DEI & ESG | HR efforts are falling to the wayside in the face of economic pressure

In recent weeks, DEI execs from some of the world’s biggest production companies were made redundant or voluntarily left the company.

This was met with a range of reactions from the professional community, particularly on LinkedIn, many of whom pointed to the fact these exits highlight the perceived non-essential nature of these roles.

This has all happened in the wake of mass layoffs across industries, especially within giant tech companies, because firms are being forced to scale back in response to economic pressure. As a result of this pressure, many organisations have revealed they are cutting back on their ESG efforts, to save time and money.

In a study from KPMG, almost half of responding CEOs said they were considering "pausing or reconsidering their existing or planned ESG efforts in the next six months," and a third of CEOs had already halted efforts.