Caterpillar Inc. has introduced new guidelines that refocus the company’s various employee programs on core business goals as part a broader review of its Code of Conduct and other underpinnings of corporate culture.
With the move, the company joins a growing number of U.S. companies that are rethinking policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as such initiatives come under pressure from conservative activists.
The updated guidelines, laid out in a Sept. 19 internal memo from the company’s executive office to employees that was viewed by The Epoch Times, include mandating senior management approval for external speakers at company events, concentrating employee training programs on promoting “high performance,” and establishing new rules for employee resource groups.
Caterpillar executives wrote in the memo that the new guidance comes after a “comprehensive review” of programs and policies, with the changes meant to better align the company’s culture with its enterprise strategy.
“All training, both formal and informal, must be focused on our business and designed to foster high performance and execution of our enterprise strategy,” the memo reads.
Initiatives related to external recognition for employees, such as surveys and awards, must be focused on the company’s business objectives and be approved in writing by upper level management.
The use of any external speakers must also be approved by managers, who are responsible for ensuring that speakers are properly vetted and that the content “aligns to our enterprise strategy and our purpose.”
Employee Resource Groups (ERG), which Caterpillar says exist “to foster an inclusive culture” through networking, mentoring, and staff development opportunities, must now operate explicitly “in support of enterprise strategy,” with the memo indicating that the company will provide more detailed ERG guidelines for staff in the near future.
Conservative activist Robby Starbuck, who has campaigned against DEI programs at other companies, claimed in a post on social media that the changes at Caterpillar were made after he began communicating with the company last week and threatened “to expose their woke policies.”
Starbuck characterized the changes as amounting to doing away with “woke” trainings, banning donations to “divisive” events, and ensuring that there’s nothing “divisive or politically charged” in the material presented by external speakers.
“Those employees will no longer be subjected to the insanity we found during our investigation,” Starbuck wrote. “Work going forward should be a neutral place for everyone to co-exist without any ideology or divisive issues shoved down their throat. This is a massive win for sanity.”
Caterpillar did not respond to a request for comment on the changes and on whether they were prompted by Starbuck’s actions.
Starbuck recently put John Deere into his anti-DEI crosshairs, accusing the company of having “gone woke” and being all-in on DEI, with the agricultural machinery maker subsequently dialing down on its DEI programs.
He also launched a similar campaign against Tractor Supply, which led to a boycott that prompted the company to back away from its DEI initiatives.
Other companies, including Ford, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, and Molson Coors have revised their DEI-related policies in recent months.
As companies such as Caterpillar pull back on DEI efforts, advocacy groups have warned of potential consequences. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), in a letter co-signed by other civil rights organizations, claimed that abandoning DEI efforts could prove harmful.
”Abandoning DEI will have long-term consequences on business success—ultimately shirking fiduciary responsibility to employees, consumers, and shareholders,” the letter stated, pointing to studies showing that companies with diverse workforces tend to outperform their peers financially.
“Businesses that fail to include women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people neglect their financial duty to recruit and retain top talent from across the full talent pool and limit their company’s performance overall,” the letter states.
HRC puts out a Corporate Equality Index that gives companies DEI scores, with points for having an LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group, for instance. The group calls the index the “national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer employees.”
HRC claims that an “extreme group of right-wing activists” is trying to pressure companies into abandoning their DEI programs.
Starbuck wrote in his message on social media that Caterpillar had also ditched participation in HRC’s Corporate Equality Index.
A spokesperson for Caterpillar told Bloomberg that the company has been in communication with Starbuck and confirmed the content of the executive office memo to staff. However, the spokesperson denied that the company’s decision to withdraw from the the Corporate Equality Index—which took place last year—was related to Starbuck’s activism in any way.
