FRANKFURT, March 19 (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche

has abandoned global targets for a more diverse

workforce to avoid penalties from recent U.S. executive orders,

the latest in a slew of companies to do so.

Among measures taken, Roche said its Chief Diversity Offices

in the U.S. and at its Basel headquarters "will focus on

inclusion and belonging, and responsibilities will be re-scoped

accordingly". Diversity was not mentioned under the Offices' new

remit.

According to a memo to global staff made available to

Reuters, the changes were made to ensure that Roche "can

continue to deliver medicines and diagnostic solutions to

patients".

A number of U.S. companies have been scaling back diversity,

equity and inclusion programmes since U.S. President Donald

Trump declared some elements of DEI illegal and threatened

possible investigations into firms that practice it.

Among companies not headquartered in the United States,

Swiss bank UBS this week scrapped references to

establishing women in management roles and hiring employees from

ethnic minority backgrounds from its 2024 annual report.

Roche said the changes would also take effect outside the

United States "because our global programmes and goals can have

an impact on our US organisations if we are not compliant under

the new law", according to the memo.