Walmart unwinds DEI policies, will close Center for Racial Equity

Bentonville-based Walmart is reducing or ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts began in mid-2020, including limiting LGBTQ items sold by third-party resellers on its website. The retailer is the largest U.S. employer in recent months to withdraw from DEI efforts.

Walmart said it will no longer consider race and gender to boost diversity when granting supplier contracts. Also, eligibility for financing will not be assessed based on suppliers providing certain demographic data. The company will also review its support for Pride and other LGBTQ advocacy groups while scaling back its racial equity training, according to several published reports.

Walmart said it will no longer allow third-party sellers to sell some LGBTQ-themed items on Walmart’s website. The company also recently decided to stop sharing data with Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a nonprofit that tracks LBGTQ policies among corporations. Walmart is also winding down the Center for Racial Equity, a nonprofit it started in 2020. The Center portal is no longer present on the retailer’s website.

Walmart earlier this year changed the title of its chief diversity officer to chief belonging officer and moved away from using the term “diversity, equity and inclusion,” or DEI, in company documents. The retail giant said Walmart is for everyone and its mission over the past 62 years to help people save money and live better refers to everyone.

With more than 1.6 million U.S. employees, Walmart is the nation’s largest employer to join the unwinding of DEI initiatives that picked up steam following the murder of George Floyd in mid-2020. Ford, JPMorgan Chase, Deere & Co, Lowe’s and Harley Davidson are some of the other large employers to modify DEI policies over the past year.

Walmart said it is “willing to change alongside our associates and customers who represent all of America.”

“We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone,” Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said Tuesday.

Conservative activist Robby Starbuck, who has worked to pressure corporations to ditch DEI efforts, praised the move by Walmart.

“This is the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America,” Starbuck wrote, according to an Associated Press story.

RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said corporations reduce or end DEI efforts at their own peril.

“The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index was created at a time when folks could be fired just because of who they are. Since then, we’ve seen immense progress from family formation benefits to safeguarding against blatant discrimination at all levels of the workplace,” Hawkins noted in a statement sent to Talk Business & Politics. “When companies are transparent and open about their commitment to workplace inclusion policies, it only helps to attract and retain top talent – which is why the 2025 CEI will have record participation from more than 1,400 companies. There’s no changing the fact that with 30% of Gen Z identifying as LGBTQ+ and the community holding $1.4 trillion in spending power, commitments to inclusion are directly tied to long-term business growth. Those who abandon these commitments are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.”