MW Google is the latest tech giant to move away from DEI, as it weighs implications for federal contracts

By Bill Peters

Latest corporate retreat following conservative backlash, Trump's executive order

Alphabet Inc.'s Google on Wednesday said it was reviewing its workplace inclusion policies, ending representational hiring goals and weighing potential changes that might be needed as a federal contractor, as President Donald Trump tries to eliminate diversity and inclusion initiatives in the government and in corporations.

The decision marks the latest major corporate retreat from diversity, equity and inclusion practices - or DEI - after a rush to embrace the practice following the 2020 murder of George Floyd was met with aggressive conservative opposition online and in court.

The news of Alphabet's decision was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said that Google notified employees of the moves in an email. The company also struck some language related to diversity commitments in its most recent annual report.

"We're committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year we've been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

"We've updated our 10-K language to reflect this, and as a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic," that statement said.

Alphabet's most recent annual report, filed on Wednesday, no longer includes a line saying "we are committed to making diversity, equity and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve." That line, the Journal said, had been included in its annual reports going back to 2021.

Trump last month signed an executive order "terminating radical DEI preferencing in federal contracting." It also instructed the government to "take strong action to end private-sector DEI discrimination, including civil compliance investigations."

Prior to Trump's return to the White House, a Supreme Court decision in 2023 ended affirmative action in higher education, a ruling that posed potential legal risks to corporations. Still, some of those companies, after the court's decision, said diversity made their workforces better. Research has also found that diversity benefits business and innovation.

Alphabet had 183,323 employees as of the end of last year, according to its newest annual report. Along with other big companies - like Target Corp., $(TGT)$ Walmart Inc. $(WMT)$ and McDonald's Corp. $(MCD)$ - tech giants such as Meta Platforms Inc. $(META)$ and Amazon.com Inc. $(AMZN)$ have pulled back from their DEI plans. Some activists have recently called for a boycott of Target after it retreated from its diversity goals.

Shares of Alphabet $(GOOG)$ $(GOOGL)$ were down fractionally after hours on Wednesday, after finishing 7.3% lower during regular trading, following its quarterly results on Tuesday.

-Bill Peters

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February 05, 2025 18:15 ET (23:15 GMT)

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