CV NEWS FEED // Billion-dollar corporation AT&T has scrapped all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, shifting its focus to a “skilled workforce,” journalist Robby Starbuck reported Friday.
Starbuck announced on X that the multinational telephone company has eliminated its chief DEI officer and all DEI training as part of several internal policy changes.
“They want to be a company that serves everyone,” Starbuck said in a video Friday. “They want to be there for all customers—in every walk of life, in every political belief—and the only way to do that is to adopt corporate neutrality and get out of the business of wokeness.”
As part of the changes, AT&T will no longer encourage employees to wear “pronoun pins” or display them in company stores. The company is also ending sponsorships and partnerships tied to LGBTQ initiatives, including the “Turn Up the Love Campaign” and the left-leaning “Trevor Project” which supported gender-transitioning services for children.
The decision aligns with a broader corporate shift away from DEI initiatives, following President Donald Trump’s January executive order banning such programs in the federal government.
In the order, Trump stated that DEI programs “threaten the safety of American men, women, and children across the Nation by diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination when selecting people for jobs and services in key sectors of American society.”
The order also directed federal agencies to deter DEI programs in the private sector, prompting several major companies to scale back their DEI efforts.
In a letter to its employees, AT&T reaffirmed its commitment to complying with all federal, state, and local regulations, emphasizing that serving customers is a top priority.
“AT&T is proud to count the federal government as an important customer, along with many state and local governments. We have and always will comply with all applicable laws and regulations that are required to provide critical services to each of these customers,” the letter stated.
The company, which has over 140,000 employees, stressed that building a “skilled workforce that understands our customers” is essential for business growth and shareholder value.
“They’re reorienting the focus of business…to making money. This is capitalism and they want to do a good job for their customers. They want to make money for their shareholders,” Starbuck said. “That is what companies need to be doing, not acting as an arm for activism for a political party.”