MOLINE, Ill. — Amid ongoing social media backlash and widespread company layoffs, John Deere announced Tuesday that it is changing how it participates in social and cultural awareness events, and reviewing other internal policies, in a statement published on social platform X.
In Deere's statement, the company committed to the following changes:
- No longer participating in or supporting external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events.
- Business Resource Groups will exclusively be focused on professional development, networking, mentoring, and supporting talent recruitment efforts.
- Auditing all company-mandated training materials and policies to ensure the absence of socially motivated messages, while complying with federal, state, and local laws.
- Reaffirming within the business that the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy.
It follows a similar move from Tractor Supply which announced in June that it was eliminating DEI roles and retiring its current DEI goals.
It's unclear what events Deere participates in now or how trainings might change. News 8 asked Deere for clarification on this announcement, including how it tracks diversity and which events it will no longer participate in. We're still waiting on those answers.
Frank Dobbin, a Harvard sociology professor who has studied corporate diversity programs, said the most common DEI programming is employee training, such as teaching employees about biases or stereotypes. However, he said those programs don't do much to change what the workforce looks like.
"Some pundits, conservative thinkers, got the idea that this is an industry where they might be able to affect investor sentiments," Dobbin said. "If people switched from John Deere to International Harvester, that could affect John Deere's bottom line. We have conservative thinkers affecting how investors are thinking about this and with the threat that customers in this sector may not be on board with DEI programming."
In 2020, the police murder of George Floyd and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter Movement led companies to evaluate their practices. Many hired chief diversity officers and other positions dedicated to DEI efforts. After the pendulum swung that way, Dobbin said it's now swinging back with a conservative counter-movement.
Dobbin has noticed some companies walk back initiatives quietly, such as changing the title of an internship program.
"I think we are seeing companies try to a little bit to get out of the limelight and just keep doing the work, but not do a little bit less conspicuously, partly because there is such an active movement," Dobbin said.
Shaun Harper, a professor of business at the University of Southern California, told News 8 John Deere should have framed its diversity policies in a different way for people to understand, saying it's not about politics, but rather Deere needs to make the business case for DEI. Deere's diversity initiatives will look different, for example he explained, than a business like Apple in California's Silicon Valley.
"John Deere has to customize and situate its DEI efforts for the environments in which they are located," he said.
One way to do that, he said, is to invest in programs for girls and young, Black farmers.
"To ensure that they have access to tractors and other farming equipment, to ensure that they have access to the kinds of wealth-generating opportunities that will make farming equitable, not just for Black people, but for everybody who benefits from fruits, vegetables and other things that are grown on farms," Harper said. "That's a way to do it that isn't divisive, that isn't about identity politics, and so on and so forth. But that's where many companies miss the mark, right? Like they just sort of paint DEI with a broad brush."
Harper's research tells him that DEI strategies are good for business. He predicts companies who don't have them in place will face more lawsuits from employees.
In June, John Deere agreed to pay $1.1 million in back wages and interest after alleged hiring discrimination against more than 250 Black and Hispanic applicants.
"What I think will happen, unfortunately, is that many companies are going to find themselves in the midst of a mess where there are higher rates of turnover among people who make companies diverse because the workplaces are so toxic and because those professionals feel an insufficient sense of belonging," Harper said.
Dobbin agreed that people from minority groups will be less inclined to want to work at Deere after this decision. He believes it's a mistake for companies to roll back these initiatives so publicly because it signals that those groups aren't welcome in their workplace. He also doesn't anticipate it having a significant effect on the company's sales.
"If you look at the political spectrum, think about the top 5% of conservatives and the top 5% of liberals," Dobbin said. "Maybe the top 5% of conservatives are going to make their tractor decision based on this. My guess is that most people are just going to make their decision based on who their local supplier is. Do they have good service in the area? Have they had experience (with the company)?"
The National Black Farmers Association has denounced Deere's move, calling for a boycott of the company and for CEO John May to resign. The nonprofit sent the following statement, in part to News 8:
"Awards Deere won for its inclusiveness and the names of employee resource groups devoted to women, veterans and people with disabilities no longer appears on the company website. We will continue to see more companies downplay diversity goals and scale back DEI programs created to encourage the advancement of marginalized groups.
John Deere is one of the largest debt holders for farmers, right beside the banks. Since the NBFA's foundation nearly 40 years ago, John Deere has failed to show its support for the organization and Black farmers.
Just as we have called for the resignation for Hal Lawton at Tractor Supply, we also call for the resignation of John C. May and boycott of John Deere."
"It is the farmer, not the machine that will take care of the crop and ensure it grows. I challenge John Deere to service all of America's farmers, including Black farmers," founder John W. Boyd, Jr. wrote at the end.
Both Harper and Dobbin believe companies will continue to face this online pressure. Dobbin predicts business-to-consumer industries are more likely to be targeted "because investors worry about individual customers."