NEW: Major Retailer Doubles Down On DEI As Other Companies Back Away
Costco has urged its shareholders to vote against an effort to scale back its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, which seeks to end what were referred to as discriminatory hiring practices.
The National Center for Public Policy Research had called on Costco to publish a report about the risks the company could take on should its DEI policies remain in place. Instead, Costco unanimously urged major shareholders to vote against any review of the policies. “It’s clear that DEI holds litigation, reputational and financial risks to the Company, and therefore financial risks to shareholders,” the proposal stated.
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“And yet Costco still has such a program, though it was apprehensive enough to recognize this as it recently and quietly rebranded its DEI program to ‘People and Communities.’ But sticking a new label on discriminatory practices does not protect Costco and its shareholders from these risks.”
The proposal noted that while Costco has changed around the names of its DEI initiatives, they remain rather unchanged in practice. “With 310,000 employees, Costco likely has at least 200,000 employees who are potentially victims of this type of illegal discrimination because they are white, Asian, male or straight,” the group stated. “Accordingly, even if only a fraction of those employees were to file suit, and only some of those prove successful, the cost to Costco could be tens of billions of dollars.”
In response, Costco has doubled down on its DEI initiatives and urged shareholders to block the review.
“Consistent with our commitment to “obey the law,” we regularly evaluate our practices concerning compliance with law, including evolving Supreme Court decisions. We believe that our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are legally appropriate, and nothing in the proposal demonstrates otherwise,” the company wrote in a press release.
“Combined with our obedience to the law, service to our employees, members and suppliers has rewarded our shareholders. This is our code of ethics. Our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is not, however, only for the sake of improved financial performance but to enhance our culture and the well-being of people whose lives we influence,” the release continued.
The company continued to rail against DEI critics, claiming that such policies are not only legal but good for business. “We believe that the proponent’s request for a study reflects a policy bias with which we disagree and that further study and reporting would not be an efficient use of Company resources,” the company added.
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