Too Hard for Ford? CEI and the Cost of Corporate Accountability

While Ford complains about the burden of workplace surveys, marginalized groups still carry the true weight of discrimination, exclusion, and inequality in the corporate world

I was amused to read today in the Wall Street Journal that Ford “has decided to stop aiding all surveys that rank workplaces” (including the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index), implying that these surveys are too taxing and time-consuming.

My first thought was that what is taxing and time-consuming is being part of a marginalized group in the corporate world. Minorities have been historically banned from employment, harassed, paid less, experienced discrimination in benefits, were evaluated more harshly, passed over for promotion, and faced unbreachable C-suite and boardroom glass ceilings. That is truly exhausting.

Has Ford forgotten that, like all automobile manufacturers, it historically refused to hire Black people? From 1914 to 1917, Ford only employed about 200 Black workers, mostly janitors, out of 15,000 workers at his Highland Park plant. In 1997, Ford was still discriminating against African Americans based on race in selecting apprentices. In 2017, it settled an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigation into sex and race harassment for a group of individuals at two Ford plants.

A good reason we have these surveys or the EEOC in place is to hold companies accountable. In fact, HRC has helped us win many workplace advances through its CEI, which companies only reluctantly provided.

With such a troubled history, how can Ford now have the arrogance to complain publicly that it’s too hard to complete a simple survey?

The old guard – a code word really  - which is still in control of companies like Molson Coors, Ford, Lowe's, Harley-Davidson, Home Depot, Jack Daniels, John Deere, or Tractor Supply, would have taken any reason to "flee" DEI. Many of them were giving money to anti-LGBTQ+ politicians while filling out their CEI scorecards.

Starbuck and his empty threats of lawsuits just gave an excuse to companies whose leadership did not do the hard work to drop the act.

I am convinced it is not their choice, though. Companies were never doing anybody a “favor” by eliminating discrimination in hiring, nor was DEI a philanthropic effort: they were responding to a legitimate demand from the public that they reflect humankind. It was not a panacea or an elective.

We know that it is to their benefit: companies with diverse employees and an inclusive culture win. Just look at Team USA.

We do not need to rebrand DEI or change the Corporate Equality Index. At this point, we only need to keep scores.

The demographic changes speak for themselves, and the upcoming election will speak for itself. Companies that think the DEI agenda is going away are wrong. We will not forgive companies for having dropped us at the worst moment.

Conservatives learned from North Carolina's House Bill 2 battle that the way to deal with the 800-pound corporate gorilla in the room is to punch the largest in the nose, and the others will scatter away.

It is time for corporate America to stand up to the bully. We expect business leaders to show the courage of their convictions. We ask our allies to double down on diversity efforts.