When Elon Musk tweeted last December that “DEI must die,” his words reflected more than an empty provocation.
Corporate initiatives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have seen tremendous rollbacks over the past two years, buffeted by both shrinking budgets and a sustained conservative backlash.
It’s a trend that has become particularly pronounced in tech, where HR and DEI teams have been the disproportionate targets of an unrelenting wave of industry layoffs since the pandemic.
While DEI may not be dead just yet, for many this is an exasperating backwards step for an industry that is still severely lacking in gender and racial diversity.