Ford joins Harley in scaling back DEI policies amid backlash

Ford Motor Co. told employees it would modify its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and end participation in a notable ranking by an LGBTQ advocacy group, joining a series of companies including Lowe’s Cos. and Harley-Davidson Inc. in curtailing some of the programs.

“We are mindful that our employees and customers hold a wide range of beliefs,” Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley wrote in an internal email, which was shared with Bloomberg by anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck and confirmed as authentic by the company. “The external and legal environment related to political and social issues continues to evolve.”

Ford said it will no longer engage with the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and various “best places to work” lists, and that it refocused employee resource groups and opened them to all its workers. The carmaker also said it would shift some of its corporate sponsorships, and comment less on polarizing issues.

Starbuck, a former music-video producer turned influencer based in Tennessee, has claimed credit for prompting a string of companies to change or eliminate their diversity and social impact programs. Unlike legal activists Edward Blum and Stephen Miller’s America First Legal, who’ve filed lawsuits and regulatory complaints alleging DEI programs discriminate against certain groups, Starbuck has relied on social media platform X to generate popular outrage.

Tractor Supply Co., Deere & Co. and Harley-Davidson each said they’d revise their DEI initiatives after Starbuck started a stream of posts on social media platform X attacking what he describes as “woke” policies out of step with their customers. Ford’s Farley is on Harley’s board, and John May, the CEO of Deere, is a director for Ford.

Starbuck took credit for changes at Lowe’s, saying on X the company announced changes to its DEI policy after Starbuck contacted the home-improvement retailer last week. Jack Daniel’s whiskey maker Brown-Forman Corp. also told staff last week it was ending DEI programs.

Starbuck said he was investigating Ford’s policies before the announcement. Ford declined to comment beyond the memo.

The letter marks a shift in tone from the carmaker since the 2020 murder of George Floyd, when Chairman Bill Ford and then-CEO Jim Hackett pledged “to lead from the front and fully commit to creating the fair, just and inclusive culture that our employees deserve.”

“This isn’t everything we want but it’s a great start,” Starbuck wrote on X. “We’re now forcing multibillion-dollar organizations to change their policies without even posting just from fear they have of being the next company that we expose.”