Amazon is going to end some of its DEI programs: internal memo

Amazon It says it is ceasing some of its diversification and integration effects, joining a growing list of major corporations that have engaged in similar activities under increasing public and legal scrutiny.

In an internal memo to employees obtained by CNBC on December 16, Amazon’s VP of Inclusive Experience and Technology, Candy Castleberry, said the company is in the process of “eliminating outdated programs and materials” as part of a broader review of hundreds of initiatives.

“Instead of individual teams building programs, we focus on programs with proven results — and aim to foster a more truly inclusive culture,” Castberry wrote in the memo. Bloomberg.

Castleberry’s memo does not specify which programs the company will drop as a result of the review. The company typically releases annual data on the racial and gender makeup of its workforce, including black, LGBTQ+, Indigenous and veterans. Employee resource groupswith others.

In the year By 2020, Amazon has set a goal to double the number of black employees in vice president and director roles. In the year It announced a similar goal by 2021 and pledged to hire 30% more black workers for product manager, engineer and other corporate roles.

Meta made a similar retreat from its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative on Friday. The social media company said it is ending its approach of considering qualified candidates from underrepresented groups for open roles and equity and inclusion training programs. The decision led to complaints from Meta employees, including one employee who said, “If you don’t stand by your principles when things get tough, they’re not values, they’re hobbies.”

Other companies, including McDonalds, Walmart And FordThey have made changes to their DEI initiative in recent months. The growing conservative backlash and the Supreme Court’s 2023 affirmative action decision prompted many corporations to change or end their DEI programs.

Amazon is the nation’s second-largest private employer behind Walmart, and has recently made changes “Our Position” A website detailing the company’s positions on various policy issues. There were previously separate sections for “Justice for Black People”, “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” and “LGBTQ+ Rights”. Records Wayback Machine from the Internet Archive.

The current website has streamlined those sections into one paragraph. The department says Amazon believes in creating a diverse and inclusive company and that unfair treatment of anyone is unacceptable. The information Previously reported changes.

“We update this page from time to time to make sure it reflects the updates we’ve made to various programs and positions,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel told CNBC.

Read the full note from Amazon’s Castberry:

group,

As we head toward the end of the year, I want to make another update on the work we’ve been doing around representation and inclusion.

As a large global company operating in many countries and industries, we serve hundreds of millions of customers from diverse backgrounds and globally diverse communities. To serve them effectively, we need millions of employees and partners who reflect our customers and communities. We strive to be representative of those customers and build an inclusive culture.

Over the past few years, we’ve taken a fresh approach to evaluating hundreds of programs across the company, using science to determine their effectiveness, impact, and ROI – the ones we believe should continue. Each of these defines a specific difference, and is designed to end when that difference is removed. In parallel, we have worked to unite employee groups under one umbrella and build programs that are open to all. Instead of having individual teams build programs, we’re focusing on programs with proven results—and we aim to develop a more truly inclusive culture. You can read more about this on us. Together on the Amazon page from A to Z.

This approach – moving away from programs that are separate from our existing processes and integrating our work with existing processes to make them sustainable – is the evolution of “building” and “being born” “bound”. “As part of this evolution, we’ve been eliminating outdated programs and materials, and we’re aiming for completion by the end of 2024. We also know that there will always be individuals or groups who continue to do well-intentioned work. Don’t align with our company-wide approach, and we may not always see them right away. But we’ll keep going.” .

We will continue to share ongoing updates, and we appreciate your hard work in guiding this process. We believe this is important work, so we continue to invest in programs that help us reflect those audiences, help our employees grow, thrive and connect, and are committed to providing holistic experiences for customers, employees and communities around the world.

# Together with this

Candy