Hearts & Minds: Committed to inclusivity… excluding the US

That one of the big UK headquartered banking groups is abandoning DEI targets in the US is not a shock. They are only following other US companies, and they are not going as far as some even outside the US which have paused diversity, equity and inclusion ambitions everywhere. Neither are they taking the new Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority instruction, that firms should apply them voluntarily, to its natural conclusion.

The regulators were planning to introduce diversity and inclusion rules but have now dropped that idea. It is up to individual firms what they do and in theory they can ditch initiatives completely if they so desire.

There is a comms lesson here. The US reversal comes just two months after the CEO said it had an enduring commitment to a culture of inclusivity.

In this febrile atmosphere, those words acquired extra significance. More people paid attention to them than they might otherwise have done. Better to have said nothing or very little, certainly not anything that could be interpreted as a ringing endorsement.

That very public U-turn is made worse by the fact the bank is insistent the decision was made after a review, which started late last year before the presidential election, into its DEI. So, when the CEO said it was enduring there was a discussion underway. Again, in this climate, in which emotions are running high and views are polarized, a more sensible step might have been not to draw attention to the review.

Presumably they were keen to avoid being accused of dancing to the new US president’s tune, to be seen to be acting independently and not falling into line. In doing so, they left themselves open to further criticism.

Tellingly, it is the earlier comment and the reference to the review that feature high up news stories and are drawing more mentions than the accompanying announcement about the bank remaining faithful to seeking a diverse workforce and wishing to create an inclusive environment.

At present, in the midst of so much uncertainty and sensitivity, it can pay to stay silent or at least to try and avoid making any statement that may come back to bite. 

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.