Reports indicate that building equipment and garden store Lowe’s joins Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s in this summer’s wave of employers publicly denouncing their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Conservative activist Robby Starbuck has said he takes responsibility for Lowe’s changes, as he did for Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s public shifts to their talent strategy. However, in an internal memo the company reportedly shared with AP News, Lowe’s cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s summer 2023 decision regarding race-conscious college admissions policies in higher education as the catalyst for these changes.
One change consistent throughout this wave of announcements is the snubbing of the Human Rights Campaign and its annual Corporate Equality Index. Lowe’s is also allegedly slated to shelve its individual identity-based employee resource groups, according to Starbuck.
In the memo, Lowe’s leadership leaned on compliance and the goal to be “lawful” in its inclusion of all employees.
ESG Dive sister publication HR Dive reached out to Lowe’s and did not hear back by the time of publication.
An amicus brief in the aforementioned SCOTUS case submitted by counsel representing more than 60 businesses said that diverse teams are “increasingly important to American companies” as the U.S. population — and therefore U.S. companies’ consumer base — become more diverse.
“Now more than ever, companies must attract, retain, and elevate a racially diverse workforce to better serve a diverse marketplace of consumers,” the brief said.
