Accenture abandons diversity and inclusion goals

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After “evaluating” the political landscape of the United States, Accenture has eliminated its global diversity and inclusion goals, becoming the latest big company since Donald Trump's election.

Staff of CEO Julie Sweet said New York listed consulting groups will start “sunset” its diversity goals set in 2017, as well as career development plans for “specific demographic groups” .

Sweet said in a memo on Thursday that the change comes after “evaluating our internal policies and practices and the growing landscape of the United States, including the recent executive orders we must comply with.”

Accenture, with 799,000 employees worldwide, joins Meta, McDonald's and Target to abandon the diversity, fairness and inclusion of the new political climate since Trump's election Sexual goals.

The U.S. president is highly criticizing what he calls “absolute nonsense” measures.

When he took office last month, he signed a series of execution orders that cut the federal DEI program and attacked a series of corporate fatigue to achieve diversity goals.

Other companies, such as Costco and JPMorgan Chase, reiterate their commitments, while some are reevaluating their inclusive policies for the Trump era.

In 2017, Accenture set a goal where half of its employees will become women by the end of 2025. It also targeted 25% of managing directors as women, and by 2020, 41% of its employees and 21% of its board were women.

The organization also sets its own goals for minority representatives in the workforce in certain countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom.

Sweet, who took power in Accenture in 2019, had previously spoken out.

In an interview posted on Accenture YouTube channel in 2020, Sweet talked about the importance of various workplaces. She said in an interview that working on diversity is “the right thing” and that Accenture will hold leaders accountable for adhering to “clear goals.”

In a report published by the company that year, co-authored by Sweet, she was described as a “leader” of diversity and inclusion.

“Progress (on DEI) is not fast enough. Why are companies less diverse and inclusive when business cases support culture of equality? Why are women's share of leadership positions still so low?”

In this week's memo, Sweet said they will no longer be used to measure employee performance, and she also announced that she would stop submitting data to external diversity benchmark surveys, pending evaluation.

She added that the group will also “evaluate” other external partnerships on the topic “as part of our talent strategy to refresh our talent.”

“We have been and always been an elite management,” Nice wrote in the memo, responding to Trump’s vow to abandon Di policies rather than “a society.” . . Based on merit”.

The memorandum said the group’s diversity goals “major achieve”, adding that Accenture will build an “inclusive” workplace with “no bias” and “equal opportunities.”

Accenture declined to comment.