOs, general counsels, chief legal officers and chief diversity officers.
The main counterbalance to Trump’s rhetoric is coming from company employees themselves. Approximately three quarters of survey respondents said that employee expectations for ongoing DEI commitments played a role in their company policies, “suggesting that DEI remains an important talent retention and recruitment strategy.”
“In this climate, many organizations are avoiding what may be perceived as unnecessary risks and focusing more on safer measures like affinity groups that still signal a commitment to inclusion and belonging in the workplace,” the executive summary says.
But companies are not going to be trumpeting these programs: Among the 51% of executives from the post-inauguration survey who report that their organizations are considering rollbacks of DEI programs, the largest percentage (61%) are focused on weighing whether to remove or reduce DEI-related language from their websites, proxy statements and/or outward-facing communications.
Read more: Apple and Costco are resisting the anti-DEI movement
