Prime Highlights:
- UnitedHealth Group eliminated virtually all mentions of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) from their site, including standalone pages and blog entries.
- The company introduced a new “Culture of Belonging” page that does not include prior material about diversity programs.
Key Facts:
- Eliminating DEI content is one element of a larger trend for corporate and tech businesses to shed DEI programs amid political pressure.
- UnitedHealth has not stated whether it is a policy change or a change in nomenclature.
Key Background
UnitedHealth Group, one of the top healthcare providers in a nation, removed several references to its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts from its corporate website in a motion that passed by. The site’s careers webpage, which before contained DEI efforts and promises, no longer contains any. Certain former DEI-themed pages now give errors, and a 2022 blog about a blog post where the author discusses interviewing UnitedHealth’s vice president of DEI is missing as well.
Rather, the corporation has added another section entitled “Culture of Belonging” that constructs a new type of conversation regarding workplace diversity untainted by diversity hiring, university partnership, and employee network groups formerly accorded media attention. This reconfiguration is proof of an evolution in how the corporation discourses workforce inclusion initiatives to the public.
The action comes as some of the world’s largest companies, and technology firms, have started to distance themselves or rename their DEI efforts amid heightened political pressures. There has been heightened government regulatory and investor pressure being placed upon corporations over the past few years regarding the legality and legitimacy of their corporate DEI efforts.
This change is concurrent with wider political shifts, such as executive orders that have succeeded in rolling back DEI initiatives across federally funded agencies. The U.S. Justice Department recently released a letter threatening investigation into DEI initiatives across private sector companies, which represents a first-time regulatory shift.
Though UnitedHealth has not yet made a public statement on these site changes, it is not certain whether this action is a policy change in corporate position or a tactical step to reduce public visibility to DEI programs. As corporate diversity and inclusion initiatives change to accommodate changing political and social realities, UnitedHealth’s action may be an early sign of a trend among large corporations.
