Harley-Davidson decides to drop its DEI policies following criticism online
The motorcycle manufacturer assured that it had withdrawn its "supplier diversity spend goals" in April of this year. At the same time, the company stated that it will not participate in the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) scoring.
Logo of the motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson.
Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson announced Monday that it is dropping its DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies following the wave of criticism it received from several users on social media.
The feedback caused the Milwaukee-based company to decide to withdraw its "supplier diversity spend goals" as well as its participation in Human Rights Campaign (HRC) scoring, the company said in a statement posted on X.
As detailed by the manufacturer, it decided to eliminate DEI policies in April of this year. It did so by getting rid of hiring quotas and is currently preparing to remove any "socially motivated content" from their employee training materials. These initiatives were designed to improve the Harley-Davidson community, but, in the end, became divisive, the company claimed:
"We are saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community."
However, the motorcycle brand assured, it still believed that "having both a broad employee and customer base is good for business and that ultimately everybody should experience the joy of riding a Harley-Davidson," reinforcing that the choice to drop DEI policies was mainly due to the criticism they had received on social media and not so much to its lack of confidence in these initiatives. The negativity the manufacturer was referring to was the hundreds of comments that appeared on social media when the company announced its DEI initiatives.
The movement was started by conservative political commentator and filmmaker Robby Starbuck, per the AP, who frowned upon the company's move, believing these programs are created to favor certain social policies but should have no effect on business and economic issues.
For that reason, Starbuck was one of the first to react to the news, assuring that the announcement was "another win for our movement":
This is not the only achievement that Robby Starbuck's movement achieved in recent months. Other companies such as John Deere & Co. and Tractor Supply also announced earlier this summer their decision to drop their diversity programs.
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