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Executives look for new ways to describe DEI initiatives

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Nikki Haley tells Davos: Americans don't want to be a

label

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BofA CEO describes diversity as having 'commercial logic'

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 22 (Reuters) - President Donald

Trump's escalating pressure on the private sector to ditch

diversity programs has left some in Davos searching for new

words to describe workplace practices they say are essential to

their businesses.

Trump has issued a series of executive orders cutting

federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, which

attempt to promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities,

LGBTQ+ people and other traditionally underrepresented groups.

He has also sought to dissuade private companies that

receive government contracts from factoring underrepresentation

into hiring decisions.

Trump's moves on DEI have reverberated through the corridors

of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, where

gender parity, diverse workforces and better representation of

minorities around the world continue to be key goals.

While tech companies Meta and Amazon ( AMZN ),

which hold U.S. government contracts, say they are scaling back

some initiatives, other executives at Davos told Reuters they

will remain, if by another name.

"There's a lot of talk and a lot of maybe even controversy

around the names of things," said Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, CEO

of Portugal's largest utility company EDP,, which has

40% of its investments focused on renewable energy in the U.S.

"The important thing is we want to have the best talent in

the company, from wherever it may be, men, women, different

ethnicities, and we want to make sure that people ... have the

best working conditions and feel comfortable," he said.

"We're not working for DEI tick the box," Stilwell added.

Other policymakers and executives said the acronym DEI had

become damaging, even as they doubled down on their commitment

to diversity.

"It became toxic, as has ESG, and there are some wrong

reasons for that and there are some right reasons for that,"

Luftey Siddiqi, Special Envoy of the Head of the Interim

Government of Bangladesh, said on a panel about gender parity.

"But I'm more interested in what is effective, how do we get

to the result as opposed to the label," Siddiqi added.

DEI initiatives were introduced by many companies and

governments around the world to address historical inequities in

the workforce. While some gains have been made in recent years,

gender parity has not been reached in any country.

Proponents warn that continued rollbacks may endanger recent

advances.

TECH CONTRACTS

Reuters spoke with at least three tech executives whose

companies have contracts with the U.S. government. They said

they remained committed to diversity programs in the workplace.

Although the risk of losing contracts because of Trump's

executive orders would force them to look for new ways to

describe DEI initiatives, they would not cut them entirely.

One European tech company executive, who spoke on condition

of anonymity, told Reuters that it would not be rowing back on

its commitment to inclusion and diversity.

"For many years we have worked to shape a more sustainable,

equitable world. It's rooted in our company culture," the person

said.

"The world is diverse and employee base reflects that

diversity. It is one of the keys to great innovation and is good

for business."

Not all in Davos share that sentiment.

Alexandr Wang, CEO of high-profile start-up Scale AI,

cheered Trump's executive orders in a post on X and called for

the promotion of MEI (merit, excellence and intelligence) in

tech.

Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,

also welcomed what she said was a retreat from DEI.

"In every business, you are starting to see pulling back

from DEI and I welcome that, I think it's really important,"

Haley told a panel on the sidelines of the WEF meeting.

"What we're seeing in America, everybody just wants to be

Americans. They don't want to be a label. They don't feel like

they can take it anymore," Haley added.

One European industrial company with a large U.S. footprint

said it would continue with its diversity and inclusion programs

because they were important to the business as well as society.

"We will stick to our values of tolerance and respect;

inclusion is important," a board member told Reuters, adding:

"Companies need to stay the course of the agenda in terms of

values and policies, and that's what we're doing."

"You want diverse opinions in the room and you want every

opinion to have a similar weight. You want to move away from

group think, especially when the pace of change is so rapid."

MONEY FLOWS

Investment in diversity is also unlikely to dry up because

of Trump's moves, said bankers at Davos.

"For the investors of this world, ESG criteria - of which

DEI is a part - are very important and will continue to be very

important," said Bain & Company's Alexander Schmitz, who heads

up the firm's Private Equity practice in EMEA.

"When I look at it from a higher level, the overarching,

mega themes of ESG investing are still there: I haven't seen

much rolling back of that as yet. If you are a private equity

fund and start rolling back DEI strategies, then - among other

effects - you will likely have a problem in fundraising and

that's not where you want to be."

Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan described

diversity as having "commercial logic".

"There's going to be a lot of good, courageous conversations

going on," Moynihan said. "Do we have the thoughtful balance

right in companies and institutions ... Do we have the balance

right that everybody feels included?"