Zoom (ZM) Layoffs Affect DEI-Focused Team

From Brody Ford and Jeff Green, published at Tue Feb 06 2024

Zoom Video Communications Inc. fired a team of workers focused on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as part of its recent round of job cuts, making it the latest company to change course on DEI efforts.

The company will instead work with external consultants to engage “all of our employees” with a focus on “inclusion,” Chief Operating Officer Aparna Bawa wrote to staff last week. She said Zoom needed to change its approach to DEI, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News, adding that some work will still be done by internal staff.

Zoom was among a slew of companies that launched a DEI program in 2020, after George Floyd’s murder by a White Minneapolis police officer. It established an internal team and two years later released a report touting that it had made “substantial structural as well as cultural and partnership advances at Zoom.”

The team has now been dismantled, though the exact number of DEI-focused employees affected by the cuts couldn’t be established. A spokesperson for the software company — best known for its hit videoconferencing application — said Zoom “remains committed to DEI.”

The move is part of a broader retreat on diversity initiatives across corporate America as conservative groups intensify their attacks on DEI. Companies from Pfizer Inc. to BlackRock Inc. have changed their policies in recent months, and Tesla Inc. last week removed language about minority workers and supporting employee resource groups from one of its regulatory filings.

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and investor Bill Ackman have been vocal critics of DEI strategies, while Dallas billionaire Mark Cuban has spoken out in support of the policies and engaged the pair in debate on social media in recent weeks.

The Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action from college admissions emboldened conservative groups to lodge complaints against dozens of companies, including American Airlines Group Inc., Macy’s Inc. and McDonald’s Corp., even though the ruling didn’t cover companies.