Are DEI-Based Jobs Disappearing in 2024? Here’s What You Need to Know

With roots in the mid-1960s equal rights movement, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have been at the forefront of hiring conversations for the past several decades. If your business didn’t have a DEI program between 2021 and 2023, your public image was likely subpar–and you may have been missing out on top talent and growth opportunities as a result. 

Cut to 2024 and it seems like the tides of opinion are slowly changing. Over the past year or so, public opinion has started to question DEI-based initiatives thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in higher education. As complicated as it is political, it’s clear that backlash from the public is growing, forcing an evolution some may not have seen coming. So does that mean it’s the end of DEI jobs, as well as initiatives for hiring and recruiting? Here’s what you need to know. 

Companies are walking a tightrope of public opinion 

Set against the 2020 landscape of the murder of George Floyd, the rise of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and a sea of companies sharing black squares on Instagram to amplify diverse voices, DEI programs quickly became a way for companies to tangibly show their support. However, in today’s changing climate, brands are being faced with a conundrum. They must walk a tightrope between satisfying the public, backing off DEI-based initiatives, and keeping their original goal of making workplaces diverse and inclusive. 

What’s proving equally as trying for companies is that these kinds of public opinion changes are happening rapidly, requiring extreme flexibility on behalf of brands. No company wants to be seen by the public as not doing the right thing; but what exactly is the right course of action? 

Not scrapped, but overhauled 

Luckily, there’s some good news. Companies aren’t so much scrapping DEI-based initiatives; rather, their current approach is getting a complete overhaul. Some HR departments are going so far as to rebrand the concept, giving it a fresh new look that holds up in the court of public opinion–as well as the actual courts. 

Branding is a powerful tool, meaning even if the general concepts stay the same, a successful rebranding can change the conversation completely. In this regard, we are seeing companies drop keywords like “diversity” from official messaging in internal and external documents, in favor of more generic terminology. 

What’s feeding the need to rebrand? 

Curious about what’s behind the rebranding? It’s hard to pinpoint an exact event or reason, rather it is a shift in public opinion. Over the past couple of years, the amount of political pushback against DEI-based initiatives rather than merit-based has been getting louder and louder. 

And it’s not just public opinion, even the laws themselves have been changing. The Supreme Court’s recent decision that struck down affirmative action has resulted in massive ramifications. Less than a year ago, the Supreme Court struck down the affirmative action programs for gaining entry into higher education institutions. 

Many experts and analysts looked at the decision as a glimpse of what was to come. If affirmative action could be struck down in the realm of higher education institutions, who is to say where it stops? Could businesses be next? 

What’s taking the place of DEI?

Starbucks is a great example of the direction many companies are now taking. Rather than its external “representation” goals, the company has started to use “talent” metrics. Even if the core values are the same, the messaging and language have changed. Wording such as “inclusive culture” and “people and planet,” which Molson Coors uses throughout its messaging, is showcasing this updated approach.

What isn’t changing, however, is the commitment to create an inclusive environment. So in that regard, DEI-based jobs aren’t disappearing–rather, the approach has had a PR facelift. 

There’s no question that diverse teams are still something successful companies are striving for–after all, research has proved that diverse teams are over 35 percent more productive and make better decisions 87 percent of the time.

In my practice, I am still encountering applicants on a near daily basis who specifically ask about DEI and inclusive hiring practices. So while you may not see the words diversity, equity, and inclusivity discussed in corporate language as often, there is a quiet understanding that the principals will continue.