Tech giant Microsoft has quietly laid off an entire internal team focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)---making the company the latest corporation to ditch diversity-based initiatives.

Microsoft disbanded an internal DEI team at the beginning of the month due to "changing business needs," according to a July 1 email first obtained and reported by Business Insider. The report noted that the email was sent by a leader of the team to thousands of employees. 

"True systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020," the email read.

It was not immediately clear how many employees were affected by the recent layoffs.

A Pullback on DEI Initiatives

Microsoft is the latest corporation to pull back on its DEI initiatives, which were first put in place following the death of George Floyd in 2020. 

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In May of that year, Minneapolis police officers arrested Floyd after a convenience store employee said Floyd bought cigarettes using a counterfeit $20 bill. Footage of Floyd's arrest showed him calling out for help as he struggled to breath while pinned beneath three police officers. Derek Chauvin, one of the responding police officers, did not remove his knee from Floyd's neck for at least eight minutes and 15 seconds. Floyd later became unconscious and showed no signs of life.

Floyd's death sparked Black Lives Matter protest campaigns across the United States. It also led companies to improve diversity efforts. Microsoft, specifically, pledged to double the number of Black leaders within the company by 2025. It is unclear if the tech giant made progress on this pledge. 

Microsoft's pull back on DEI initiatives followed similar moves from Google and Meta, both of which reduced the scope of their diversity initiatives and laid off staffers as part of restructuring last year.

Other major corporations such as Zoon, Snap, Tesla, DoorDash, Lyft, Home Depot, and Wayfair have also downsized their DEI initiatives. 

In addition, DEI-related job postings had also declined since Floyd's death. By mid-2023, diversity-related positions declined 44% from the same time in the year prior, per CNBC, citing data from Indeed.

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