New White House occupant Donald Trump is off to a busy start. He appealed to his voluble base by launching a much-expected war on woke, jousting with Mexico, tarrifying (sic) Columbia and creating other threats to the global business landscape.
While millions of American workers voted for him, Trump’s first actions largely benefited business leaders demanding massive deregulation, and those aligned to his chaotic world views, ones destined to greatly damage trade and business.
His first diktat was to put on paid leave any government worker in the Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) field. In the aftermath, layoffs are looming and public-facing information websites are going dark.
Trump’s take is that DEI itself is discriminatory (presumably against white or rich people), and against their civil rights. The first published example of the purge, taking a swipe at the usual employee experience, comes from NASA.
The United States Air Force responded by removing a recruitment video highlighting the Tuskagee Airmen, to highlight the ludicrous nature of sweeping gesture politics. Trump also encouraged employees to report on surviving programs or content.
Beyond the likes of NASA, the US military and bureaucratic offices, some businesses are taking advantage. See Cory Doctorow’s latest piece “The first days of Boss Politics Antitrust.” to see how workers are on the receiving end of fresh abuses by their newly enabled robber-baron bosses.
Business leaders divided on Trump and DEI
While Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are more likely to ram home Trump’s dogma on their staff. DEI-enabled businesses like Apple are fighting back. Apple’s many DEI highlights include driving representation of women leaders in Japan and improving inclusive hiring practices. Another example, Microsoft has 5%-plus of its workforce registered as disabled. Will their staff respect any leadership that caves into political pressure threatening such progress?
For many, DEI will live on. The investment and benefits outweigh the alternatives. Regressive policies won’t halt the extensive and ongoing investment to integrate diversity and universality in the employee experience. At most, jargon and related job titles may change. The approach and angles may skew, and the “lads/bros” on the shop floor may mock a little louder. But, if anyone’s wavering hand so much as touches a woman’s bottom or goes overboard on crass racism or sexism, he’ll likely still face great legal wrath.
For most workers, diversity and equality are already a part of the social and economic landscape under employee engagement and experience initiatives. While tech bros, fascistas and misogynists must face up to an office landscape that has wildly changed in just a few years. Gone is their fist-bump-frat-party imagined version of workplace life, whatever their Twitter(X)-feeds say.
Looking into a chaotic DEI future for UK business
In the UK, The ruling Labour Party, is heading rapidly in the other direction to the US government. Current legal thinking suggests closing equality and disability pay reporting holes, while promoting ethnicity reporting for larger businesses. However, a recent leadership survey discussed in Personnel Today shows “Nearly four in 10 respondents (37%) agreed with the rollback of at least some measures on this side of the Atlantic. This figure included 32% who feel that some aspects of DEI policies required change. A further 5% said that DEI had already gone too far in the British workplace.”
As much a part of business life as data protection, health and safety, rebooting the wireless network or emptying the bins. Ensuring fairness, DEI is a framework across global law and business practice. However, HR, hiring and business practicioners need to read a fast-changing landscape in the short-term future.
Boiling down to respect and empathy, most companies under the customer and employee experience banner are onside with these concepts. Which business will stand up and say “no” to respect and empathy? Certainly not one with diverse shareholders, a broad church on the board, and an increasingly mobile and socially aware workforce.
The pragmatic evolution of DEI, from a US view
Empxtrack’s latest HR report claims 2025 will see US businesses, “focus on embracing a deeper understanding of inclusivity within organisational cultures, emphasising qualitative aspects like individual employee experiences and the impact of DEI policies. Organisations will adopt more sophisticated methods and measure initiatives on a truly inclusive workplace culture.”
The DEI battle will rage, and likely blow out replaced by more doom-laden news. But nothing will completely stop the march to greater accountability and equality across offices, factories and enterprises. And in practical terms, businesses can flex to cope with any incoming changes.
For example, Drew Moffit, leading humans at Fonzi.ai takes the approach that “As companies navigate the likely rollback of traditional DEI programs, it’s essential to recognise that the root problem—bias—has not disappeared. With the rise of AI-generated applications, tasks such as the recruitment process are increasingly overwhelmed by noise. Thousands of applications, with hundreds potentially inflated or outright fake, drowning out genuine talent.
Talent and HR in a chaotic world of AI
A recent Fonzi job posting had 1,200 candidates in a couple of days. At just 60 seconds per resume, it would take a human 20+ hours to even look at everyone’s application, much less rank, reach out, schedule, and then speak to everyone.
Human recruiters, even with the best intentions, are often influenced by unconscious biases, from snap judgments to decision fatigue. The populist opinion within the US has shifted against DEI initiatives, fuelled by applicants’ frustrations with the job search process and a perceived lack of transparency from companies. This has created an environment where the validity of these programs is being questioned.
AI-powered interviews bypass these challenges entirely, creating a level playing field for all candidates. Whether it’s filtering out over-polished resumes from fake applicants or remaining unbiased toward genuine ones, they ensure that real talent rises to the top. Fonzi is building a better recruitment process that works for everyone by providing fast, transparent insights and filling openings more efficiently.
99% of applicants receive responses within 7 days. The remaining 1% advance through the hiring process and receive updates within 72 hours of their application status changing. In contrast, we have heard countless instances where applicants don’t hear back from large FAANG-type companies for up to a year.”