Rolls-Royce joins drive away from DEI amid US diversity backlash
https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/rolls-royce-dei-us-diversity-backlash-9hcs2zdrm
by scramblingrivet
Rolls-Royce joins drive away from DEI amid US diversity backlash
https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/rolls-royce-dei-us-diversity-backlash-9hcs2zdrm
by scramblingrivet
26 comments
If I had a fully automated factory and company with no employees except for me. What could I do for DEI?
Since its paywalled:
[https://archive.is/OO2tI](https://archive.is/OO2tI)
>Rolls-Royce, the FTSE 100 aerospace and defence giant, has become the latest big company to ditch diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies under pressure from Donald Trump’s White House.
>Staff have been informed that the company, led by Tufan Erginbilgic, is cutting support for its employee “inclusion networks”, set up to back minority groups within the workforce. Employees belonging to groups such as Prism, Rolls-Royce’s LGBTQ+ inclusion network, can still meet informally. But the company will no longer provide funding for events. And the groups will not be allowed to have a presence on the Rolls-Royce intranet or put posters up on company premises.
>Several other UK-based companies with US operations have taken similar steps away from DEI this year, under pressure from Trump. GSK, the pharma giant, scrubbed references to “diversity” from its website, while advertising group WPP dropped mentions of DEI from its annual report and pay documents.
>In place of the inclusion groups, Rolls-Royce has launched a new “employee voice network”, which is open to all employees rather than specific groups. Leaders — including Natasha Whitehurst, Rolls-Royce’s head of diversity, inclusion and belonging, and North America boss Adam Riddle — broke the news to staff last month.
>References to the inclusion networks and to DEI have been expunged from Rolls-Royce’s website.Rolls-Royce told staff it had made the changes to ensure that it complies with anti-DEI legislation introduced by the United States, where 6,000 of its 43,000 employees are based.
>About a third of its £19 billion revenues come from the US, where it holds several lucrative defence contracts. For example, it produces engines for military aircraft such as the C-130 and the US Air Force’s B-52 fleet.
>The company has decided to impose the changes across its global operations, rather than just in the US, so that it is consistent for all employees.
>Rolls-Royce has in the past trumpeted its DEI credentials. Last year, Erginbilgic described the company’s inclusion networks as a “powerful way in which we create an inclusive Rolls-Royce”. He said: “As volunteers from every part of our business — from the shop floor to senior leadership — they are role models who bring us together and help us learn.”
>A Rolls-Royce spokesperson said: “We support all our colleagues to be at their best, ensuring we live by our behaviours and drive a culture of high performance and engagement.“We regularly review our policies and approach to make sure we achieve this outcome, while complying with all legal requirements in the jurisdictions in which we operate.“We have always hired based on merit and continue to do so.”
Most DEI initiatives are mere virtue signalling anyway so it’s a waste of money and resource. Makes sense to cut the cost.
Feels like all the UK government and companies know is rolling over to Washington. We all knew it was about what’s fashionable rather than genuinely caring anyway.
Strong, global Britain
Fast forward 10 years, Conservatives demand DEI implementation, as automation has taken away jobs from hard working flesh and blood meat bags, and it is unfair.
/s
This message was brought to you by the Skynet Foundation: the flesh is weak
Who would of thought picking the best person for the job would be the right thing to do
It’s what many have been saying for yes, it was always corporate pink washing, they never actually cared. An ally is an ally even if it is inconvenient.
What’s wrong with just hiring based on merit and qualification to do a good job?
Some of the DEI stuff I’ve had to do with work is absolutely mental.
“Masha is a member of the dominant racial group in her environment. What groundwork should she do before engaging in sensitive conversations about race?”
ITT: people who don’t understand the difference between “DEI” and “affirmative action”.
People tend to forget or not know what DEI is/was. In the US like the UK it was to legally stop people being judged on their race, gender, sexuality, disability when applying for jobs and working so their SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE are the things are what decide if they get the job or promotion etc JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
By removing DEI or diversity whatever you’re moving away from meritocracy because people stop being assessed based on their skills and experience and instead get assessed based on if they have a penis or not and if they’re white or not.
There are reasons why we have human rights laws, the GRA, the EA laws is because without laws like this parts of society will no longer be on a level footing with everyone else.
“We want proportional representation!”, cried the right, as they thumbed their noses at DEI.
I don’t think it’s helped that some of these companies that deliver diversity training in the UK have been giving out advice that wasn’t just bad, but probably illegal and discriminatory itself.
I like the idea of equity/equality but don’t particularly like the US style culture wars being officially brought over here anyway.
DEI and hiring the best candidate for a job from a larger pool of people is fantastic.
