Moves by big US firms with operations in Ireland to drop some diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes are unlikely to substantially impact on workforces or hiring practices here, those working in the area have said.
On Monday, Apple, which employs about 6,000 people in Ireland, asked shareholders to vote against a move by US conservative think tank the National Center for Public Policy Research to have the company drop its DEI programmes at its annual general meeting next month.
The proposal follows announcements by Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and Amazon, both also big employers in Ireland, that they would be scaling back similar programmes in the US, moves widely regarded as intended to foster better relations with the incoming Donald Trump administration.
DEI schemes are sets of measures designed to make people of all backgrounds – regardless of ethnicity, class, sexuality and gender – feel supported and included in the workplace.
My driving instructor texted me: ‘Things aren’t working out. I’ll transfer you back your money’
Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
Aoife was diagnosed with HIV in Australia in 2020: ‘He was unknowingly positive. We had no idea’
Caroline Darian, daughter of Gisèle Pelicot: ‘It’s difficult to be the daughter of a sexual criminal and the daughter of an icon like my mum’
Diversity specialists here have said the shifts in company policy by the tech giants are very much related to the environment in which they operate in the US and unlikely to make a huge impact at operations based in Ireland or the EU over the course of the Trump presidency.
“It’s definitely a watching point for us but, in some ways, the DEI agenda has operated in a slightly different way in America,” says Gillian Harford, country executive with the 30% Club, an organisation that works for greater women’s representation at board and senior management levels with firms. “It has been very much based on affirmative action and it feels as if the affirmative action aspect is the piece that is being under scrutiny at the moment.
“Even if you look at some of the quotes from Meta in the last few days, yes, they’re moving away from some of the aspects that were more affirmative-action based, but they’re still talking about a greater move to practices that would take away bias, they’re still talking about trying to focus on much wider hiring pools.”
[ Are we entering the twilight of diversity, equity and inclusion?Opens in new window ]
Laura O’Donovan Calvert, business development director at the Irish Centre for Diversity, which works with more than 300 companies and organisations in the area of DEI, agrees. She says that, regardless of political motivations, the business case for diversity in hiring is such that, even in the US, companies are unlikely to want to roll back progress in the area, while the regulatory frameworks are hugely different on the respective sides of the Atlantic.
“They won’t just look at all DEI initiatives and just slash, they won’t work that way, but they may come up with ways of framing them under different parts of their HR strategies,” she says.
“And even if the likes of big tech organisations might be closing down some of their DEI initiatives, we still have to report everything in Europe under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and other EU directives that are coming. So the landscape can’t really change that dramatically here.”
Meta was approached for comment.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
