Saving one of the few Black CEOs in the Fortune 500 didn’t preclude Lowe from changing its policies on diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Mooresville-based home-improvement chain is changing its DEI policies, according to an internal memo that company officials confirmed after it was leaked to the press in late August. The note was signed by the company’s “Executive Leadership Team,’’ which is led by Marvin Ellison, one of eight Black CEOs in the Fortune 500 as of early this year.
The 300,000-employee company joined John Deere, Best Buy, Harley-Davidson and other large employers in dialing back their DEI commitments. It told employees the changes included no longer sponsoring LGBTQ+ Pride festivals or participating in surveys for the Human Rights Campaign.
The annual Pride festivals attract large crowds in many cities, while the HRC is the nation’s largest advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC had revenue of $50 million for the year ending March 31, 2023, according to its most recent tax filing.
In the internal memo, Lowe’s said it will focus investments on programs that “align with our business,” including affordable housing, disaster relief and educating trades workers. “We believe in inclusion, not exclusion. This simply means we ensure that everyone is included and considered fairly based on merit and results,” according to the memo. The company added that its hiring isn’t based on “numbers or targets.”
Inclusivity initiatives among U.S. companies accelerated in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the subsequent wave of protests demanding racial justice. In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively ended the use of affirmative action in determining college admissions. Meanwhile, a conservative backlash against corporate America’s embrace of DEI policies intensified.
In June, DEI opponent and music video producer Robby Starbuck criticized diversity efforts at Tractor Supply Co., a publicly traded retailer. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company subsequently said it was eliminating jobs and goals focused on DEI.
Starbuck, who lives in suburban Nashville, has applied similar online pressure toward other public companies. He took credit for the changes at Lowe’s, but spokesman Steve Salazar told CNN that Starbuck’s outreach to the company came after the company “already announced changes that had long been in process.”
Ellison has been an outspoken advocate for inclusivity since he became CEO at Lowe’s in 2018, after holding a similar role at JCPenney. In a speech to the National Retail Federation last year, he said he “didn’t need a consultant” to tell him there were diversity problems at Lowe’s, according to the Multichannel Merchant newsletter. He said he intentionally looked for managers who were diverse ethnically and in their thought.
“At the end of the day, the management team at any company owes it to themselves to have the decision makers reflect the customer base they’re trying to service,” he said. “Now our [executive vice presidents] are 50% ethnically diverse, with 25% women, and the board also.”
Lowe’s earned a perfect score in HRC’s most recent corporate equity index, which studies policies related to LGBTQ workers. The advocacy group said the changes by Lowe’s and other companies would “create a snowball effect of negative long-term consequences,” including hampering recruiting and reducing sales. But Starbuck said in an X statement that “one by one we will bring sanity back to corporate America.” ■