Placing arbitrary targets to reach a certain percentage of the workforce from varying unchangeable characteristics is not.
Royce literally has a US subdivision. It doesn’t need to do this at the head company. I was voting in the AGM and ‘allow Royce to make political donations’ was on the agenda. A quick Google of their US divisions behaviour shows those donations go towards whoever is currently advocating for a war.
No thank you.
DEI is an American term. It’s not appropriate here. We have our own systems of anti-discrimination. The DEI is about the fair treatment of people not commonly represented in a particular area of life in the US.
Companies here are still required to follow the law regarding discrimination based on race, age, sex and all the other protected characteristics. They may stop waving rainbow flags but the law is unchanged. It appears more to be paying lip service to an idiotic US government.
Much like the US companies who are making declarations about investment in the US but not actually making any credible steps to actually do anything. It’s a way to get favour without any cost while waiting things out to see what the final economic plan looks like.
My company rolled back all the DEI stuff .
I saw some women celebrating, totally oblivious to the fact that it’s white women who are the main beneficiaries of DEI.
I saw some American VETs that ran businesses losing federal contracts as a result of the DEI ,they didn’t realise that VETs are also one of the biggest beneficiaries of DEI.
Leopards eat my face
We only went head first in to it because the Americans were doing it and were stopping because the Americans are.
Why do we have to copy them so relentlessly all the time while maintaining a weird superiority complex about it
Well, I’ll be buying my jet engines elsewhere then.
To shed some light this is what Rolls Royce has done.
They have an Internal Messaging board similar to Facebook.
Staff can sell things, advertise groups, a place where people can meet.
Rolls Royce shut down every group LBTQ+ and ethnic group and was just after they held a series of workshops about inclusivity and respecting other people.
These groups where not political, they were not exclusive, they were just places where people who share similar backgrounds could find each other and organise activities.
Overall it was a stupid move by Rolls Royce as all it has accomplished is pissing off the majority of their staff which considering all the issues they currently have with staffing or the lack of, just makes makes matters worse.
Contry to popular belief, Rolls Royce has difficult in fulfilling vacant positions, especially Software and Leadership roles as well as difficulties in maintaining the staff they do have. They have become so reliant on outsourcing over the years that they have lost a lot of key knowledge in certain areas internal and are completely dependent on these external outsourcing services which are terrible and very often fail to met targets.
In fact it has become so bad that Airbus have want to perform an audit of Rolls Royce so they can see for themselves why so many workpackages have suffered major delays.
Of course none of this matters at the moment because their share price has done well and like Boeing, that has been the driving force behind everything they have done over the last few years.
Rolls Royce is walking a tightrope and all it will take is one small incident and it is all going to come crashing down yet unlike Boeing, Rolls Royce do not have the US Government backing them up.
Why is there not some digital system for online job applications that the employer can only see experience/employability skills etc on cvs to assess candidates before a later stage in the process opening up the rest of the applicants personal type info to be used to determine who would best fit in the role. Therefore you immediately filter out anyone not qualified without having any subconscious bias. Granted you would still have the possibility of that later on but it gives more people an equal chance before being discounted immediately.
I’m getting sick of the way our country bends over backwards to kowtow to Washington.
A relationship so special that only the UK knows about it.
We should tell America where to go, and align ourselves with Europe, Canada and China instead. We do not need America.
ITT: a bunch of whiny men who believe we live in a society based on merit already. Guess what? We fucking don’t.
Honestly the best approach is to just commit to having a fair and respectful workplace that emphasises good values and not discriminating. There are unconscious biases that can occur, so best to make people aware of this and best practices when interviewing.
If there’s a lack of people from a particular group in the candidate pool relative to the population share, then I’d just look into the issues why they do not pursue that career or why they feel they can’t.
I’ve worked my ass off my entire life to get to where I am, and then to have anyone assume I got into uni or jobs due to DEI would suck. And I’m sure there are probs people who do assume that of me
This is ridiculous I don’t know about other companies but I imagine it’s similar, but these employee groups are nothing to do with hiring. They can be about looking at work policies with a different lens e.g. flexible working, paternity pay etc.
Other networks can focus on health issues that may disproportionately affect a group e.g prostate cancer or menopause.
Our gender balance network, puts on events (open to everyone I hasten to add) around subjects that may affect women in the workplace e.g. confidence or applying for roles. It’s all about supporting people to throw their hat the ring not about just straight up awarding them a role because they are a woman.
I think the commentators here should educate themselves on employee led groups as it’s clear by all the “what happened to just employing the best person for the job” that many do not work in corporate environments.
Another reminder that when companies position themselves about social issues in one way or another it’s almost always for PR and not for having decent leadership.
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