Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professionals are apparently biting their nails in worry about the future of their careers now that Donald Trump is president.
Rafael Fantauzzi is a DEI professional in Philadelphia who told CNN he left his DEI position at a company recently due to restructuring. He is now searching for a job in his field, the outlet reported on Tuesday.
However, there may not be a plethora of such jobs as President Donald Trump’s administration fights against DEI practices and some corporations have pulled back on those initiatives.
Target recently pulled back on its DEI initiatives and programs, Breitbart News reported on January 24.
In reference to uncertainty regarding jobs, Fantauzzi said, “There is fear and the fear is real. I think some of the fear is a lack of understanding. What are the repercussions?”
Shaun Harper, who is founder of the Race & Equity Center at the University of Southern California, told CNN that DEI professionals have told him they feel anxious about the future regarding their careers.
“They are afraid of losing their jobs, of losing their livelihoods, of not being able to get another job. Right now the jobs that those folks have been doing for years are not en vogue,” he said.
Trump’s executive order ending all federal DEI programs resulted in 395 government bureaucrats being put on leave, Breitbart News noted:
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trump’s new department headed by Elon Musk, said on Friday that an estimated $420 million in current and impending contracts, mostly focused on DEI, have been canceled.
Prior to being inaugurated, Trump vowed to end former President Joe Biden’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates,” and “return our country to the merit system.” On his first day as president, he issued an executive order ending the “radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing.”
Trump’s Department of Education has also begun slashing DEI initiatives, and federal agencies have reportedly ordered workers to remove “preferred pronouns” from their email signatures, per Breitbart News.
