Google Becomes Latest US Company to Abandon DEI Goals

The tech giant is following in the footsteps of companies including Amazon, Ford, and McDonald’s in scrapping its DEI initiatives.

The Google logo is shown on a building in San Diego, Calif., Oct. 9, 2024. Reuters/Mike Blake

Alphabet-owned Google has become the latest U.S. company to scrap its programs and goals that are based on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) ideology, with the tech giant removing various pledges from its website.

President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders targeting DEI initiatives since returning to the White House earlier this month, including one aimed at eliminating DEI-focused policies and programs within the federal government.

Trump also issued an order targeting DEI in both the public and private sectors.

While Google had ramped up inclusivity efforts in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody in 2020, the company appears to have made a U-turn on its diversity policies, having updated its “belonging” webpage in the past week.

An archived version of the page dating back to Jan. 29 states that Google was taking “targeted action” to address issues such as disability inclusion, gender equality, LGBT inclusion, racial equality, and veteran inclusion.

The same page also listed Melonie Parker as “chief diversity officer,” along with the pronouns “she/her.”

The current version of the webpage shows no trace of those targeted actions, which have been replaced with more generic pledges such as “empowering people,” “building for everyone,” and “partnering for impact.”

It also now lists Parker as “VP, people operations” and has removed her pronouns.

In addition, Alphabet removed any mention of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” from its annual 10-K report for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In its annual report filed with the agency last year, the tech giant said it was “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.”

Alphabet’s most recent filing with the SEC, made on Jan. 31, states, “Our people are critical for our continued success, so we work hard to create an environment where employees can have fulfilling careers, and be happy, healthy, and perform at a high level.”

A spokesperson for Google told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement: “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.

“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.”

Google Pushes for Inclusivity, Sets Leadership Goals

The SEC filing adds that the company offers “industry-leading benefits and programs to take care of the diverse needs of our employees and their families,” and states that it will continue to invest in recruiting “talented people to technical and non-technical roles, and rewarding them well.”

Like several other major tech companies, Google sells some of its technology and services to the federal government, including its rapidly growing cloud division that serves an important role in its push into artificial technology.

Previously, Google had been among the most vocal companies in pushing for more inclusive policies, with CEO Sundar Pichai setting a goal in 2020 to increase the representation of underrepresented groups in the company’s largely Asian and white leadership ranks by 30 percent by 2025.

While Google has made some headway since then, the makeup of its leadership has not shifted dramatically.

Google told The Associated Press in a statement that it is committed to creating a workplace where all its employees “can succeed and have equal opportunities,” and that over the past year, it has been reviewing its programs designed to reach that goal.

“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,” the company said. A 10-K is a mandatory report about a company’s financial performance.

Google joins a slew of U.S. companies scaling back their diversity initiatives in recent months, including Amazon, Ford, McDonald’s, Meta Platforms, Walmart, Walt Disney Co., and Target.

Those companies had moved to implement such policies under the previous administration, which promoted DEI throughout the federal government as part of efforts to address what it said were longstanding inequities and structural racism.

Critics, including Trump, say such policies weaken the importance of merit in job hiring or promotions and violate anti-discrimination laws.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.