A couple of weeks ago, I called out farm equipment manufacturer John Deere for essentially outsourcing hundreds of jobs to Mexico. Fast forward to today and John Deere is now saying that they will be dropping “nearly all [of] its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in favor of a quality-based workplace,” according to a statement posted to X by the company and reported on by Fox Business.
However, the actual statement contradicts itself by saying a couple of things that are encouraging while also doubling down on their focus on diversity. For context, the statement never actually mentions DEI.
Here are the “encouraging” aspects in which John Deere says they “have committed to the following”:
- We will no longer participate in or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events.
- Auditing all company-mandated training materials and policies to ensure the absence of socially motivated messages, while being in compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
- Reaffirming within the business that the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy.
All that sounds really good, right? And while they claim that “diversity quotas…are not company policy,” the last point John Deere makes in the statement contradicts it.
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“We fundamentally believe that a diverse workforce enables us to best meet our customers’ needs and because of that we will continue to track and advance the diversity of our organization,” the statement reads.
Our customers’ trust and confidence in us are of the utmost importance to everyone at John Deere. We fully intend to earn it every day and in every way we can. pic.twitter.com/8BgyPyQJQo
— John Deere (@JohnDeere) July 16, 2024
So which is it? First of all, why even base anything on diversity? There’s nothing wrong with employing a diverse group of people as long as they are qualified to do the job. That’s the whole reason for the pushback against DEI. How can you say "diversity quotas...are not company policy" in one breath and then in the very next breath say that you're committed to advancing "the diversity of our organization?"
If John Deere is committed to advancing “the diversity of our organization,” doesn’t that fly directly in the face of the claim that they have rejected DEI policies?
Sounds kinda fishy to me. But what do I know? I just have a functioning pair of eyes and an analytical brain.
It sounds like John Deere is trying to play both sides of the same coin.
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