A person walks through The Spheres at Amazon’s corporate headquarters in Seattle, Washington, on November 14, 2022.
David Ryder | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Amazon is halting some diversity and inclusion initiatives, joining a growing list of major companies announcing similar initiatives in the face of increasing public and legal scrutiny.
Candi Castleberry, Amazon’s vice president of inclusive experiences and technology, said in an internal note to employees last month that the company was reviewing hundreds of initiatives as part of a broader review. “Phase out obsolete items and materials.”
“Rather than having individual groups develop projects, we are focusing on projects that have delivered results, and our goal is to foster a more truly inclusive culture,” Castleberry wrote in the Dec. 16 report. Burundi.
Amazon announced the news after Meta on Friday made a similar retreat from its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The social media company said it will end the practice of considering qualified candidates from underrepresented groups for open positions, as well as its equity and inclusion training programs. The decision prompted a backlash from Meta employees, with one writing: “If you don’t stand up for your principles when things get tough, then they’re not values. They’re just hobbies.”
Read the full memo from Amazon Castleberry:
team,
As we near the end of the year, I’d like to revisit our work around representation and inclusion.
As a large global company operating in diverse countries and industries, we serve hundreds of millions of customers from diverse backgrounds and in diverse communities around the world. To serve them effectively, we need millions of employees and partners who reflect our customers and communities. We strive to represent these customers and build a culture that is inclusive of all.
Over the past few years, we have taken a new approach by reviewing hundreds of projects across the company, using science to evaluate their effectiveness, impact and ROI – identifying those we believe should continue. Each of these addresses a specific difference and is designed to end when that difference is resolved. At the same time, we work hard to unify our employee base under one umbrella and create programs that are open to everyone. Rather than having individual groups develop programs, we focus on programs with proven outcomes – we are also committed to fostering a more truly inclusive culture. You can read more about it on our website Together A to Z on Amazon page.
This approach – where we move away from planning separate from existing processes and instead integrate our work into existing processes so that they become durable – is a move towards “built-in” and “inherently inclusive” rather than “add-on” evolution. As part of this evolution, we have been phasing out outdated plans and materials, and we aim to complete this work by the end of 2024. Inconsistencies within methods, we may not always see these immediately. But we will persevere.
We will continue to share ongoing updates and thank you for your hard work in moving this forward. We believe this is important work, so we will continue to invest in programs that help us reflect these audiences, help our employees grow, develop and connect, and we will remain committed to inclusion for our customers, employees and communities around the world sexual experience.
#heretogether,
Candy
