For many operations, 2025 will bring more than the usual mergers, buyouts and consolidations. Donald Trump’s Presidency officially begins January 20th. Emboldened by his winning of 312 electoral votes, the popular vote, his parties’ taking the Senate, and widening its control over the House of Representatives, Trump will enact a host of dramatic changes. Scrapping Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and Woke initiatives and his commitment to save $2 Trillion in spending is among them. These moves will affect the private sector.
DEI was never popular. That is because DEI prioritizes identity politics over individual merit. It is self-perpetuating, morale sucking, productivity defeating, and erodes customer service. By mid-2024 most had had enough.
Last June, Tractor Supply Company was among the first publicly traded businesses to begin scrapping DEI and Woke commitments. Caterpillar, John Deere, Lowes, Molson Coors, Toyota, Walmart, and as of December 13, American Airlines have all joined in deep-sixing DEI. Over 200 Colleges and universities, as of this article are also ditching or greatly modifying DEI practices. On December 18, the Idaho Board of Education chose to ban DEI offices and initiatives in all its public universities. To date, 10 States (Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming) have spun off DEI and Woke initiatives. The US military, too, determined DEI was not yielding positive results, and as of September, the Army no longer requires diversity in consideration for promotions to the ranks of senior sergeants. By the time this article is published, we anticipate more entities to dump DEI and Woke efforts.
Within your own organization, you may find it timely to consider the following: 1) Evaluate manpower needs, 2) Determine whether DEI and Woke serve employees, customers, and stakeholders, and 3) Proactively adjust policies and processes as a result. To assist, KeystoneHR has assembled the following package of policies and document templates (SKU PK4), all of which are easily modified:
• Workforce Reduction Policy (Word),
• A Sample Layoff Timeline (PowerPoint),
• Sample, Initial WARN COMPLIANT NOTICE OF LAYOFF (Word),
• Sample Script for Managers, and Anticipated Q&As from employees (Word).
KeystoneHR.com offers Best Practices focused HR and related policies and documents, training, consultation, and project work. With over 40 years of progressive HR experience in Fortune 500 companies and upper-end LLC’s, our team is poised to help. See our website – KeystoneHR.com. KeystoneHR – Best-in-Class helping Best-in-Class.
