In a definitive week for Ukraine, the UK economy and therefore for food and drink, it may seem prosaic to concern ourselves with the issue of diversity. But in today’s world, all roads lead to Donald Trump.
Almost his first act as president was to suspend several US federal government civil servants whose work was focused on diversity and inclusion. Since then, most of those civil servants have been fired.
As he intended, many major US corporations took their cue from him and revised or set aside their targets on diversity and climate change. They deleted hundreds of pages of reports on these and related topics from their websites and public records.
The president is so animated on the subject that he blamed – without any evidence – the tragic Washington DC air crash on diversity quotas among air traffic controllers. This week, he went further and fired both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – the nation’s top military officer – and the female head of the navy for being ‘too woke’.
Some of the president’s animus is personal, but much of it is just plain old Trumpworld politics. Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) voters hate the whole ‘woke’ agenda. Trump strategists see it as an obstacle to the growth that radical deregulation is intended to bring.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that it also sets many Democrats and liberals yibbering. While they are foaming at the mouth with their hair on fire, they can’t possibly focus on the Herculean task required to create an effective fightback. For the moment the president faces no opposition.
So far, neither national European governments nor the European Union have shown much interest in following the US government in rolling back diversity and climate change legislation, or the targets that flow from it. New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz may offer the president less disappointment, but that will be several weeks off.
Helpfully, some timely research by Apella Advisors provides useful guidance on the UK population’s views on diversity and inclusion. More than half of UK voters think it would be wrong to roll back on DEI programmes and targets, though one in five don’t agree.
Support for the DEI agenda is strongest among working-age adults and increases the younger the respondent tends to be. Conversely, those most likely to be antipathetic to diversity and climate change are older and mostly beyond normal working age. Opposition is particularly notable among Reform Party voters.
Apella pollsters noted businesses that seek to water down their commitments run the risk of undermining their reputation with customers and investors alike. But most crucially, they stand to lose out among potential employees, as these issues are really important to many of those looking to move jobs. Key for most potential employees remains how a company looks after its workers.
So, for bosses seeking to chart a course through this choppy water, some points emerge. First, watering down commitments or reporting on diversity and inclusion issues will play poorly with employees, potential employees and with many investors. Such decisions undermine corporate reputation.
Secondly, while much of the DEI agenda is avowedly clunky and requires amending, the principles behind it retain widespread public support. Across Europe, the majority of the population believe business must address diversity and play its part in tackling climate change.
Thirdly, while UK and European investors accept companies face very challenging trading conditions – possibly to be made worse by Trump tariffs – they continue to expect business to deliver on commercial and social performance.
If you are the sort of manager who drops the principle of diversity and climate commitments now, you probably didn’t ever believe in them. So, adopting them in the first place was weak and inauthentic: you will be found out.
Instead you should take courage. As the research suggests, it is the past calling – and those leaders who obey that call are almost always wrong.
Ian Wright, a partner at Acuti Associates
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