Amazon said it is halting some of its diversity and inclusion initiatives, joining a growing list of large corporations that have made similar moves in the face of increased public and legal scrutiny.
In a Dec. 16 internal memo to staff obtained by CNBC, Candi Castleberry, Amazon’s vice president of immersive experiences and technology, said the company was in the process of “terminating outdated programs and materials” as part of a review of wide range of hundreds of initiatives.
“Instead of individual groups building programs, we’re focusing on programs with proven results — and we also aim to foster a more truly inclusive culture,” Castleberry wrote in the memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg.
Castleberry’s memo does not say which programs the company is removing as a result of its review. The company typically releases annual data on the racial and gender composition of its workforce, and also operates resource groups of Black, LGBTQ+, Indigenous and veteran employees, among others.
In 2020, Amazon set a goal to double the number of black employees in the roles of vice presidents and directors. It announced the same goal in 2021 and also pledged to hire 30% more black employees for product manager, engineer and other corporate roles.
Meta on Friday made a similar retreat from its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The social media company said it is ending its approach of screening qualified candidates from underrepresented groups for open roles and its equality and inclusion training programs. The decision drew backlash from Meta employees, including one employee who wrote: “If you don’t stick to your principles when the going gets tough, they’re not values. They’re hobbies.”
Other companies, including McDonald’s, Walmart AND Fordhave also made changes to their DEI initiatives in recent months. The growing conservative backlash and the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in 2023 prompted many corporations to change or discontinue their DEI programs.
Amazon, which is the nation’s second-largest private employer after Walmart, also recently made changes to its “Our Positions” website, which lays out the company’s position on a variety of policy issues. Previously, there were separate sections devoted to “Equity for People of Color,” “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” and “LGBTQ+ Rights,” according to data from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
The current website has simplified those sections into a single paragraph. The section says that Amazon believes in creating a diverse and inclusive company and that treating anyone unequally is unacceptable. Information earlier reported the changes.
Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel told CNBC in a statement: “We update this page from time to time to make sure it reflects updates we’ve made to various programs and positions.”
Read the full note from Amazon’s Castleberry:
the team,
As we head towards the end of the year, I want to give another update on the work we’ve been doing around representation and inclusion.
As a large global company operating in various countries and industries, we serve hundreds of millions of customers from a variety of backgrounds and communities globally. To serve them effectively, we need millions of employees and partners who reflect our customers and communities. We strive to be representative of these customers and build a culture that is inclusive for everyone.
In recent years we took a new approach, reviewing hundreds of programs across the company, using science to measure their effectiveness, impact and ROI – identifying those we believed should continue. Each of these addresses a specific inequality and is designed to end when that inequality is eliminated. In parallel, we worked to bring groups of employees together under one umbrella and build programs that are open to all. Instead of individual groups building programs, we’re focusing on programs with proven results — and we also aim to foster a more truly inclusive culture. You can read more about this on our website Together on the Amazon site in A to Z.
This approach—where we move away from programs that were separate from our existing processes, and instead integrate our work into existing processes so they become sustainable—is the evolution to “build” and “born inclusive, ” and “filled in.” As part of this evolution, we have shut down outdated programs and materials and are aiming to complete it by the end of 2024. We also know that there will always be individuals or teams who continue to do things with good intentions that don’t match our company-wide approach and we may not always see them immediately. But we’ll get on with it.
We will continue to share constant updates and appreciate your hard work to drive this progress. We believe this is important work, so we’ll continue to invest in programs that help us reach those audiences, help employees grow, thrive and connect, and we remain committed to delivering immersive customer experiences , employees and communities around the world.
#InThisTogether,
Candi
